The White House launched a personal attack on a journalist on Saturday after he noted that Natalie Harp, a longtime aide to Donald Trump, travelled with the president to Ireland. It escalated a public feud over the aide’s proximity to the commander-in-chief.
White House melts down as journalist points out Natalie Harp’s presence in Ireland
Aaron Rupar, a liberal journalist who regularly posts clips of Donald Trump and his administration on X (formerly Twitter), flagged Harp’s participation in the weekend trip by sharing a photo of her. “Look who made the trip to Ireland! #TravelWithNatalie,” he wrote.
The White House’s rapid response account answered with a sharply worded post defending the arrangement. “President Trump does, in fact, travel with staff,” it read, before turning on Rupar: “Aaron, on the other hand, is a sick, deluded freak (in his 40s) who sits behind a keyboard and posts creepy things like this.”
Rupar brushed off the insult, joking that his taxpayer dollars were “hard at work.” He added: “I know being in my 40s makes me too old for the president but I’m at peace with it.” Natalie Harp has drawn scrutiny in recent weeks over her bond with Donald Trump, which reportedly earned her a $45,000 holiday “gift.” She joined the Ireland visit while First Lady Melania Trump stayed home. The president said on Saturday that his wife was with him “in spirit.”
The exchange overshadowed a trip built around golf. Trump flew to his Doonbeg resort in County Clare, which hosts the Irish Open, after a courtesy call in Dublin to Áras an Uachtaráin, the official residence of Irish president Catherine Connolly. Speaking alongside taoiseach Micheál Martin, the president said he would “love” to see a united Ireland.
“I think it would be a great feather in everybody’s cap if that happened,” he told reporters. “It’s going to happen eventually. It may as well happen now.” The comments prompted a swift rebuttal from the UK government and Northern Ireland’s unionist leaders (via The Guardian).
