Natalie Harp's estranged brother says dispute over father's suicide split family

Left · 2Preston Harp, 38, the estranged brother of White House aide Natalie Harp, told The Washington Post that their family fell apart after their father, Bob Harp, died by suicide in July 2020, and that the siblings have not spoken since. 1 2 Left · 1According to Preston, the Post reported, Bob Harp died at the family home in Irvine, California, on July 17, 2020, and Preston provided an autopsy report to the paper. 1 Left · 2Preston said the rupture centred on how to describe the death: he said his mother, Jill, and Natalie preferred to keep the cause private and tell people Bob died in his sleep, while he said he would repeat what police had said. 1 2

Left · 2He said some relatives were forced to pick sides and accused him of lying, and that he has lost touch with most of his extended family. 1 2 Left · 1Preston also said his father, a business professor at Biola University, was "not a fan" of Donald Trump and spoke of strain at home as Jill and Natalie grew more supportive of Trump; a family friend told the Post that pandemic isolation weighed on Bob, an extrovert. 3 1 Left · 2Preston said he recalled his father telling him days before his death, "I'm not doing okay", and described him as seeming distressed the last time they met. 1 2

Left · 2Natalie Harp's political rise began in 2019 with a LinkedIn post crediting Trump with saving her life after bone cancer treatment; she later spoke at the 2020 Republican National Convention and worked at One America News before becoming one of Trump's top aides. 3 2 Left · 2Preston, who moved to Nicaragua and supports the Sandinistas, said his sister found "a new father figure" in Trump; the Independent also reports he called her relationship with the president "unhealthy" after earlier press coverage of her proximity to Trump. 3 2 Left · 2Natalie and Jill Harp did not respond to the Post's requests for comment, and the White House, according to the reports, did not contest Preston's account but did not make Natalie available or give a statement. 1 2

Left · 1The Independent noted that the White House had previously called Natalie "one of the most loyal and hardest-working aides on President Trump's team" and that spokesman Davis Ingle had attacked media coverage of her. 2 Left · 1Trump allies criticised the Post article: Katie Miller, a former DOGE adviser, called it "a one-sided profile" dwelling on a private tragedy and said its implication that family turmoil explains Natalie's loyalty was "baseless"; Trump adviser Alex Bruesewitz called it "really sick"; some critics did not sympathise with Miller. 4