The Japan Times - Trump's devoted 'human printer' in media glare

That has all changed since it emerged the 35-year-old was one of a handful of people who secretly swapped from Air Force One with Trump in Turkey after a security threat.

The blonde executive assistant to the president was then mentioned by a Democratic senate hopeful, in comments that set the internet alight -- and incensed the White House.

"He wants to build his ballroom and travel with Natalie on their apparently defenseless flying palace gifted by the Emir of Qatar," Jon Ossoff, who is widely viewed as a 2028 presidential contender, said in a speech at the weekend.

But just who is this aide to the 80-year-old Trump, who reportedly has not taken a single day of holiday since the Republican returned to power last year?

- 'Never leave me' -

Harp has been dubbed the "human printer" -- thanks to her role carrying a portable machine to print out documents that Trump asks for.

But that severely underestimates her role.

She effectively functions as a gatekeeper to the president by controlling the information that gets through to Trump -- often reportedly pointing him towards right-wing material on social media.

Harp is also one of the few officials with direct access to Trump's Truth Social account.

She types out posts as Trump dictates them, even inserting his trademark capital letters, according to footage in the documentary "Art of the Surge" on the 2024 election campaign.

Trump reportedly believes she is invaluable, which explains her frequent presence in his company everywhere from the Oval Office to his private helicopter, Marine One, and to the presidential jet itself.

"All of you will go off and make money... she'll never leave me," Trump said, adding that she was the only person who loved him as much as his wife and children, according to the book "Regime Change" by New York Times journalists Maggie Haberman and Jonathan Swan.

- 'With all my heart' -

The scale of her loyalty to the president has raised eyebrows in some quarters.

"You are all that matters to me," Harp wrote in one note to Trump, according to "Regime Change." Another note apologized for being an "embarrassment" after video showed her sprinting to keep up with Trump's golf cart on his course in Scotland, the New York Times said, and was signed "With all my heart, Natalie."

In 2023, Harp once insisted on riding in the trunk of an SUV to accompany him on a trip to a New York courthouse after staffers said there wasn't space for her in the motorcade, CNN reported.

The White House strongly defended her role.

"Natalie Harp is one of the most loyal and hardest-working aides on President Trump's team," White House spokesman Davis Ingle said in a statement to AFP. "The media should get back to reporting real news and stop regurgitating Trump-Deranged liberal talking points."

The MAGA media bubble has also united to attack both Ossoff and the media over the comments.

Trump swerved a question this week about Harp but compared Ossoff to late television star Pee-wee Herman while the White House attacked a CNN reporter for asking the question, even saying her children would be ashamed of her.

- Cancer battle -

Harp's estranged brother Preston told CNN he believed her "infatuation" with Trump was not a "physical attraction" -- but stemmed from the fact that she believes Trump saved her life.

Natalie Harp has said she suffered from terminal bone cancer, but was cured because of experimental drugs she had access to because of a program brought in by Trump in his first term.

While she rarely speaks in public now, she became a fixture at Republican-linked speaking events where she would tell the story, and also appeared on hard-right cable news.

"My good Samaritan," Harp said when she appeared on stage with Trump at a "Faith and Freedom Coalition" meeting in 2018.

"I wouldn't be alive today, if it wasn't for you," Harp told the Republican National Convention in 2020.

T.Maeda--JT