President Donald Trump’s 35-year-old aide Natalie Harp emerged on Thursday as a candidate to replace White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt. Prediction market platform Kalshi listed Harp with a five percent chance of landing the prominent spokesperson role. The unexpected listing placed the close personal assistant on the radar for the high-profile briefing room job.
For context, the news came after sources identified political commentator Scott Jennings as the current frontrunner for the position. Reporting on Thursday indicated that Jennings leads the list of potential choices to speak for the White House press office. Kalshi bettors currently give Jennings a twenty-nine percent chance to secure the podium position.
White House Principal Deputy Press Secretary Anna Kelly sits behind Jennings with a seventeen percent chance on Kalshi. Former legal spokesperson Alina Habba holds sixteen percent in the prediction market rankings.
Harp maintains constant access to the Oval Office as a key personal assistant to the president. Her administrative duties include printing out news articles for Trump to review throughout the work day. She also handles digital communication stuff by posting content directly to Truth Social for the president.
The Growing Influence of Natalie Harp in Washington
Photographers have repeatedly captured Harp alongside Trump during his current presidential term in office. She frequently travels with the president on official transport like Marine One. Her constant presence near executive leadership keeps her closely tied to daily White House routine.
Her role inside the administration involves extraordinary proximity during high-stakes international travel. Trump brought Harp with him on a separate aircraft during a secret evacuation from Turkey last month. Security officials separated the presidential team to protect key personnel from potential airborne threats.
(And yes, she traveled on the safe plane while top Cabinet officials acted as decoy targets.)
Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller remained on that targeted decoy aircraft. Officials feared an Iranian assassin might target that primary aircraft during the transit. Harp flew safely on the secondary plane alongside Trump during the sensitive movement.
Her intense focus on supporting the president has drawn notice from authors and biographers. Author Michael Wolff detailed her unique standing in his 2025 book All or Nothing. Wolff reported that Secret Service personnel flagged Harp as a potential security risk due to her behavior.
Books Detail Unyielding Loyalty from Natalie Harp
Reporters Maggie Haberman and Jonathan Swan also documented her actions during the 2024 presidential campaign. They reported that Harp left gushing letters in Trump’s personal spaces for him to find. One written note explicitly stated that Trump was all that mattered to her.
Can someone who never spoke publicly to reporters successfully command the White House press room? That remains a wild question for media observers tracking potential candidates for the podium.
Unlike other administration figures, Harp avoids personal social media platforms entirely. She has never given public interviews or statements regarding her official duties in the White House. She handles internal administrative work rather than public relations tasks.
Despite her silence with reporters, betting markets continue to track her odds alongside seasoned communications professionals. Her presence on the betting board reflects her unique proximity to the president. Observers view her as an intriguing wild card among established political operatives.
Kalshi lists several other administration figures on the candidate board alongside Harp. Assistant Press Secretary Liz Huston holds a spot among the long-shot contenders. White House Communications Director Steven Cheung also appears on the market listing.
Longtime Trump adviser Jason Miller remains in the mix on the candidate board. Campaign adviser Danielle Alvarez also features among the long-shot options. Alvarez previously served as Communications Director for the Republican National Committee during the 2022 midterms before joining the campaign staff.
The prediction market also includes the president’s daughter-in-law Lara Trump among potential options. Kennedy Center public relations vice president Roma Daravi rounds out the remaining candidate list on Kalshi.
