Maggie Haberman: Natalie Harp Is a Channel for Foreign Leaders and People on TV

EXCERPT:

HABERMAN: “And part of it is, you know, he will describe to other aides that — and said this during the interregnum period — that, you know, everyone else will go off and make money, she'll never leave. That essentially, she is the person who loves him as much as his wife and children. And she serves a specific purpose. In a White House, in a government, there are other channels, official channels of information. You know, she doesn't provide him with his national security briefing, the presidential daily brief. She is not the White House staff secretary, which is supposed to be the last step for paper flow. She's not the press secretary from whom certain media requests are supposed to come. She is a channel by which, as you said, foreign leaders try to reach him if they can't some other way. She has a channel by which he reaches people he sees on television, who he likes what they are saying, or that he'll to send out notes to. She is with him so much of the day during those meetings, and she is talking to him throughout the evening about social media posts. So, she is a specific channel of information, but she is one that he considers very important, and so do other people outside the White House."