Natalie Harp wanted a seat in the motorcade so badly she rode in the trunk instead.
In October 2023, Trump’s motorcade was preparing to leave Trump Tower for a courthouse appearance in New York when his staff realized there was no space left for Harp, his executive assistant. CNN reported that two sources described a screaming match breaking out in the lobby, with Harp insisting Trump had personally asked her to come along.
When she still wasn’t given a seat, Harp climbed into the trunk
Of one of the SUVs and rode there. CNN’s Kristen Holmes reviewed a photo of the moment and described the trunk as “almost like a cargo hold.” Harp got in anyway rather than be left behind.
Three years later, that same determination has only calcified into something bigger. Harp is nicknamed the “human printer” for the stacks of material she hands Trump to read, and one White House adviser told CNN that Trump “likes the attention and the fact that she is 100 percent committed and loyal,” adding that Harp “doesn’t second guess, doesn’t question.” Her own estranged brother has called her bond with Trump “very unhealthy.” A new book from Maggie Haberman and Jonathan Swan reports that Trump told his team early in his second term Harp “was the only one who loved him as much as his wife and his kids.”
She was also one of just three people Trump chose to secretly board a military flight with him last month during a credible threat to Air Force One, alongside his former valet and his deputy chief of staff. Not senior cabinet officials. Her.