Trump Reportedly Had to Intervene After Natalie Harp Kept Declining to Seek Security Clearance

AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais

President Donald Trump reportedly had to personally intervene after his close aide Natalie Harp repeatedly declined to seek a routine security clearance despite her extraordinary access to the president.

Harp went more than a year without initiating the standard clearance process typically undertaken by West Wing employees, MS NOW reported Wednesday, citing two people familiar with the matter.

It remains unclear why Harp initially declined to complete the necessary paperwork. But concerns eventually grew among White House counsel and security officials, prompting Trump to step in, according to the report. Harp subsequently submitted the required forms, underwent a federal background investigation, and received a clearance in recent months.

White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt defended Harp in a statement to MS NOW, emphasizing, “Natalie Harp has a security clearance like everyone else, and she is a loyal and hardworking member of President Trump’s team.”

Harp, whose official titles include special assistant and executive assistant to the president, has reportedly caused further friction inside the White House, with one source telling the network that top staffers have made “subtle moves” to limit her access and another maintaining she “plays into the less productive and more troublesome parts of [Trump’s] nature, putting things in front of him that aren’t vetted.”

That allegation is supported by Tuesday CNN reporting that claimed Harp was behind the since-deleted racist video shared from the president’s Truth Social account depicting former President Barack Obama and former first lady Michelle Obama as apes earlier this year.

MS NOW also revealed that the Secret Service raised concerns about Harp during Trump’s second term, over both her access to the president and her then-unfinished security clearance. Those concerns echo comments made earlier Wednesday by former Trump White House Deputy Press Secretary Sarah Matthews, who said Harp is “so obsessed with [Trump] that it alarms Secret Service.”

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