Donald Trump personally directed his longtime secretary, Natalie Harp, to finish her security clearance paperwork after she had declined for more than a year to cooperate with security officials.
Harp, 35, had repeatedly resisted completing the standard security clearance process expected of West Wing staff and presidential aides who are routinely exposed to classified material and some of the country’s most sensitive secrets.
Trump stepped in only after White House lawyers and security personnel briefed him on their growing alarm over Harp’s lack of cooperation, according to MS NOW.
It remains unclear why Harp did not submit the required paperwork earlier. In recent months, however, she completed the form needed for a federal background investigation and reportedly obtained the clearance.
Her prolonged lack of a security clearance stood out as an unusual warning sign and was among several issues that members of Trump’s inner circle raised about Harp over the past year.
As Trump’s personal secretary and so-called “human printer,” Harp has enjoyed broad access to the president, staying close to him while providing news clips, social media posts and other information throughout the day.
A security clearance is designed to assess whether someone can be trusted with the nation’s most closely held intelligence. Yet Harp worked at the center of the West Wing for more than a year without completing that fundamental vetting process.
Harp is now facing renewed scrutiny after it emerged that she was among the few aides Trump brought aboard a secret plane during an Iranian assassination threat in July, a move that has drawn sharp criticism from Democratic Senator Jon Ossoff.
Harp, 35, repeatedly declined to complete the routine security-clearance process required of West Wing staffers and presidential aides regularly exposed to highly classified information and the nation’s most closely guarded secrets
Trump himself was forced to intervene after White House lawyers brought their concerns to him about Harp’s lack of clearance
The absence of a security clearance was an extraordinary red flag and one of several concerns raised by members of Trump’s inner circle about Harp over the past year
Intensely personal letters Harp wrote to Trump have also resurfaced, including one in which she described forgetting to eat and sleep before making a startling declaration: ‘You are all that matters to me’
Intensely personal letters Harp wrote to Trump have also resurfaced, including one in which she described forgetting to eat and sleep before making a startling declaration: ‘You are all that matters to me.’
During his May 2023 golf trip to Scotland, Harp ran behind the President’s golf cart because no other ones were available.
She later wrote him a letter to apologize for embarrassing him while trying to keep up.
‘I also am sorry if I was an embarrassment walking the course in Scotland,’ she wrote in a letter to Trump published by Our News Outlet in February last year.
The correspondence is gaining renewed attention after it was re-published this week by several news publications.
Harp then goes on to admit that she starved herself and forgot to sleep while working for Trump, saying: ‘I want things to always be right between us. I also know I’ve been distracted all week (forgetting to eat throughout the days, and even forgetting to sleep, and only catching a couple hours at a time).’
Her letter concludes: ‘With all my heart, Natalie.’
Harp’s determination to remain by Trump’s side was also on display in October 2023, when she rode in the trunk of an SUV after being told there was no room for her in the motorcade taking him to a New York court appearance.
After staffers told her there was no room in the vehicle, Harp became livid and began screaming at them, insisting that Trump had personally asked her to accompany him, according to CNN.
Her devotion to Trump has remained consistent throughout the years despite attempts by his inner circle to distance her from the president.
Her devotion to Trump has remained consistent throughout the years despite attempts by his inner circle to distance her from the president.
Harp spent the summer of 2023 sleeping in the women’s locker room at Trump’s Bedminster golf club so she could remain close to him, according to journalist Michael Wolff.
During the campaign, Melania Trump once stumbled upon Harp late at night inside Trump’s private quarters at Mar-a-Lago, an area typically off-limits to anyone outside the family, according to journalist Alex Isenstadt.
The Daily Mail has contacted the White House for comment.
