The Daily Beast Podcast - How Natalie Harp Keeps Fueling Trump’s Delusions

Episode Date: August 20, 2026

Joanna Coles and Daily Beast executive editor Hugh Dougherty dig into the growing mystery around Natalie Harp, Donald Trump’s increasingly powerful gatekeeper, and what her extraordinary access to the president reveals about his increasingly isolated White House. They examine Melania Trump’s conspicuous absence, the strange dynamics inside Trump’s family, and the questions surrounding Darlene Graham’s Senate race as Trump’s grip on Republican politics shows signs of weakening. They also get into the increasingly brutal competition to replace Karoline Leavitt as White House press secretary, including Scott Jennings’ very public audition for the job and his secret meetings with Susie Wiles. #ad Save 20% Off Honeylove by going to https://honeylove.com/DAILYBEAST! #honeylovepod Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

This question about Natalie Hart is how important is she to Trump? How much is she controlling access to him and access to information? He's getting these printouts from her which present a distorted version of reality. He is historically the most unpopular president ever, except for Nixon in his final week in office. Is Donald Trump getting a true version of reality? Is he ignoring that true version of reality? Or is he being presented with a distorted version of reality? There are going to be more departures.

we have talked to whether Susie Wiles is on the way out. It is increasingly a smaller circle, and there is Natalie, and she is available round the clock. In a medieval court, just being in the presence of the king was what mattered, and we've all observed that there is a lot in common between the medieval court and the world of Donald Trump. I'm Joanna Coles. This is the Daily Beast podcast, and this is very confusing.

It's Wednesday, but Hugh Dockney is here, because Hugh is about to take a well-deserved occasion, so we are going to squeeze all the information out of him before he goes, and you know where we're going to start. Yes, we're going to start with me asking you to subscribe to The Daily Beast podcast. You get lots of extra content. You can become a Bee Beast here, a friend of the Beast. We are independent media, which allows us to have conversations.

You can't get on other forms of media. And I'm thrilled to share that The Daily Beast is now on substact. bringing you the world as it really is. You know we love to embrace the chaos, the dysfunction. It's never boring. We don't both sides Trump's presidency. We break down every meltdown. We expose the Epstein class. We hold Maga's greasiest hypocrites to account and fearlessly reveal what's actually happening behind those closed doors at the White House. Twice a day, the cheat sheet delivers what you actually need to know direct from our top editors. exclusive stories, video updates and live conversations. No filler, no blah, blah, blah, just the stories we know you'll want to read. There are two ways to join us. Head to the DailyBeast.com to subscribe. Want even more Beast?

Our premium subscription includes full ad-free access to everything on the Daily Beast website and app, plus a subscription to the Daily Beast substack. Join at the Daily Beast.com slash me. membership. Dailybeast.com slash membership. Natalie Harp. I bet, I'm making a bet here, and I may be wrong here, that our viewers and our listeners may not have seen Natalie Harp at her peak on One America Network. So we have put a little collection of clips together for you to enjoy. We can't talk about winning back the House and Senate in 2022. And the White House in 24, if we don't act on the fact that we actually did win the White House and the Senate in 2020, we shouldn't be afraid to say that because it's true.

We the people know America, as we know it, could be ending in the next two or four years, which is exactly what President Trump is warning of. They think if they can get President Trump, they can get the 75 million people to shut up and stand down. America's ending. She's an election denier. how marvelous that the president is spending so much time with Natalie Hart. Who would you not want by your side, but somebody who has predicted the end of America? In fact, America has, by that standard, ended, Joanna. I don't know. I'm going on vacation next week, as you've said.

Well, it may not be here when you get back. Are we all here? This is... Who is Natalie Hart? Well, that is the question that everybody in Washington, everybody around the White House has been asking, and there are so much to discuss about Natalie Harp. I think the first thing we should say is that she is crazy glued to Donald Trump's side. She has no official, you know, title or role that explains exactly what she does, but she is with

Donald Trump almost around the clock. People have described presidents as having body men. might remember that they've become kind of famous. They might remember them in the West Wing, in the fictional West Wing, I should say, that this is a key person who follows the president around and gives him his comb, gives him mince, helps him out, working out who he's looking at and who he's talking to. Well, it's like a friend, a friend in chief, right?

