Natalie Harp Makes Dramatic Move as Melania Returns

REUTERS Donald Trump’s ever-present aide Natalie Harp appeared to abandon her usual post by the president’s side as Melania Trump made a rare White House appearance.

The 56-year-old first lady resurfaced publicly for the first time in more than a month on Thursday, emerging from the White House holding hands with her 80-year-old husband before speaking about the expansion of her Fostering the Future Initiative in the Rose Garden.

Harp, the president’s 35-year-old executive assistant, did not appear in photos of the event taken by AP, Getty, or Reuters.

Her apparent absence is striking for an aide who has been seemingly glued to Trump’s side—from his secret flight out of Turkey last month to his weekend jaunt to his New Jersey golf club .

She had been with Trump at least 18 days in the last month —a period in which Melania has not been photographed with her husband once.

The White House did not immediately respond to the Daily Beast’s request for comment. !function(e,n,i,s){var d="InfogramEmbeds";var o=e.getElementsByTagName(n)[0];if(window[d]&&window[d].initialized)window[d].process&&window[d].process();else if(!e.getElementById(i)){var r=e.createElement(n);r.async=1,r.id=i,r.src=s,o.parentNode.insertBefore(r,o)}}(document,"script","infogram-async","https://e.infogram.com/js/dist/embed-loader-min.js"); The two women are locked in a secret power struggle , according to Trump biographer Michael Wolff.

The author wrote in a post on his Substack newsletter Howl that Melania was largely absent from the 2024 campaign trail because she did not want to share his side with Harp.

“Melania, whose appearances with her husband were carefully negotiated and choreographed, would not show up if Harp was around,” Wolff wrote.

“Since Harp was always around, Melania never was—appearing with her husband only in the last week of the campaign.” But Harp’s presence has only grown since Trump returned to the White House—while Melania has all but faded from view.

A Daily Beast analysis revealed that the first lady had not been seen since July 19 until Thursday.

It also found she has only been seen in public 38 days this year.

Harp, a former right-wing TV host who now serves as a kind of gatekeeper to the president outside the usual chain of command, has drawn scrutiny amid White House leaks about her obsessive behavior toward Trump.