Natalie Harp was ‘devoted’ to Christian minister before finding Trump, brother reveals

Natalie Harp, the 35-year-old White House aide who has drawn scrutiny for her closeness to President Donald Trump, spent her youth deeply involved in a large evangelical congregation, according to her estranged brother, Preston Harp. He told Raw Story that she attended the sermons of Pastor David Jeremiah, senior pastor of Shadow Mountain Community Church in southern California, while he went to the youth group. Preston Harp said she began going around age 13, and that their mother and sister worked in the church office around 2010. He described the church as a megachurch funded by wealthy conservative Republicans and said he was kicked out of the family home at 18 for having doubts. The Independent says it has asked Jeremiah for comment.

Attention on Harp grew last month after The Washington Post reported she was in a catering truck that carried Trump away from Air Force One during the NATO summit in Turkey, while the plane served as a decoy. Other accounts described her sleeping in the locker room at Bedminster and riding in an SUV trunk to stay near him. Senator Jon Ossoff of Georgia has taken a jab at the president over his time with her, while Marc Beckman, an adviser to Melania Trump, rejected suggestions of impropriety and blamed the "liberal media."

Harp, who says she had bone cancer, credited Trump in 2019 with saving her life through a 2018 law. Her brother calls her bond with him "very unhealthy."

Summarized by PolitiKool from The Independent’s reporting. Read the full story at The Independent →