AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais
President Donald Trump appeared to have calls to his personal phone screened by personal aide Natalie Harp throughout Tuesday night.
The midterm elections were the worst-case scenario for the Trump administration, with Democrats taking control of the House and Senate. With total control of Congress, it is widely believed the Democrats will make it extraordinarily difficult for Trump to enact his agenda. Additionally, at least one Democrat warned Republicans to “lawyer up,” suggesting legal action could be on the way next year.
As the results continued to pour in and it became clear the Democrats were dominating, the president started taking calls from numerous reporters to give his immediate reaction. When the call was answered, however, reporters were surprised to hear a female voice asking them to identify themselves.
During Politico’s live election coverage, Dasha Burns decided to cold call the president. Moments later, she was greeted by a woman.
“Hi, may I ask who’s calling?” the woman said.
Burns then identified herself. After a brief moment of silence, Trump was on the phone, and the conversation began.
According to Andrew Feinberg, the White House correspondent for The Independent, the woman was none other than Trump’s executive assistant.
“One sign of how badly things are going at the White House right now?,” Feinberg tweeted Tuesday night. “Natalie Harp is screening @realDonaldTrump’s phone calls.”
NewsNation’s Kellie Meyer experienced something similar before the election. In a Wednesday morning tweet, she revealed that she was also greeted by the woman when she tried to call the president.
“Something I noticed in the last 36 hours,” Meyer said. “President Trump has a woman screening his calls. Previously he would just answer himself. I called Monday and a woman answered asking who this is. He couldn’t talk. And same thing happened in this live stream with Politico’s @DashaBurns. Another reporter @AndrewFeinberg said it was Natalie Harp.”
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