White House insiders say President Donald Trump‘s widely criticized decision to ban CNN, MS NOW and Politico from the White House points to the rising influence of two of his most polarizing close aides – Natalie Harp and Bill Pulte.
Some fear the president is especially vulnerable to impulsive moves when the two devotees, both in their mid-30s, are in his ear.
Harp, 35, carries ultimate proximity to Trump and is often the one who publishes his fiery social media posts after he dictates them.
As Federal Housing Finance Agency Director, Pulte, 38, has been invited at least four times on Air Force One since August, a level of access few in Trump’s Cabinet have achieved. He has even earned the nickname ‘Little Trump’ among some in Washington.
‘Pulte is the worst,’ a source said. ‘I haven’t determined if he is a fool or if he is nefarious.’
Another Trump source told the Daily Mail the president has long considered booting select press outlets from the White House.
‘The president is the president. You can’t change his mind on this stuff,’ the source said.
The ban, announced in a blistering Truth Social post last Friday, caught even Trump’s own staff by surprise and forced last-minute changes to logistics for his United Nations General Assembly trip in New York.
White House insiders have expressed concern over the growing influence of Trump’s aides
Director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency Bill Pulte and White House aide Natalie Harp have been by the president’s side just before his most inflammatory social media posts
Insiders told the Daily Mail they doubt Trump’s ban would have happened if outgoing Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt (above) were still working in the West Wing
It has prompted lawsuits from the three outlets and left the presidential TV pool dark for much of Trump’s UN appearance. A judge scrambled to intervene overnight Wednesday to temporarily lift Trump’s ban.
Just before the ban announcement, sources say Harp showed the president a slate of coverage that was critical of him and his administration.
The clippings sent him into a rage that produced the crackdown, according to the Wall Street Journal. Pulte was not at the White House on Friday, a White House official confirmed.
In the past, advisers would push back against the idea of banning media outlets as undemocratic, a source close to the White House told the Daily Mail.
This time, there was curiously little to no pushback from communications director Steven Cheung, a longtime and frequent critic of CNN, MS NOW and Politico.
Many of Trump’s aides are said to be delighted.
The controversial ban is only the latest sign of how far Harp and Pulte’s access now reaches.
Harp’s standing was cemented this summer, when she was one of the few aides evacuated with Trump from Air Force One in Turkey inside a catering truck amid an alleged Iranian missile threat.
Pulte has been known to travel to the president’s golf courses and pitch him policy ideas on weekends, often carrying a poster board to hammer his points home.
White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles was away on Friday as Trump announced his press ban
Trump’s aide Harp has drawn scrutiny from the press over her fawning over the president in the past
One source said they are unsure if Trump aide Pulte, 38, is ‘a fool or if he is nefarious’
‘Bill Pulte is a member of Trump Clubs,’ a White House official remarked. ‘Of course he takes advantage of the tremendous membership and the President’s incredible properties.’
In one instance that angered Trump’s advisers, Pulte convinced the president to announce an ill-fated 50-year mortgage after showing him a printout of the plan.
Last week, he was photographed deplaning with poster boards; photos through an Air Force One window showed Trump reviewing one that appeared to read ‘Kennedy Center DEMOLISHED.’
Hours before Trump announced the press ban Friday, Pulte appeared live on Steve Bannon’s War Room.
‘All these haters agree with one thing: Bill Pulte has one of the biggest jobs in the administration,’ Bannon said.
Pulte told Bannon: ‘You know me, we’re being very aggressive, we’re being very effective, we get s**t done.’
Harp, who has publicly credited Trump for saving her life after a cancer diagnosis due to his Right to Try law, sits immediately outside the Oval Office and travels with him almost everywhere.
Staff calls her the ‘human printer’ for handing him printed favorable clips, polls and memes.
Her importance among White House staffers was on full display after she was identified as one of the few aides evacuated with Trump from Turkey in a catering-truck container during an alleged Iranian threat this summer.
She accompanied him to Ireland last weekend and was with him at his Virginia golf club on Sunday, alongside another Trump aide who has concerned White House staff.
Pulte was spotted debarking Air Force One last week holding a poster board
Trump reviews a printed out poster board reading ‘Kennedy Center DEMOLITION’ given to him by Pulte last week
‘Every member of this team is valued. Director Pulte, Ms. Harp, and the rest of the team are doing a phenomenal job,’ White House spokeswoman Danielle Alvarez told the Daily Mail.
Still, there’s a feeling the ban’s frenzy might have been contained if more experienced press handlers had been in the West Wing.
Press secretary Karoline Leavitt left at the end of August to spend more time with her young children. Insiders say she often talked Trump down from rash decisions about the White House press corps.
‘The White House is no man’s land right now,’ another insider fumed. ‘Karoline Leavitt would have never let this happen.’
‘Prior, when Trump would go to her and say he wanted to make some crazy decision related to the press, she would have him stand down or talk him out of it.’
Chief of Staff Susie Wiles was home in Florida last week for medical appointments and was not involved in the decision, another source familiar with the matter told the Daily Mail.
Wiles also skipped Trump’s Ireland trip the previous weekend; he traveled instead with Harp, deputy chief of staff Richard Walters and Leavitt’s former top deputy Anna Kelly.
Harp and Pulte have become known inside the building as the last people in the room before some of the administration’s most embarrassing moments.
Pulte (left) and Harp (right) accompanied the president on his August 16 weekend trip to Trump’s golf resort in Bedminster, New Jersey
They were the last two aides with Trump when he posted an AI-generated image of himself as a Christ-like healer, a post that drew sharp backlash from Christians.
Trump quickly deleted it and claimed he thought it showed him as a doctor.
Multiple advisers told Axios that Pulte had brought the image to Trump’s attention that weekend in Florida. Pulte declined to comment to Axios at the time, and a spokesperson did not comment on it when asked by the Daily Mail.
Sources have said Wiles opposed Pulte’s elevation and, four people with first-hand knowledge previously told the Daily Mail she sought his termination over the stunt.
She denied that allegation at the time, telling the Daily Mail it is ‘completely false,’ and that she works to help all of Trump’s staff.
Pulte has thrived anyway.
Trump posted an image depicting himself as a Christ-like figure in April, enraging his GOP base. Reports indicated Harp and Pulte were with him before he posted it, though neither has commented
After Tulsi Gabbard left as director of national intelligence this summer, Trump named Pulte acting DNI while he kept the FHFA job.
He served roughly 45 days and fired at least 51 people: six from the DNI office and 45 detailees sent back to their home agencies.
The posting gave him access to sensitive intelligence files and a platform to continue a DOGE-style downsizing.
Neither Harp nor Pulte responded to requests for comment.
Trump, Harp and Pulte were spotted together at the president’s Virginia golf resort on Sunday.
It was another vivid reminder that, with Leavitt gone and Wiles in Florida, the people closest to the president when he decides to pick a fight are the ones least inclined to stop him.