Because it's a lonely job being a president. I totally understand why people need people around them to help them. And also they're going in and out. out with, you know, they're going in and out with different visitors. I mean, Trump is always surrounded by people. He's an 80-year-old man. He's in his ninth decade. I'm sure he can't remember exactly who he's talking to half the time, because who among us can, frankly. But it's not uncommon for someone that age to not remember names. But she appears to have an enormous amount of power. This goes way beyond this. Exactly. And this is why everybody is asking who is Natalie

Hart, because she appears to be controlling access to him. and she's controlling the information that he is given. We've learned this week from, of all people, Marjorie Taylor Green, that there's a special code word that you needed to get past Natalie Harp to get information in front of Donald Trump. And you'll remember, of course, that Marjorie Taylor Green and Donald Trump spectacularly fell out last year over the Epstein files. And Marjorie Taylor Green has now revealed that if you want to know

if Natalie Harp has helped you get your information, information in front of Trump, she will send a one-word reply to your texts, printed. Printed, the code word so that you know that the president has received and read your message, or at least heard your message, because we know the president doesn't read. And what we know is that we know with Trump that, as you say, he is an 80-year-old man. The amount of information that goes in front of presidents has traditionally been huge. And we know that Donald Trump doesn't consume information in the same way as other. presidents have. He is relying on information that's given to him in the form of printouts by

Natalie Harp. And he is, she is giving him weird, crazy stuff from the internet. We know this because he then posts it on Truth Social. Or she posts it for him. Or she posts it for him. So Michael Wolfe, obviously my co-host on Inside Trump's head, has been writing about Natalie Harp ever since the Secret Service flagged to him that they were concerned. and she could be a danger to herself and a danger to the president. Yes. Because she is clearly, it seems like, obsessed. And there was a new story from CNN yesterday that she had screamed and yelled

when the president was on his way one day through one of his various court appearances. And she screamed so loudly and had an absolute meltdown that she jumped in the back of one of the SUV's trunks to ensure that she would get to the court. and be there. And she insisted that the president said she must accompany him. And this, this, you know, Michael Wolf has led the way on this story. And one of the things I think has been particularly, I'm not going to go as far as scandalous, but let's say questionable about the elite DC media is that Natalie Harp has been in front of the eyes of White House reporters since the day that Trump returned to power. And they did not tell us this. They didn't

mention it, they didn't raise it. We at the Daily Beast have been covering Natalie Harp. Really, since Michael Wolf broke this news about her closeness, and we've been relentless in saying, here is Natalie Harp with Donald Trump. Natalie Harp is accompanying him here and here and here. And others did not do that. And I just want to take a moment to say to our subscribers, thank you by subscribing. That's the sort of story that you support us doing. But also, I want to say, we are now, with there's now a frenzy of interest because people have realized there is a 35-year-old woman with no apparent qualifications who is the key gatekeeper it appears to an 80-year-old president. She is feeding him weird,

crazy stories which he is posting on truth social. What else is she telling him? We have hints about that this week. We have revelations about the letters that she has sent to him in the past. And we have questions about what is the nature of this relationship, that he is so close to somebody who, even her brother, says, is obsessed by presidents. If you like the support of a sports bra, but hate wearing one all day, I know exactly what you mean. Most of them feel great for a workout, but after a few hours, the straps dig in, the band gets uncomfortable, and you're ready to take it off. That's where Honeyloves cross-flex activity bra stands out from the pack. It gives you the support of a sports bra, but it's actually designed for all day wear.

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That's honeyloav.com slash daily beast. After you check out, they'll ask where you heard about them. Please support our show and tell them we sent you. Experience the new standard in comfort and support with Honey Love. Also, no, and I don't want to draw an obvious line between a sort of father figure, but he is definitely 45 years older than her and her own father died by suicide. Something her brother has talked about and said Natalie obviously had enormous issues with and she refused to talk to people about how he died. She said he died to sleep in his bed and she's entitled to spin whatever story she wants to about how her father died. But it's interesting that the two of them, both Donald Trump and Natalie, seem close, seem so close.

And actually, Benji Wilson, our social media person, came up with a new word today, having spent a lot of time looking at videos of Natalie Harp and photos of Natalie Harp, that she has increasingly begun to look like Ivanka Trump, Trump's daughter who was around during the first administration, no longer around. She and Jared Kushner, her husband. And Jared obviously is an envoy for President Trump trying to sort out peace in Gaza, a peace in Ukraine and now peace in Iran. But when he's not doing that, he's hanging out with Ivanka. And she posts a lot on social media. And I think Benji's point was we're seeing the Ivankification of Natalie Hart. Well, this goes to the closeness that there is between Trump and Natalie Hart.

