Sen. Jon Ossoff has criticized President Donald Trump over his relationship with aide Natalie Harp, accusing him of preferring to “travel with Natalie” over governing. The Georgia Democrat made the remarks while discussing the controversy surrounding the USS Abraham Lincoln’s record-setting deployment, the Iran war and Trump’s new Air Force One aircraft gifted by Qatar. Trump dismissed Ossoff’s criticism while speaking with reporters in the Oval Office, calling him “Pee-wee Herman.”
Jon Ossoff criticizes Donald Trump over Natalie Harp and the USS Abraham Lincoln
At a rally on Sunday, August 16, Ossoff discussed the Iran war and how sailors aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln are carrying out dangerous duties while the president remains focused elsewhere. He also took a dig at the new primo Air Force One gifted by Qatar, calling it “defenseless.”
“While the sailors on the Lincoln fight his war, while he fruitlessly drains our munitions and oil reserves, the president sleeps through his meetings,” Ossoff said. “He golfs and trades stocks. See, he doesn’t want to do the job. He wants to build his ballroom and travel with Natalie on their apparently defenseless flying palace gifted by the emir of Qatar.”
Asked by MS NOW’s Jen Psaki on Monday, August 17, why he singled out Harp, Ossoff said he had heard the aide being described as Trump’s “security blanket.”
Jon Ossoff says Donald Trump is surrounded by enablers
Ossoff argued that Trump’s senior advisers are shielding him from unwelcome information as the country continues the military offensive against Iran. “We need a team in the White House. We need folks at the State Department, at the Defense Department, in the United States Congress, who take their jobs seriously. … And the president, surrounded by enablers in the West Wing, is playing golf, is trading stock and is decorating his ballroom,” he said. “Those sailors out on the Lincoln, they do their jobs with excellence and dedication every single day.” He added that American families are paying more because of what he called Trump’s “failed economic policy and his failed foreign policy.”
Natalie Harp’s ‘unhealthy’ relationship with Donald Trump
Harp, 35, serves as Trump’s executive assistant and accompanied him during the recent plane-swap prompted by a potential threat from Iran, alongside Dan Scavino and Walt Nauta, while the president left Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and the White House press pool behind in the “decoy” aircraft.
According to reports, she first attracted Trump’s attention in 2019 after publicly praising his Right To Try law while describing her recovery from Stage 2 bone cancer. Harp later worked as a television presenter for One America News Network from 2020 to 2022 before Trump appointed her executive assistant upon returning to the White House in January 2025.
Her estranged brother has described her relationship with Trump as “very unhealthy,” while former White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt called her “one of the most loyal and hardest working aides on President Trump’s team.”
White House fires back
Following Ossoff’s comments, White House communications director Steven Cheung attacked the senator on X using a series of insults. “[He] has to be the biggest loser in politics. Instead of denigrating hard working people serving their country, Jon should look deep into his soul and ask himself why he’s a miserable person who hates this country. It’s because he’s a radical, extremist Dumocrat,” he wrote.
Trump himself rejected Ossoff’s accusations, calling the senator “Pee-wee Herman” and saying he would “much rather do other things” than avoid his presidential responsibilities. Defending the White House ballroom project, Trump told reporters, “You mean Pee-wee Herman? Pee-wee Herman lookalike? No, I would much rather do other things. … We’re building a great facility here. We’re fixing a White House that hasn’t been taken care of.”