Meet Natalie Harp, Trump's 'valuable resource' who lawmakers say is 'critical' to his operation
Lawmakers who communicate with President-elect Trump’s assistant Natalie Harp regularly told Fox News Digital that she is "critical" in ensuring Congress is a "real partner" for the incoming administration.
EXCLUSIVE: President-elect Trump’s assistant Natalie Harp said "confidentiality, speed, accuracy, and adaptability" are key to delivering for the president, as lawmakers who communicate with her regularly told Fox News Digital that she is "critical" in ensuring Congress is a "real partner" for the incoming administration.
Harp has worked alongside the president-elect throughout his campaign and the transition, since 2022. The 33-year-old is expected to join the president at the White House for his second term, and Trump Transition Team sources say she will have an "important role" in the White House.
But according to several top lawmakers, governors and members of Trump’s team, Harp is more than just an assistant.
Sources close to the transition team told Fox News Digital that Harp has been a "valuable resource" for getting information to the president "in a timely manner."
Steven Cheung, spokesman for the Trump Transition Team and incoming White House communications director, told Fox News Digital that Harp is "a trusted and valued member of President Trump’s team."
"And she is certainly a big reason why his operation has been as successful as it has ever been," Cheung told Fox News Digital. "Her work ethic and dedication to helping President Trump achieve his historic victory is second to none."
"I believe she is an extra set of eyes and ears for President Trump," Sen. John Barrasso, R-Wy., told Fox News Digital. "Every time I have been with him, she has been close at hand."
Barrasso explained that Harp is in regular communication with him and other senators and members of Congress via text message.
"I text her if I need to get to the president," Barrasso explained. "If he doesn’t pick up the phone, I know to go to Natalie, and he gets the message."
Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., also said he goes to Harp to set up anything from "golf to the most sensitive foreign policy matters."
"You want to get something to President Trump, she’s the person to talk to," Graham told Fox News Digital. "I trust Natalie to keep anything I communicate to President Trump confidential. She is very dedicated to the president – she is very loyal and always professional and always polite."
Graham added: "She will promptly respond to requests by senators – I’ve heard that from others – and I feel like when I am communicating with Natalie, I am communicating in a sense of trust."
In an interview with Fox News Digital, Harp touted the president for having "truly invested time in building a network of allies, in Congress, media, and business, that is unrivaled." She said those relationships have "deep roots" and credited them to accessibility.
"Communication by phone and by text is always open," Harp said.
South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster told Fox News Digital he’s worked with Harp directly "on many occasions."
"She is the ultimate professional – highly driven, disciplined and loyal," McMaster said. "She has and will continue to serve President Trump and our country well."
Harp created a "mobile office" for the president during the campaign, telling Fox News Digital that she did so because the president wants to stay "accessible."
"Breaking news has no consideration for where you are. That’s how our mobile office started," Harp said. "Many times, the president wants to get his thoughts out on paper, so I’ll take dictation, print, and then he works on it until he has the words just right for a viral Truth."
Harp said she had the idea to get a mobile printer to "speed up the process," noting that printers "aren’t always accessible" on the golf course or on the road.
And Harp said the set-up is how they "get breaking information we can act on, in real time, and vice versa."
Harp told Fox News Digital she regularly communicates with that network of allies, sending news clippings and even polling members of Congress on timely issues and legislation.
"He can virtually whip votes in a matter of minutes," Harp said.
Rep. Ronny Jackson, R-Texas, told Fox News Digital that Harp "keeps us in the loop" on Capitol Hill.
"If you want a Congress that represents a real partner for the incoming president, it’s important to share information," Jackson told Fox News Digital. "Natalie is critical in making sure members of Congress feel like they’re part of the president’s team."
But in working for the president, Harp said "confidentiality, speed, accuracy, and adaptability" are "the nature of the job."