Maggie Haberman and Jonathan Swan, the other biographers of Donald Trump, in their latest book regime change, they reveal that Trump said, to his aides, you will long leave me, but Natalie never will. Not only will they leave him and they are beginning to leave him, but his family have left him. So Ivanka's not there. She said politics was too cruel. And Melania is the least visible first lady this century. I mean, she hasn't been seen for a month. She was last seen at the final of the FIFA World Cup, and before that she was seen at the UFC fight.

But she is not an omnipresent first lady. She's not rushing off to meet military wives. So Trump seems particularly isolated and lonely. Anthony Scaramucci has said on this podcast, he's getting meaner. So she's basically an emotional chief of staff for him because many of his other aides are leaving. People who've been in there since the beginning of Trump, too, are now leaving. Yeah. Maggie Haberman again described her as an emotional support blanket or a binkie, I think. A binkie. This question about Natalie Hart is, how important is she to Trump? How much is she

controlling access to him and access to information? What is, you know, one of the things that we all wonder about other people is where are they getting all their news from? Where are they getting their information from. And quite clearly, we know that Donald Trump loves watching the television. And he's getting these printouts from her, which present a distorted version of reality. They are presenting polling that he is the most popular president ever. I don't even need to break news here. He's not. He is historically the most unpopular president ever, except for Nixon in his final week in office. Apart from that, that's the low that he's still to go to. So do you think Donald Trump knows that or do you think he's protected from that?

I think this is the question that people are going to want to dig into, especially the Democrats, if they get the House. Is Donald Trump getting a true version of reality? Is he ignoring that true version of reality? Or is he being presented with a distorted version of reality because people, as you say, he's meaner, are too scared to tell him. And he's turning to his binkie to give him a version of reality that works for him. Well, and I was very struck when he was asked about the complaints of the military families about the sailors on board the USS Lincoln, which is in the Gulf right now. They've been at sea for, I think, 260 days at this point.

They're complaining to families that there isn't enough food, that there are mental health issues on the plane, that the toilets have been backed up. And when asked about this and whether or not the deployment was too long, Donald Trump snapped not long enough. Yes. And you think, well, how would you say, why wouldn't you say something like, we love our military, they're doing an incredible job? Why wouldn't he fly out there and take advantage of the opportunity to go on one of those enormous aircraft carriers and say, I'm standing with our troops, the American military is the best in the world? Instead, he's holed up with Natalie Harp, or as John Ossoff, who really brought Natalie out into the sunshine, said he just wants to travel with Natalie on his luxury plane.

And, you know, there are very revealing, insightful photos of Natalie Harp with Donald Trump. There are photos going back in 2025. They were pictured on Air Force One looking out the window because he was going to the US Open. And he's kind of staring down with her. And you can see that on screen if you're watching on YouTube right now. There was also this video of her at the weekend in Bedminster, where she is right there with him. And there's a crowd is maybe an exaggeration. But there's a group of people in Bedminster who are cheering for Trump.

This is his golf club. These are his supporters. This is not real life, but this is the real life as he understands it. They are cheering for him. And as he walks away, Natalie turns round, does a thumbs up sign and somebody shouts, thank you, Natalie. So she is becoming much more a public figure. This is very obvious. Is she enjoying this limelight?

We don't know, but she is smiling. She is making gestures. She is giving a thumbs up. She looks like she's kind of fun to hang out with, right? I mean, she's not depressed. She doesn't look like she's got the weight of the world on her. Shoulder, she doesn't look like the president, the man that she is spending all her time with,

has started a forever war that he can't get out of. And he's about to lose the midterms. And, you know... I would like to hang out with Natalie. If I were the president, she looks like she's a good news bear. And she carries a bag around with her with whatever it is that he needs. People have been speculating wildly about that.

She is... This sense of offering support is very, very obvious. And no one else appears to be offering him support. And that's, you know, Caroline Levitt is leaving. The White House Council is leaving. There's been more departures. We're hitting four already this month. And it's only the 19th.

Labor Day is coming up. There are going to be more departures. We have talked about whether Susie Wiles is on the way out. It is increasingly a smaller circle. And there is Natalie. And she is available around the clock. She has made clear, you know, in her letters to Trump. that she will be there for him.

