Natalie Harp — President Donald Trump’s executive assistant and recent subject of intense media scrutiny — repeatedly declined to obtain security clearance during a period of more than a year while working at the White House, according to a new report.
Two people familiar with the matter told MS NOW that it was unclear why Harp, 35, had not completed the standard clearance process typically undertaken by most West Wing employees.
Harp, widely regarded as one of Trump’s closest aides, received several extensions to complete the paperwork, a White House official said. The required documents were ultimately submitted only after Trump personally intervened. The relevant form, known as the SF-86, requires applicants to disclose background information including financial history, prior residences and foreign contacts.
Multiple sources told the outlet that the Secret Service and some of Trump’s senior aides raised security concerns about Harp during the president’s first year back in office. The White House, however, has publicly brushed aside such concerns, insisting she now has the relevant clearance.
“Natalie Harp has a security clearance like everyone else, and she is a loyal and hardworking member of President Trump’s team,” outgoing White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt told MS NOW.
open image in galleryStill, one source told the outlet that officials had made “subtle moves” to limit Harp’s constant access to the president, though those efforts had failed. “She is just persistent and not realizing that’s what they were trying to do,” the source said.
A former television presenter, Harp has attracted considerable attention in recent months over what some observers describe as her intense devotion to Trump and her expansive influence within his inner circle.
The New York Times reported that she once left Trump adoring letters, including one that said: “You are all that matters to me” and another that concluded: “With all my heart, Natalie,” Her estranged brother has described her relationship with Trump as “very unhealthy.”
Maggie Haberman, a Times reporter who recently co-authored a book about Trump’s return to office, has likewise portrayed Harp as an influential gatekeeper who relays information to the president outside formal channels.
“She is in almost every single — I mean, really I’m not kidding — almost every single meeting,” Haberman previously told MS NOW.
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open image in galleryHarp, a bone cancer survivor, drew further scrutiny last month after reports that she was among a small group of staffers who accompanied Trump aboard a military aircraft departing Turkey amid concerns about a potential Iranian attack.
Senator Jon Ossoff, a Georgia Democrat, appeared to allude to that report in a speech this weekend. Trump “doesn’t want to do the job…He wants to build his ballroom and travel with Natalie,” he told a crowd of supporters gathered in Atlanta.
Several prominent conservatives, including CNN commentator Scott Jennings, condemned Ossoff’s remark.
“She is a smart, talented person who wants to serve her country and the president,” Jennings said of Harp this week. “But for Jon Ossoff and the Democrats, well, she’s there because she’s a pretty blonde who must be sleeping with her boss. How else would she have gotten a job like that?”
The White House has also forcefully defended Trump’s trusted aide.
“Natalie Harp is a beloved White House Official, and the Fake News Media will never understand what it’s like to be as trusted and admired as her,” a White House spokesperson previously told The Independent.