Daniel Wolfram
The story about the relationship between Trump and his close personal aide gets stranger every day. Now the story just got bigger with a question about national security.
There is no escaping the peculiar relationship between the president of the free world and an assistant who has become quite a hot-button topic.
That is because the nature of their relationship is unprecedented and is evolving every hour.
Now the story has evolved to a question of being vetted properly to serve the president, and why she refused to do so.
The president’s gatekeeper
For over a year, Natalie Harp, Donald Trump’s top personal aide, worked alongside the president without undergoing the necessary security checks. Harp repeatedly declined to complete the routine paperwork required for West Wing staff, according to a report by MS NOW.
Harp holds the titles of Special Assistant and Executive Assistant to the president. Since joining Trump’s administration during his 2024 presidential campaign, she has become a crucial part of Trump’s life.
Staff nicknamed her the “Human Printer” for delivering constant stacks of positive news clippings and unvetted polling directly to the president. Her constant presence created rising tension among senior officials and security personnel inside the White House.
One source told MS NOW that Harp “plays into the less productive and more troublesome parts of his nature, putting things in front of him that aren’t vetted.”
Harp refused to get security clearance
Internal worry grew as months passed without her completing the document needed for a federal background check. National security officials and Secret Service personnel raised red flags about her unrestricted access to the president without the necessary authorization.
Top staffers quietly tried to limit her constant interactions with Trump. Those efforts proved unsuccessful.
Eventually, the situation required direct presidential intervention. Trump stepped in, persuading Harp to finally submit her paperwork and obtain official clearance in recent months, almost two years after she was first appointed.
But no one truly knows why it took so long for Harp to get the clearance, or why she refused in the first place.
A fast rise
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt pushed back against concerns about Harp’s missing clearance and her lack of cooperation in obtaining it.
“Natalie Harp has a security clearance like everyone else, and she is a loyal and hardworking member of President Trump’s team,” Leavitt said in a statement to MS NOW.
Harp’s journey into Trump’s inner circle began after her 2020 speech at the Republican National Convention, where, after undergoing treatment for bone cancer, she credited Trump with saving her life. She later worked as a far-right television host before joining his re-election campaign in 2022.
During her time, Harp has made herself indispensable to Trump and continues to be in his orbit, whether in the White House, on the golf course, or in the back of a truck.
