A biographer detailed when devoted aide Natalie Harp began to emerge in President Donald Trump's circle and tied her to one of his pet projects.
During an episode of Inside Trump's Head, author Michael Wolff said that he started hearing Harp's name during the 2024 campaign, and he credited her as one of the minds behind the East Wing teardown and the push for a White House ballroom.
"People within the White House say that Natalie was one of the people who argued for the ballroom and getting rid of the East Wing," Wolff said.
"Wow!" co-host Joanna Coles said. "Natalie was really big on the ballroom and getting rid of the East Wing."
"People see this around Trump, that she is working," Wolff said. "She has worked to put herself in the position that she is the woman closest to Donald Trump."
Harp has recently found herself in the spotlight after Sen. Jon Ossoff (D-GA) called Trump out in comments, saying, "He wants to build his ballroom and travel with Natalie on their apparently defenseless flying palace gifted by the emir of Qatar."
According to Maggie Haberman and Jonathan Swan's Regime Change, Trump's team knew that First Lady Melania Trump wouldn't be happy with the demolition of the East Wing. Wolff confirmed in the podcast, "It's really Natalie versus Melania," and that he first started hearing Harp's name in 2024.
"During the 2024 campaign, people began to talk to me because they were specifically worried about this woman, Natalie Harp," Wolff said. "No one knew exactly what she was doing there. No one knew why she was there, but she was assuming more and more authority in the campaign."
Wolff described it as "both a worry and an annoyance to many people, and so that's one of the motivations for people to speak to reporters."