"The president deserves nothing less," Harp told Fox News Digital. "Yes, he works 24/7, but it never feels like he’s driving or pushing us to work harder. Rather, he inspires us to be more, and do more, because he sets the example himself."
When asked what type of information Harp brings the president or shares with his allies, she said, "It depends."
"During the various witch hunts, I researched what legal experts and scholars were writing about the cases. When we were out campaigning, I monitored reviews to see what parts of the president’s messaging were resonating best," she explained. "I have a big database of websites that I source from. Sometimes I go through back-to-back, checking top headlines and, if I see one on an issue the president has been talking about or that he’s interested in, I grab it."
Harp traveled with the president throughout the campaign, spent days in court as he battled now-dismissed cases against him, and was even with him during both assassination attempts in July in Butler, Pennsylvania, and September at Trump International Golf Course in Palm Beach, Florida.
"We share a deep faith in God, but now, a ‘miracle’ is something we’ve not just read about, but lived, not once but two times," Harp said. "Some have said that they see a ‘changed’ Donald Trump after two assassination attempts. I disagree. These gut-wrenching experiences have not left him a different person, but only revealed to the world who he has always been."
Harp said that is "the same misunderstanding that the 2024 presidential election is the story of Donald Trump’s comeback."
"It isn’t. He’d be the first to say so – he never went anywhere. It is others who left, only to return or, who never gave him a chance, that are finally coming around," Harp said. "None of this is to say that the president hasn’t changed at all through the years, but rather that the essence of who he is has only become more visible."
Harp recalled being in court with the president, when he would "occasionally close his eyes and listen."
"He is on a totally different plane, at peace with God, and unshakably focused. Nothing gets to him, because he puts his comfort second, and his purpose first," Harp said of the president. "If people could just tune out the noise and prejudice coming from those who, whether purposefully or unintentionally, misunderstand him, you will see the heart of a man who had everything, but continues to risk it all, for love, of country, and the American people."
Harp studied business finance at Point Loma University and received her Master of Business Administration from Liberty University.
Harp, who battled and survived stage 2 bone cancer, credits Trump’s 2018 "Right to Try" law with saving her life. The measure allows terminally ill patients to access drug treatments that have not yet been fully approved by the Food and Drug Administration.
Harp penned an op-ed in 2019 about her experience with Right to Try, which went viral. She appeared on "Fox & Friends" to share her story in June 2019. After her appearance, Trump tweeted, "Proud of Natalie!" and invited her onstage at his next event, in Washington D.C., at the Faith and Freedom Coalition’s Road to Majority Conference, where she called him her "Good Samaritan."
"Donald Trump isn’t just a believer in miracles, he helps to make them happen," Harp told Fox News Digital.
Barrasso, a physician, echoed Harp’s sentiment about Right to Try, saying she "is a great success" of the legislation.
"It is possible she would not have been able to survive," Barrasso said. "The fact that she is still with us is a miracle itself, and she wants to spend every day thanking God for what she has, and she does an awful, awful lot with and for President Trump."
Harp later joined the Trump 2020 presidential campaign’s advisory board and spoke at the 2020 Republican National Convention.
Incoming White House deputy chief of staff for policy Stephen Miller told Fox News Digital Harp is "one of the hardest working, most loyal and most talented staffers I have ever worked with."
"She is a phenomenal asset to President Trump," Miller said.
"She keeps everybody in a really good mood, and most importantly, she keeps the president in a really good mood, and I think she has been key to his success throughout the campaign," Rep. Ronny Jackson told Fox News Digital. "As a physician, from a psychological standpoint, when you are around people who are in a good mood, that are laughing, that are smiling, it makes you feel better as well – that’s just human nature – and I think it’s important to have someone like Natalie around, who never gets down about anything."
"She’s the first person up in the morning and the last person to go to bed," Jackson said. "The unbelievable work ethic, combined with her bubbly personality, is a unique combo that is really good for President Trump and really good for our country."
