US President Donald Trump’s decision last week to ban three major media outlets from the White House reportedly came after one of his closest aides showed him clips of TV hosts criticising him.
Trump on Friday said CNN, MS NOW, and Politico would be banned from the White House after he baselessly accused them of “fake news.”
By Saturday, the reporters were denied entry to the White House and stripped of their credentials.
The Wall Street Journal reported on Sunday that the precise moment his frustrations with the media “reached a fever pitch” came after aide Natalie Harp showed him videos of MS NOW hosts criticising his administration.
The newspaper cited “people familiar with the matter,” but did not identify them.
Trump banned the outlets just hours after Harp shared the videos.
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Harp is the 30-something aide who is almost always by the president’s side ― so much so that she was reportedly one of just three aides to make a secret escape from Air Force One before takeoff amid concern that the aircraft was at risk of being shot down by Iran.
Trump, Harp and the others flew on a secret second aircraft while other key officials ― including Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent ― and the media remained on the plane that had been designated Air Force One.
Mandel NGAN / AFP via Getty Images
Harp came under intense media interest last month after Senator Jon Ossoff (Democrat, Georgia) mentioned her at a rally in Georgia.
“He doesn’t want to do the job,” Ossoff said of the president. “He wants to build his ballroom and travel with Natalie on their apparently defenceless flying palace gifted by the emir of Qatar.”
In addition, Trump’s relationship with several aides, including Harp, drew new scrutiny after financial disclosures revealed that the president had given them cash gifts of up to $45,000 that ethics experts have said could be problematic and potentially illegal.
Harp has been dubbed “the human printer” because she traveled with a printer to hand Trump hard copy of positive coverage. New York Times reporter Maggie Haberman said she is more like Trump’s “comfort blanket” and “binkie.”
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