U.S. President Donald Trump and his executive assistant Natalie Harp exit Marine One at the Ellipse near the White House, in Washington, D.C., U.S., August 16, 2026. REUTERS/Annabelle Gordon
The White House took aim at CNN correspondent Kristen Holmes's children, saying they would one day be "sickened" by her, after she asked President Donald Trump about his relationship with a close aide.
Holmes posed the question Monday in the Oval Office, relaying remarks Sen. Jon Ossoff (D-GA) made at a weekend rally about Trump and executive assistant Natalie Harp.
Harp, a former One America News Network anchor, has become a near-constant companion to the president — attending Oval Office meetings, managing his Truth Social account, and carrying a portable printer to feed him news stories throughout the day.
Rapid Response 47, the official White House rapid response account, escalated to a direct attack on Holmes's family.
"Someday, your children will come across your disgusting and inhumane question," the account wrote. "They will be sickened and embarrassed to have a parent be so callous and vindictive."
In an earlier post, the same account had already called Holmes a "disgraceful, humiliating embarrassment to her alleged profession" and labeled White House reporters "scumbags" and "the lowest of the low."
Holmes had asked Trump to respond to Ossoff's weekend remarks, relaying the senator's words directly.
"Jon Ossoff said that you'd rather travel with your aide, Natalie Harp, and build the ballroom than do your job as president," Holmes told Trump. "What is your response to Jon Ossoff?"
Trump responded by mocking the senator's appearance, calling him a "Pee Wee Herman look-alike," before pivoting to the White House renovation.
At a rally in Atlanta on Sunday, the Daily Beast reported, Ossoff had accused Trump of neglecting the presidency — contrasting sailors deployed aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln with a president he portrayed as focused on golf and Harp.
"He wants to build his ballroom and travel with Natalie on their apparently defenseless flying palace gifted by the Emir of Qatar," Ossoff said.
According to People, the book Regime Change by New York Times reporters Maggie Haberman and Jonathan Swan reveals Trump told staff Harp was the "only one who loved him as much as his wife and kids."
Harp also left notes in Trump's "personal spaces," the book said, including one that read, "You are all that matters to me."
"She is sort of his binkie, for lack of a better way of putting it — his comfort blanket," Haberman told MS NOW.
"You know what's disgusting and inhumane?" Klein wrote on X, pushing back on the White House. "Bringing her perfect children into this."
CNN White House correspondent Alayna Treene called the post "a horrible thing to say," adding that Holmes is "an incredible reporter, person and, above all, mother."
"Personal attacks on journalists for asking questions are beneath the office and inconsistent with the principles of a free press," CNN said in a statement.