Senator Jon Ossoff, D-Ga., declined to provide a specific reason for invoking President Donald Trump's executive assistant, Natalie Harp, during a campaign rally in Atlanta when pressed on the matter in an interview Monday.
During an interview with MS NOW host Jen Psaki, Ossoff was asked why he specifically mentioned Harp during his Sunday speech. A video of the rally remarks had gone viral on social media. In the speech, Ossoff stated that Trump wants to "travel with Natalie" rather than focus on his presidential duties. Some progressive social media users interpreted this comment as alluding to unconfirmed rumors about their relationship.
"We're in wartime. The commander-in-chief has mired us in this geopolitical disaster. People have lost their lives, our naval logistics are frayed, the global energy system is in crisis, and he retreats into this bubble of West Wing aides who are his security blanket," Ossoff responded in the interview, referencing the president's White House staff broadly.
When Psaki pressed him to explain his specific mention of Harp, Ossoff stated, "Well, I've heard this particular aide referred to as his security blanket, and I think we could say that about any number of the senior aides in the White House. They're not telling him what he needs to hear, they're telling him what he wants to hear. And the nation is at war, and we cannot afford that."
In his initial rally remarks, Ossoff had said, "While the sailors on the Lincoln fight his war, while he fruitlessly drains our munitions and oil reserves, the president sleeps through his meetings, he golfs, and trades stocks. He doesn’t want to do the job. He wants to build his ballroom and travel with Natalie on their apparently defenseless flying palace gifted by the Emir of Qatar."
White House spokesman Davis Ingle responded to Ossoff's remarks, calling the senator "a feminine theatre kid who voted to massively raise taxes, give illegal immigrants free taxpayer-funded healthcare, and defund federal immigration enforcement and Border Patrol. Lightweight Jon’s rhetoric is cringeworthy, but his extreme voting record is dangerous."
White House director of communications Steven Cheung stated, "Instead of denigrating hard working people serving their country, Jon should look deep into his soul and ask himself why he's a miserable person who hates this country. It's because he's a radical, extremist Dumocrat."
President Trump commented on Ossoff's remarks when asked by reporters at the White House, saying Ossoff looked like "Pee-wee Herman."
Following Ossoff's rally speech, some liberals praised his comments on social media, while conservatives criticized the senator. Host of "Pod Save America" Tommy Vietor commented on X, "Ossoff winking at the rumor that Natalie Harp is more than just Trump’s staffer. The question now is whether this will kick up a round of actual reporting by news outlets." Representative Brandon Gill, R-Texas, defended Harp, stating, "Natalie Harp survived bone cancer because President Trump allowed her the 'right to try.' Now she’s an extremely hardworking and trusted assistant. Any other insinuation is vile."