The White House is defending Donald Trump’s peculiar relationship with his blonde aide, 35, this time hitting back at Jimmy Kimmel stand-in Rosie O’Donnell for quipping that Natalie Harp “tucks him in” at night.
O’Donnell made the comment on Wednesday night’s episode of Jimmy Kimmel Live during her stint as guest host amid Kimmel’s hiatus. Trump’s longtime nemesis opened her monologue by speaking directly to the president. “A special hello to those of you watching from home and from the White House,” she began.
“But I do have some bad news for President Petty Roosevelt. That’s all I’m going to say about you tonight, sweetheart. You got to realize it’s time to hang up your wig and let Natalie tuck you in,” she quipped. “Time to go nighty-night!”
White House spokesperson Davis Ingle told People in response on Thursday, “Rosie O’Donnell is a nasty woman and a total slob whose brain has been completely destroyed by Trump Derangement Syndrome.”
The retaliatory comment comes amid rampant speculation about the nature of Harp’s role in the White House, as she has rarely left the president’s side for both private and public events. According to Trump biographer Maggie Haberman, Harp, who joined Trump’s team in 2022, would leave notes for Trump in his “personal spaces” before she joined the staff.
Haberman and Jonathan Swan wrote in their book, Regime Change: Inside the Imperial Presidency of Donald Trump, that one such note read, “You are all that matters to me.” Harp earns $150,000 a year as special assistant and executive assistant to the president.
Trump was confronted publicly about the blonde aide glued to his side on Monday, after Georgia Senator Jon Ossoff quipped that Trump only wants to “travel with Natalie” and renovate the White House rather than act as president. Trump was asked to respond at a press conference, during which he sidestepped Harp’s mention to once again call Ossoff “Pee-wee Herman.”
O’Donnell has kept her jokes about Trump to a surprising minimum during her time hosting Kimmel, with Wednesday’s comment about Harp being her most vicious thus far. The comedian will guest-host the show for one final night on Thursday.
