Up until fairly recently, Natalie Harp maintained a relatively low public profile, though those who follow politics closely might’ve seen a memorable report The New York Times published a few weeks after Election Day 2024, which described her as a young “former far-right cable host” who is “nearly always” at Donald Trump’s side.
The same article added that Harp “has written him a series of devotional letters, including one that said, ‘You are all that matters to me.’” In a separate letter, she also told Trump he’s her “guardian and protector in this life.”
For those concerned about Trump living in a bubble, only receiving information that makes him happy, the Times’ report was jarring.
“Once, when Mr. Trump was playing golf in Scotland,” the article noted, Harp “ran behind his cart to keep him up to date with positive stories and social media posts.”
Making matters worse was the fact that Harp reportedly relied on fringe and conspiratorial websites for pro-Trump content to share with Trump, prompting the Times to note that Harp has been accused of serving as an “instant enabler” of the president’s “impulses.”
Last month, however, Harp’s profile reached new levels after Democratic Sen. Jon Ossoff of Georgia made remarks at a campaign rally about the president’s woeful work habits: “He golfs and trades stocks. See, he doesn’t want to do the job. He wants to build his ballroom and travel with Natalie on their apparently defenseless flying palace, gifted by the emir of Qatar.”
The White House freaked out to a surprising degree, and the ensuing conversation put the spotlight on Harp’s role on Team Trump.
In the weeks that followed, her name gradually faded from headlines — that is, until this week. The Associated Press reported:
President Donald Trump gave sizable holiday gifts to four White House aides, according to new financial disclosures released by the administration.
The gifts of $45,000 each to executive assistant Natalie Harp, communications adviser Margo Martin, and deputy director of Oval Office operations Chamberlain Harris as well as a $20,000 gift for director of Oval Office operations Walt Nauta were noted in the staffers’ annual financial disclosure forms that were published by the administration last week.
To be sure, countless Americans receive gifts from their employers around the holidays, but the president’s $45,000 gifts weren’t exactly normal: These three young women each make $150,000 a year in compensation, which means Trump’s generosity amounted to a bonus worth roughly a third of their annual salary.
Among the questions surrounding revelations like these: Is this legal?
Richard Painter, the former chief ethics lawyer in the Bush/Cheney White House, told The Washington Post that the payments appear to violate a federal statute that prohibits the supplementation of federal employees’ salaries from outside sources.
“He’s clearly trying to make it easier for them financially to work in government service at the White House,” Painter said. “You can’t do that.”
The New York Times published a related report, noting the degree to which the $45,000 checks appeared to run afoul of the administration’s own prohibition against bonuses for political appointees.
The White House pushed back, with a statement from an unnamed spokesperson who argued, “The president has a longstanding practice of giving Christmas gifts to people in his orbit, including at times employees and aides, both in government and in his time in the private sector. The gifts at issue here have nothing to do with any of these individuals’ official government duties, and, therefore, are entirely permissible under relevant legal and ethical standards.”
I have a hunch we haven’t heard the last of this, though in the meantime, if White House officials were hoping to keep Harp out of the headlines for a while longer, they have reason to be disappointed.
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