Deleted tweets by controversial presidential aide Natalie Harp show her expressing fierce support for Donald Trump on the day his supporters rioted at the US Capitol in Washington, demanding that the result of the 2020 election be overturned in his favour.
Analysis of Harp’s now-deleted X account by CNN showed that she made more than 150 posts on January 6, 2021, including urging Republicans to “FIGHT FOR TRUMP”, while he addressed supporters claiming the election had been stolen.
CNN said it was unclear when her account was taken down or whether she or X, then called Twitter, had removed the posts.
More than 1500 people were eventually charged in relation to the events of January 6, 2021, when a violent mob smashed their way into the Capitol building where Congress was meeting to certify Joe Biden’s 2020 election victory.
Trump reportedly watched the scenes unfold on television before releasing a video telling supporters to go home, while maintaining that the election had been “stolen”.
On January 6, CNN said Harp, then a 29-year-old conservative TV presenter, shared social media comments praising pro-Trump demonstrators as “patriots” and challenged Congress to show “a fraction of the courage & passion” of the crowd, declaring: “Today we STOP THE STEAL!”
When the president began speaking to supporters near the Capitol, Harp posted, “FIGHT FOR TRUMP!” 12 times in one post, adding, “Today DC is TRUMP COUNTRY!” She then live-tweeted his speech, commenting: “We will never give up. We will never concede!”
After the mob later forced its way into the Capitol, Harp posted updates insisting the rioters were “not Trump supporters” and shared the president’s calls for the rioters to go home.
When he returned to office in January 2025, Trump issued “full, complete and unconditional” pardons to those charged with or convicted of offences related to the riot.
Harp joined Trump’s campaign team in 2022 and has been a near-constant presence by his side since his 2024 return to office.
Her name went global last week when Democratic senator Jon Ossoff attacked Trump over the fallout of the Iran war, claiming he had lost interest in the presidency and just wanted to “travel with Natalie” on his luxury plane rather than do his job.
Their unconventionally close relationship is now attracting frenzied scrutiny in the media.
Evidence emerged of a series of intimate letters written to Trump in which Harp declared: “No one knows or cares about me more” and said she was envious of those “whose only job seems to be to talk with you and look pretty”.
According to the London Telegraph, Harp has unfettered access to Trump. She stays up late with him drafting his social media posts, texts world leaders on his behalf, and has a designated chair outside the Oval Office.
Images of her sprinting after Trump’s golf buggy at a course in Scotland in 2023 also circulated over the weekend.
Harp also appeared close at hand as Trump presided over the first IndyCar race to ever take place in Washington on Sunday – though positioned some way back from the president and the conspicuously present first lady, Melania Trump.
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