All posts tagged: Trumps

Who is Natalie Harp? Meet Donald Trump’s devoted 35-year-old aide who ‘will never leave’ him

Who is Natalie Harp? Meet Donald Trump’s devoted 35-year-old aide who ‘will never leave’ him

Published by Daniella Wilson

Donald Trump has surrounded himself with a fiercely loyal inner circle throughout his second term in the White House, but few aides appear to have become quite as indispensable as Natalie Harp. The 35-year-old executive assistant has been photographed at the President’s side everywhere from the Oval Office to the golf course, while her extraordinary devotion to her boss has now become a major talking point in Washington. Natalie has reportedly been described as Trump’s “human printer” because of her habit of carrying a portable printer to provide him with articles, social media posts and other material throughout the day. She also helps manage his Truth Social presence and has become one of the small group of aides with almost constant access to him. © Getty ImagesNatalie Harp, executive assistant to U.S. President Donald Trump Her relationship with the 80-year-old President has come under renewed scrutiny following revelations in Maggie Haberman and Jonathan Swan’s book Regime Change: Inside the Imperial Presidency of Donald Trump, which details the extraordinary extent of Natalie’s loyalty. It comes as First …

Trump’s Current Naval Fixation – The Atlantic

Trump’s Current Naval Fixation – The Atlantic

Published by Sam Flores

This is an edition of The Atlantic Daily, a newsletter that guides you through the biggest stories of the day, helps you discover new ideas, and recommends the best in culture. Sign up for it here. Over the past nine years, Donald Trump has returned again and again to the concept of steam power. He loves the way that steam propels fighter jets off the decks of aircraft carriers, and he laments that the Navy has pivoted to electromagnetic launchers in its new ships. “That beautiful scene,” he rhapsodized at a rally in 2023: “That steam goes off, and that plane gets thrown the hell off; the power, beautiful. And it’s cheap!” By The Guardian’s accounting, Trump has spoken publicly about these steam catapults every year since 2017, when he claimed to have told the crew of the USS Gerald Ford that they’d be “going to goddamned steam.” The Gerald Ford is the only one of the Navy’s 11 operational aircraft carriers that’s not currently equipped with steam catapults. Instead, it uses the more modern …

Trump’s threat of 100% import tariff on UK ‘not a bluff’, US trade tsar warns

Trump’s threat of 100% import tariff on UK ‘not a bluff’, US trade tsar warns

Published by Sam Flores

Donald Trump’s threat of a 100 per cent import tariff on the UK over Britain’s digital services tax on American social media firms is “not a bluff”, a US trade representative has said. Back in June, the US president warned of imposing the tariff on European countries, including the UK which taxes companies, such as Google and Apple, with global digital revenues exceeding £500m. The two per cent levy is viewed as an important revenue stream for The Treasury, raising £800m in 2024/25, up from £678m in 2023/24. Mr Trump’s threat in June followed a similar warning the month before when he indicated that substantial tariffs could be imposed unless the UK reversed its digital services tax on American technology firms. However, despite the threats the US administration has so far not yet followed them up with action. But speaking to The Times, US trade representative Jamieson Greer said the warnings were “not a bluff” – although when asked about a deadline, he appeared to give new prime minister Andy Burnham some time to respond. …

Trump’s Oman bomb threat an attempt to get their ‘attention’: Ex-ambassador

Trump’s Oman bomb threat an attempt to get their ‘attention’: Ex-ambassador

Published by Sam Flores

U.S. President Donald Trump speaks during a news conference in James S. Brady Press Briefing Room of the White House on April 06, 2026 in Washington, DC. Alex Wong | Getty Images News | Getty Images U.S.-Iran peace talks have effectively stalled, a former U.S. ambassador told CNBC on Tuesday, with Washington pursuing a diplomatic solution that was never “seriously on the table.” The 60-day window for a negotiated settlement closed without a breakthrough on Monday, with ships still unable to safely transit the Strait of Hormuz. U.S. President Donald Trump on Monday threatened to bomb Oman — an ally of Washington — if it “gets in the way” of negotiations with Iran. Tehran is in active talks with Oman over a deal to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, a critical route for international shipping that has become a key sticking point in negotiations with U.S. representatives. Speaking to CNBC’s Access Middle East on Tuesday, Marc Sievers, who served as U.S. ambassador to Oman between 2016 and 2019, said Trump’s threat to bomb the country …

The Incoherence of Trump’s Past Week of Foreign Policy

The Incoherence of Trump’s Past Week of Foreign Policy

Published by Daniella Wilson

This is an edition of The Atlantic Daily, a newsletter that guides you through the biggest stories of the day, helps you discover new ideas, and recommends the best in culture. Sign up for it here. A memorandum of understanding between Iran and the United States, reached in June and intended to provide breathing room to end the conflict between the two countries, expired today. The agreement will be little missed: A cease-fire had effectively ended within about three weeks of its signing, and the MOU had failed to produce fruitful negotiations or a real opening of the Strait of Hormuz. The president’s actions in the days leading up to the deadline demonstrate that his approach to the world, always contingent and improvisational, has lost its last shred of coherence. The White House cannot agree on the goals of the Iran war, much less on how to achieve them. The president is clashing with long-standing allies, in conflict with his vice president on the aims of the war, and publicly at odds with uniformed commanders …

