Speculation about Donald Trump's affair with one of his closest aides appears to have upset his wife, Melania. The White House responded after Democratic Senator Jon Ossoff joked on Monday that the US president was distracted by an extramarital affair with Natalie Harp, the 80-year-old US president's executive assistant.
The closeness between Trump and 35-year-old Harp has fueled rumors, so far unfounded, that the pair are having an affair.
Ossoff, the Georgia senator, said in a speech Sunday that the president “doesn’t want to do the job” and instead “wants to build his own ballroom and travel with Natalie in their apparently unprotected flying palace, donated by the emir of Qatar.”
The comment sparked a backlash from some of Trump's closest aides. Davis Ingle, a White House spokesman, criticized Ossoff as "a disgusting, effeminate theater child playing the role of Barack Obama."
Ingle said: “Natalie Harp is one of the most loyal and hardworking aides on President Trump’s team… No one cares what that loser says.”
Steve Cheung, the White House communications director, also described the senator in a post on X as "the biggest old loser in politics."
"Instead of denigrating hardworking people who serve their country, Jon should look deep into his soul and ask himself why he is a miserable person who hates this country. It is because he is a radical and extremist Democrat," Cheung added.
The aggressive reaction also came because "the First Lady doesn't like this kind of thing," a person close to the White House revealed.
Trump declined to comment when asked by a reporter in the Oval Office on Monday, calling Ossoff a "Pee-wee Herman," referring to the quirky comedy character.
The source added that Trump "gets furious" about public speculation about his personal life and that Harp "will ultimately jump higher than anyone in the room when he says jump."
Harp, a former anchor of the right-wing One America News Network, has been in the US president's orbit for years, but has been seen with him more and more frequently in recent months.
She was nicknamed the "human printer" during Mr. Trump's 2024 election campaign because she carried a printer with her to reproduce news articles that might interest him.
Harp was hired as executive assistant to the US president at the beginning of his second term in the White House.
The New York Times has previously reported that some in Trump's inner circle are concerned that she may have undue influence over his perception of current affairs. It cited unidentified sources who alleged that she often presents him with news from sources inclined toward conspiracy theories and promotes flattering news stories.
A video shared online during the 2024 presidential election campaign showed Trump dictating social media posts to Harp, who then hastily wrote them to share on his Truth Social platform.
"Speak up now," he told Harp at one point in the video, after she had written down his thoughts on political prosecutions while they watched a campaign speech by Kamala Harris, the former Democratic presidential candidate.
Harp is also alleged to have written letters of praise to Trump during the 2024 campaign, according to Regime Change, a book published in June by Maggie Haberman and Jonathan Swan, two New York Times reporters. The book references Harp’s emotional notes in which she tells Trump “you are all that matters to me” and calls him “her protector in this life.”
In another letter, Harp reportedly told Mr. Trump that she wanted to return to “that synergy” she had with him, where they “talked about everything and nothing.” “I want to bring you joy,” she reportedly wrote, “to feel like we can get through a day without ever having to talk about ‘work.’”
Harp has not commented on reports of her alleged closeness to the president. The White House was contacted for comment. The Telegraph has contacted Melania Trump's office for comment. ©LAPSI.al
