WASHINGTON—Sen. Jon Ossoff didn’t even use her full name. But everybody in Washington knew who he was talking about.
The intensity of the pushback from Republicans underscored an ironclad truth inside the White House: Harp, according to current and former administration officials, is practically untouchable.
White House spokesman Davis Ingle called Harp “one of the most loyal and hardest working aides on President Trump’s team. The White House declined to make Harp available for an interview.
He criticized Ossoff and said he is advancing liberal policy priorities that Republicans consider extreme.
Earlier this year, at Trump’s direction, Harp posted a video that included racist imagery depicting Barack and Michelle Obama as apes, and an AI-generated image of Trump as a Christ-like figure, The Wall Street Journal previously reported . She sits at a desk immediately outside the Oval Office. Harp is one of a small number of aides with direct access to Trump’s Truth Social account. She often brings the president stacks of printed-out draft social-media posts for his approval. Trump sometimes dictates posts to Harp, who posts them on his behalf from her iPhone. Some administration officials have privately complained that Harp has shown the president material from far-right groups that is riddled with false or misleading information. White House officials say Harp hasn’t taken a single vacation day since joining the Trump administration and remains in constant contact with the president, sitting in on Situation Room meetings, Oval Office meetings and meetings aboard Air Force One in his private office. She has at times ruffled feathers among White House aides by immediately following through on Trump’s directives without first checking in with the chief of staff, the communications office or the national security team. The White House deleted both posts after Trump faced bipartisan criticism.
Harp spends more time with Trump than any other aide, according to current and former administration officials. During meetings, Harp can often be found next to Trump, armed with a laptop and phones so she can quickly get the president any contact or piece of information he needs, the officials said. She has learned to mimic Trump’s cadence and unique punctuation, the officials said. Harp serves as both a buffer and sounding board for the president, a role that has at times frustrated some White House staff, according to people familiar with the matter. Harp reports exclusively to Trump and no one else, according to people familiar with the dynamic While all executive staff work for the president. Some people close to the White House said Harp was unfairly blamed for Trump’s posts, noting that the president signs off on all of his social-media content.