Supreme Court turns away Trump’s latest bid to block E. Jean Carroll award

Supreme Court turns away Trump’s latest bid to block E. Jean Carroll award

Published by Sam Flores

WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court on Monday declined for a second time to take up President Donald Trump’s bid to overturn a jury verdict that awarded $5 million to writer E. Jean Carroll and found Trump liable for sexual abuse and defamation. In an unusual move, the president had asked the court to reconsider its decision from June that rejected Trump’s initial appeal. The court almost never grants such requests. Trump has already turned over the $5 million, plus interest. The case arose from a federal lawsuit Carroll filed in New York City alleging that Trump sexually assaulted her in the dressing room of a department store in 1996. The defamation claims relate to statements he made about her after his first term in office, in which he described her claims as a “con job” and “hoax.” Trump has denied any wrongdoing and has said he does not know Carroll. Trump has a separate appeal at the Supreme Court concerning a different defamation case in which Carroll won an $83 million judgment. That case concerns …

Pete Hegseth is Trump’s favorite kind of failure

Pete Hegseth is Trump’s favorite kind of failure

Published by Sam Flores

The tale of Donald Trump sneaking off Air Force One in a catering truck captured public attention for many reasons. It was a reminder that, for all his tough talk, the president harbors a sense of fear. Hiding away in a glorified ice chest would also have been a blow to the 80-year-old’s dignity. But the charade, which was first revealed by the Washington Post, also gave us insight, as political scientist Scott Lemieux wrote, “into who he considers his actual inner circle.” Left behind on the decoy plane were Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, White House deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller and other administration officials and aides. The only people deemed worthy of saving from Iran’s reported threat were people whose full-time jobs are tending the president’s body and, more importantly, his ego: Natalie Harp, who writes Trump love letters, and whose main job is showing him flattering social media posts. Body man Walt Nauta. Dan Scavino, Trump’s former golf caddie. Oh yeah, and Pete Hegseth.  The defense secretary’s …

Kushner meets Hamas leaders in Egypt to push Trump’s Gaza plan | Israel-Palestine conflict News

Kushner meets Hamas leaders in Egypt to push Trump’s Gaza plan | Israel-Palestine conflict News

Published by Sam Flores

Hamas leaders have met in Egypt with US President Donald Trump’s son-in-law and Middle East envoy, Jared Kushner, who is seeking to push a peace plan for Gaza that Israel has rejected. A Palestinian source told Al Jazeera on Sunday that Hamas’s leadership briefed Kushner on Israel’s ceasefire violations in Gaza. The source also stated that Kushner said the US rejects any plans to displace Gaza’s residents. Recommended Stories list of 4 itemsend of list Another official familiar with the matter told Al Jazeera that Hamas and Kushner met in the town of Alamein “with the objective of translating the roadmap’s obligations into concrete, verifiable steps”. “These are actions that maintain the ceasefire; begin to transfer all governing responsibilities to the National Committee for the Administration of Gaza; ensure that Hamas has no role in Gaza’s future administration,” the source, who is neither a member of the Board of Peace nor a US official, said. “There can be no ambiguity: Hamas must relinquish governing authority and all weapons and military infrastructure. And Gaza can never …

‘Delusional’: Iran Fires Back At Trump’s Make ‘Hormuz Strait A Territory Of The US’ Ambitions

‘Delusional’: Iran Fires Back At Trump’s Make ‘Hormuz Strait A Territory Of The US’ Ambitions

Published by Jenni Sidey

Predictably, Iran has on Saturday issued a full-throated rejection of President Trump’s Friday evening words related to the status on the conflict and energy transit in the region. In a speech on New York’s Long Island, Trump introduced the idea of declaring the Strait of Hormuz a US territory. “After we finish defeating Iran, which is being very badly defeated — pretty soon, I’ll be declaring the Hormuz Strait a territory of the United States,” Trump told a crowd of law enforcement officers. Trump on declaring the Strait of Hormuz a U.S. territory post the conflict with Iran 👇 pic.twitter.com/BjgW8pNKIQ — Brian Schwartz (@schwartzbWSJ) August 14, 2026 “Essentially, that’s what it is. We have the blockade. No ships get through unless we want them to,” he added. He claimed oil prices were coming “way down”. Some pundits pointed to what seemed like classic hyperbole and his penchant for floating extreme scenarios in off-the-cuff fashion; however, Trump made the statement without any qualifiers other than it will happen when Iran is “badly defeated” by the United …

Trump’s new ballroom adviser has been dead for 227 years

Trump’s new ballroom adviser has been dead for 227 years

Published by Sam Flores

President Donald Trump has apparently found a new adviser for his embattled White House ballroom: George Washington. Trump spent part of his weekend sharing a series of seemingly AI-generated images depicting himself alongside the nation’s first president, including one showing the pair writing with quill pens, another riding horses together and a short video in which Trump and Washington stroll through the still-unbuilt ballroom. “Thank you, George, for some of your brilliant ideas on this great Military Complex/Ballroom!” Trump captioned the 10-second video. Washington’s newfound role as Trump’s 18th-century architectural consultant comes as the president fights to continue construction on the $400 million White House project. The Trump administration asked the Supreme Court on Friday to intervene after a federal appeals court ruled that aboveground construction could not proceed without congressional approval. The imaginary collaboration also contains a historical wrinkle: Washington never actually lived in the White House. Washington selected the site for the President’s House and oversaw aspects of its planning and construction, but left office in 1797 and died in 1799. John Adams …