Melania Trump’s office is pushing back after weeks of chatter about presidential aide Natalie Harp and her unusually visible role at Donald Trump’s side.
Marc Beckman, the first lady’s chief spokesman, dismissed the speculation surrounding Trump and Harp, rejecting suggestions that their close working relationship is anything more than professional.
“The liberal media is ridiculous,” Beckman said Wednesday during an interview with host Stella Escobedo.
“They don’t know anything about the first lady’s personal and private life. They don’t even take the time to put us on air to cover these incredible achievements that our first lady has accomplished,” he added.
Harp, 35, has attracted attention in Trump’s orbit for a role that earned her the nickname “human printer,” a reference to her habit of traveling with a portable printer and handing the president hard copies of news stories and social media posts throughout the day.
Beckman defended Harp directly, saying critics should “look in the mirror” before targeting “this hardworking, very talented, very intelligent person in Natalie Harp.”
He argued that coverage of the first family has become too focused on rumors, adding: “They’re obsessed with the gossip with the first family. And I can tell you firsthand that it’s time for them to become journalists and stop looking at the gossip.”
Trump and Harp’s working relationship drew wider national scrutiny in August after Democratic Sen. Jon Ossoff told supporters at a rally that Trump would rather “build his ballroom and travel with Natalie” than focus on the duties of the presidency.
Marc Beckman, the first lady’s top spokesman downplayed the rumors swirling around Donald Trump’s and Harps relationship in an interview with Stella Escobedo on Wednesday
Natalie Harp, 35, is known as the ‘human printer’ for accompanying the president with a portable printer and supplying paper copies of news articles as well as social media posts throughout the day.
Ossoff was referring to when Harp was among a tiny handful of aides Trump kept beside him as he slipped off Air Force One in Turkey and onto a decoy jet over an Iranian assassination threat. Top cabinet officials, including Marco Rubio and Scott Bessent, were left behind on the larger plane while Harp stayed with the President.
‘The media doesn’t know about the first lady’s private life. Period. The media doesn’t know about the first family’s life. Period,’ said the first lady’s advisor.
‘And what they do is they harp on the issues of gossip rather than going ahead and covering the substantial achievements that this first lady and the president also have conducted during this past year and a half.’
Escobedo highlighted Melania’s efforts to support children in foster care and those who have aged out of the system.
Aside from her initiatives, the first lady has been seen out in public less than 50 times this year, according to the Daily Beast.
However, Harp has remained glued to the Trump’s side to the point that it raised concerns within the Secret Service and the president’s inner circle.
The aide wrote Trump a series of personal letters in 2023, telling him in one: ‘You are all that matters to me.’
Trump and Harp’s bond became the center of national media attention in August when Democratic Senator Jon Ossoff told a rally that Trump would rather ‘build his ballroom and travel with Natalie’ than do his job
Harp’s devotion to Trump has at times raised concerns within the Secret Service and the President’s inner circle
She also called him her ‘Guardian and Protector in this Life,’ according to letters reviewed by the New York Times.
Trump told people that same year that Harp was the only person on his team who cared about him: ‘All of you will go off and make money … she’ll never leave me.’
It was revealed on Wednesday that the human printer was gifted $45,000, along with two other female aides.
Harp, Chamberlain Harris, 26, and Margo Martin, 31, received $135,000 between them, each identifying Trump as the source of a ‘cash gift for the holidays,’ according to Politico.
The money came on top of their $150,000 salaries paid by taxpayers, giving each woman a gift worth 30 percent of her annual government pay.
Our News Outlet has contacted the White House, Harp, Harris and Martin.
‘The President has a longstanding practice of giving Christmas gifts to people in his orbit, including at times employees and aides, both in government and in his time in the private sector,’ a White House spokesman told Politico.
‘The gifts at issue here have nothing to do with any of these individuals’ official government duties, and, therefore, are entirely permissible under relevant legal and ethical standards.’
