President Donald Trump’s ever-present aide Natalie Harp and new White House press secretary Katie Zacharia walked to Air Force One side by side on Tuesday, Oct. 13, 2026, bound for a campaign rally in Wasilla, Alaska — a trip that began just hours after Zacharia’s debut behind the briefing room podium in Washington.
Harp, 35, was all smiles on the tarmac, wearing a beige coat over a blue floral dress while Zacharia, 41, and White House chief of staff Susie Wiles stuck to more muted tones. The two women were also photographed waiting to board at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson alongside Wiles, Walt Nauta, personal aide to the president, and White House deputy chief of staff Dan Scavino. Harp was pictured arriving in Alaska seated next to Trump aboard Marine One with Zacharia.
A Debut and a Flight North
Zacharia, the 37th White House press secretary, took the job after Karoline Leavitt vacated the post in August. Her first briefing ran just under 14 minutes, with roughly five of those minutes spent taking questions from reporters for conservative outlets. She thanked the president for his trust and said she had wanted to work for him for a very long time, adding that she was looking forward to working with the press corps in the middle of what she called the midterm blitz.
The White House billed the inaugural appearance as “commanding.” Reviews elsewhere were tougher, including inside the building, where her prepared delivery, poses and smiles drew criticism. One administration official told MS NOW reporter Jake Traylor that she started on the wrong foot and needed to improve quickly, invoking Anthony Scaramucci’s famously short run as press secretary. The audience that mattered most was friendlier: Trump told reporters after the briefing, “I thought she was very good.”
Zacharia built her profile as a conservative commentator who turned up regularly on Fox and Newsmax, and, according to Politico, kept an eye on Trump’s schedule so she would be on-air when he might be watching. A person close to Trump told the outlet she “has been well regarded in the White House.”
The “Human Printer” Takes the Stage
Harp has her own well-worn nickname. Staffers and reporters have long called her Trump’s “human printer” for the way she trails the president fulfilling requests — fetching merchandise, running Google searches, printing out stories from right-wing websites and floating possible Truth Social posts. A former anchor and host at One America News, she joined Trump’s orbit in 2022. She has said she owes her recovery from stage 2 bone cancer to the Right to Try Act, which became law in 2018. These days, taxpayers cover her $150,000-a-year paycheck as a special assistant and executive assistant to the president. Letters she wrote to Trump in 2023 have drawn attention for their devotion.
In Wasilla, Harp had a cameo of her own. Trump called two men to the stage and shouted, “Bring me the pardons!” Harp carried the paperwork out and handed it over — Trump grabbed it so fast he came close to clipping her. The pardons went to Zachary Czuback and Patrick Fleming, co-owners of an Anchorage vehicle repair shop who pleaded guilty in 2022 to violating the Clean Air Act. The pair had admitted to stripping required emissions-control gear and tinkering with monitoring devices on 37 or more diesel vehicles from July 2019 through September 2020. At a Nebraska rally earlier in October, Harp handed Trump an executive order onstage and drew praise from the president.
Why Trump Flew to Wasilla
Trump, 80, spoke for roughly 90 minutes at the Curtis D. Menard Memorial Sports Center, telling supporters he flew eight hours each way to campaign in Alaska. He threw his weight behind Sen. Dan Sullivan, R-Alaska, and Rep. Nick Begich, R-Alaska, both seeking reelection, and pressed Republicans to turn out before the Nov. 3 midterms. Trump carried the Wasilla district with more than 75 percent of the vote in 2024.
The Senate race is a crowded one. Sullivan faces Democrat Mary Peltola and another Republican, Dan J. Sullivan. Polling by InsiderAdvantage, as reported by Newsweek, put Peltola at 50.1 percent to Sen. Sullivan’s 48 percent in the final round of Alaska’s ranked-choice tabulation. After the rally, Trump and his traveling party headed back to Air Force One at Elmendorf Air Force Base in Anchorage, with a night in Las Vegas and campaign stops in Arizona and Montana next on the schedule.