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White House Slams Journalist Over Posts About Trump Aide Natalie Harp
ReWhite House Slams Journalist Over Posts About Trump Aide Natalie Harp
The Trump administration attacked journalist Aaron Rupar after he highlighted aide Natalie Harp's presence on a presidential trip to Ireland, intensifying a media firestorm that began with a viral remark by Sen. Jon Ossoff.
The Trump administration sharply criticized liberal journalist Aaron Rupar on Saturday after he posted a photo of White House executive assistant Natalie Harp accompanying President Donald Trump on his trip to Ireland. The White House Rapid Response 47 account called Rupar a «sick, deluded freak» in a direct reply, marking an escalation in a weeks-long media controversy surrounding the 35-year-old aide.
Rupar shared the image with the caption «Look who made the trip to Ireland!» and his recurring #TravelWithNatalie hashtag. The Rapid Response 47 account responded by defending the president's practice of traveling with staff and attacking Rupar personally. «President Trump does, in fact, travel with staff. Aaron, on the other hand, is a sick, deluded freak (in his 40s) who sits behind a keyboard and posts creepy things like this,» the account wrote. Rupar fired back on X, saying, «The taxpayer-funded White House incitement account is now attacking me for [checks notes] being in my 40s.»
The scrutiny of Harp began last month after Sen. Jon Ossoff, D-Ga., invoked her first name during a campaign speech criticizing Trump. «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,» Ossoff said. Conservatives interpreted the remark as insinuating an inappropriate relationship between Trump and Harp, an interpretation Ossoff later rejected. He told MS Now host Jen Psaki that he was referring to the advisors surrounding Trump, saying, «Well, I've heard this particular aide referred to as his security blanket, and I think we could say that about any number of the senior aides in the White House.»
The White House responded forcefully to Ossoff's initial remarks, defending Harp as one of Trump's top aides. «Natalie Harp is one of the most loyal and hardest working aides on President Trump's team. Jon Ossoff is a cringeworthy, feminine theatre kid cosplaying as Barack Obama. Nobody gives a s--- what this lightweight loser says,» White House spokesperson Davis Ingle said in a statement. The controversy has driven extensive cable news coverage. CNN and MS NOW mentioned Harp hundreds of times in the days after Ossoff's remarks, with CNN alone mentioning her at least 132 times by Aug. 19.
NewsBusters executive editor Tim Graham told Fox News Digital on Sunday that Rupar's continued use of the travel reference was deliberately playing off the controversy generated by Ossoff's original remark. «Rupar knows he is trolling for the Trump haters. The whole 'travels with Natalie' line is toying with the original Ossoff affair smear,» Graham said. He added that the coverage of Harp was failing to address what he considered the fundamental question about why her routine presence alongside the president had become a major media story.
Fox News Digital reached out to Rupar, the White House and Ossoff for comment but did not immediately receive responses. The exchange highlights the ongoing tension between the Trump administration and journalists, as well as the intense partisan reactions that can arise from a single political remark. The White House has consistently defended Harp, while critics argue the focus on her is part of a broader media fixation on the president's personal life.
