{"id":1165749,"date":"2026-08-24T00:50:32","date_gmt":"2026-08-24T00:50:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/1165749\/"},"modified":"2026-08-24T00:50:32","modified_gmt":"2026-08-24T00:50:32","slug":"trumps-aide-natalie-harp-son-eric-and-maga-inner-circle-join-president-and-melania-for-freedom-250-grand-prix","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/1165749\/","title":{"rendered":"Trump\u2019s aide Natalie Harp, son Eric and MAGA inner circle join president and Melania for Freedom 250 Grand Prix"},"content":{"rendered":"

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President Donald Trump and first lady Melania Trump <\/a>were joined by family members, MAGA allies and White House staffers for the Freedom 250 Grand Prix Sunday\u2014<\/strong> including devoted executive assistant Natalie Harp.<\/a><\/p>\n

For the first time, the streets of Washington, D.C. transformed to host an IndyCar race, where 25 drivers completed 147 laps around a circuit in the nation\u2019s capital. The event, organized by the White House-affiliated Freedom 250, was created at the direction of Trump in celebration of America\u2019s 250th anniversary. <\/p>\n

After a quick lap around the circuit in the presidential vehicle known as \u201cThe Beast,\u201d<\/a> Trump waved the green flag to start the race while surrounded by his inner circle in the viewing stands. <\/p>\n

Harp, the 35-year-old staffer who has been in headlines recently over her close relationship to the president, was in attendance and has been photographed in Trump\u2019s orbit all weekend. She joined him on a Saturday golf trip to his club in Virginia. <\/a><\/p>\n

The White House aide was seen chatting with Eric Trump,<\/a> the president\u2019s second-eldest son, before the race began and she sat several rows behind the president and first lady as the race got underway.<\/p>\n

\"PresidentPresident Trump\u2019s family, members of his administration and close aides, including Natalie Harp (pictured back right), surrounded him in the viewing stands for the Grand Prix (Getty)<\/p>\n

Eric Trump publicly expressed support for Harp this past week,<\/a> calling her \u201can incredible young woman\u201d after Harp\u2019s brother criticized her \u201cobsession\u201d with the president. <\/p>\n

\u201cShe\u2019s deeply committed to my father, to her job, and to this country,\u201d Eric Trump wrote on social media in response. <\/p>\n

Though Harp has been a close ally to Trump for years, <\/a>she\u2019s recently become the subject of media coverage in part because Democratic Senator Jon Ossoff invoked her name while insulting the president. <\/a><\/p>\n

During a rally last week, Ossoff told a crowd Trump would rather \u201ctravel with Natalie on their apparently defenseless flying palace\u201d than do his job. The senator was referring to a report that Harp was one of the few aides Trump took with him on a separate jet when he discreetly flew out of Turkey.<\/p>\n

\"VariousVarious Trump allies, including UFC CEO Dana White, sat with the president as he cheered on the 25 drivers competing in the Freedom 250 Grand Prix (AP)\"ForFor the first time, the streets of Washington, D.C. transformed to host an IndyCar race, where 25 drivers completed 147 laps around a circuit in the nation\u2019s capital (Getty)<\/p>\n

Ossoff\u2019s comments ignited media attention over Harp\u2019s role<\/a> in keeping Trump\u2019s morale up by finding positive social media posts, op-eds or messages and printing them out for the president to see. She\u2019s been nicknamed \u201cthe human printer\u201d for doing so. <\/p>\n

Recent reporting has also revealed Harp\u2019s deep devotion to the president \u2013 running behind his golf cart to keep up with him, jumping in the trunk of an SUV to ensure her proximity to Trump and writing the president deeply personal letters.<\/a><\/p>\n

Despite the controversy over Harp, Trump has kept her close \u2013 ensuring she had a front-row seat to the IndyCar race Sunday. <\/p>\n

\"NatalieNatalie Harp is seen among the president’s staffers at his golf club in Sterling, VA on Saturday (Getty)<\/p>\n

Other Trump allies in attendance included Speaker of the House Mike Johnson, White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller, Ultimate Fighting Championship CEO Dana White and outgoing Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt.<\/p>\n

Eric Trump was joined by his wife, Lara Trump, and their two children. Donald Trump Jr., the president\u2019s eldest son, also attended the IndyCar race with his new wife, Bettina Trump. <\/p>\n

Much of Trump\u2019s Cabinet was also in attendance, including Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, Secretary of Transportation Sean Duffy, Interior Secretary Doug Burgum, Attorney General Todd Blanche, Energy Secretary Chris Wright, Education Secretary Linda McMahon and Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick.<\/p>\n

D.C. had been preparing for more than 100,000 spectators to flock to the city for the event. Spectators sat in front of massive screens on the National Mall to get a good look at the race.<\/p>\n

\"SpectatorsSpectators watched the IndyCar race take place on large screens on the National Mall (Reuters)<\/p>\n

On the track, drivers raced around tight bends and navigated bumpy portions of the road. <\/p>\n

At one point, driver David Malukas made a right turn near the Capitol and crashed straight into the wall. The next driver, Sting Ray Robb, came zipping around the corner and, unaware of the crash, crashed into Malukas. Both drivers were ok.<\/p>\n

American driver Kyle Kirkwood took home the trophy. <\/p>\n

While the Freedom 250 Grand Prix was the first of its kind \u2013 it may not be the last race in D.C. Johnson told Fox News he hopes to bring the event back next year to make it an annual race.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Your support helps us to tell the story From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1165750,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[5],"tags":[17731,47671,284479,49246,108381,73682,1234,105477,44888,316467,13859,1072,12,2249,285,20885,37367,659,2176,293052,26],"class_list":["post-1165749","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-world","tag-beginnings","tag-color-image","tag-donald-trump-us-president","tag-donald-trump-jr","tag-first-lady","tag-flag","tag-government","tag-green-color","tag-horizontal","tag-indy-racing-league-indycar-series","tag-melania-trump","tag-motorsport","tag-news","tag-photography","tag-politics","tag-politics-and-government","tag-us-president","tag-usa","tag-washington-dc","tag-waving-gesture","tag-world"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1165749","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1165749"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1165749\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1165750"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1165749"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1165749"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1165749"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}