And she signed one of them. We learned this week, all my heart, Natalie. So this is somebody that clearly Trump can reliably turn to to be there. And, you know, in a medieval court, just being in the presence of the king

was what mattered. And we've all observed that there is a lot in common between the medieval court and the world of Donald Trump. When you're a mid-sized business, you need every competitive event. you can get. Like an AI solution that works for you, not against you. SAP Grow is built with

AI embedded at its core, working across every system. And it's ready to go from day one, so you can hit the ground running. Bring it with SAP Grow, AI Cloud ERP for any size business. I wonder how people get their messages to Natalie, because obviously if she's the gatekeeper, she becomes someone that everybody else is trying to maneuver either around or get to. Yes. Well, Marjorie Taylor Green was very clear that she had a texting relationship with Natalie and that that's absolutely, you know, really important to her. And I think one of the things that's worth saying here about this question of a gatekeeper

is we are, as I've said, coming up to the midterms, quite possibly facing a blue wave, quite possibly the Senate flipping as well as the House, and they're going to subpoena people, and they are going to subpoena rather obviously Natalie Harp. And what we've seen this week, with this unbelievable meltdown that's come from inside Maga about Natalie Harp, about John Ossoff daring to say four words and travelling with Natalie, he has been shouted at, he's been called a sexist, he's been accused of attacking a young woman, she's 35. I don't think, you know, that's somebody that needs protection. She is a graduate, she's got an MBA, she's a career as a TV anchor. I think she can speak for herself if she wants to, but Trump's attack machine has gone after John Ossoff as the lowest of the low and vile and a misogynist. The hypocrisy is so obvious, but I don't think we even need to discuss it. But where on the doll did John Ossoff hurt you, Maga? It's an incredible response that shows if the Democrats get power and go after a subpoena for Natalie Hart,

there's going to be an explosion of rage in the White House because she knows so much. And this is a White House that does not want scrutiny. Now, if you want to know how Natalie sort of came into this world, I really urge you to listen to inside Trump's head from yesterday. Michael Wolf really gets into where she came from, her background, her Christian universities, her 36-hour MBA, possibly, and he goes into it in great depth. And we have a reading of one of her letters that he has in his book All or Nothing. So I really urge you, if you are interested in Natalie Harbour, at the end of this podcast,

to sign up and watch it because it's fun and it's very informative. And he really has been on this story since since. since the beginning. And it does show you, because, you know, President Trump isn't the only president or prime minister to want to spend time with young women. It shows you how isolating power can be and how lonely it can be, especially now that Trump is 80 and mean and people don't want to hang out with it. I think it's worth pointing out that recent presidencies, and I mean the rest of the presidencies of this century have had unusually strong marriages

you know we go back the Clintons the Kennedys LBJ we know a lot about these marriages of these presidencies having troubles and difficulties you know you can go back further and further but unusually we have had a series of very present first ladies

Laura Bush omnipresent in the White House absolutely, you know, her and George W. Bush were absolutely a family unit in the White House. And they had their girls. They had their twins. And they had the twins there. You know, Jenna Bush-Hager frequently talks about our times in the White House. This was a family that was in the White House that was absolutely together. The Obama's, we all know. I mean, those pictures of this young family, this glamorous couple playing on the South Lawn, this was, you know, Barack Obama went home to dinner every night and almost every night. I think

I'm sure Michelle Obama would say not enough. But, you know, but he was, this was absolutely the case. And Joe and Jill Biden, absolutely a family unit. The troubles. With grandchildren around. The grandchildren were there. And this is, this, this White House is a completely different social, familial scene that we haven't, really, you have to go back in history and look for other examples where the first lady is not there. So who does Trump turn to?

His children are not there. his grandchildren are younger. They're not, you know, the Biden grandchildren were in their 20s. Kai, the oldest of them, is just starting at college in the Trump family. But this is a completely different setup, one that we haven't seen in recent years. And that's, you know, the backdrop to this is the missing first lady. Well, it also seems like it's a very performative family. So when you think of Trump winning the election and those big photos where they all stand around him in a sort of semi-circle,

And then they will disappear. And then you just really don't hear about them other than them doing business deals, which, you know, they've been able to be the beneficiary of him being president. Yes. This is a, this is not a family that comes together out of simple bonds of affection.

Well, there was an interesting video on social media at the weekend from Bedminster. Someone had filmed it and put it out there, where Ivanka is sitting with her father and Malani's father is all. also at their table. They're playing YMCA and she just looks embarrassed. And she's like, she just looks mortified to be there.

Victor Navs, Melania's father is on his phone. And Trump is just sort of looking around the room slightly disengaged. Yes. And Alana Harbour looks just like Melania is sitting right behind him. In fact, I actually initially, Ms. Oh, I think loads of people did a double take of that's Melania because, well, wouldn't you expect Melania to be there? there. Well, you would, and of course, Donald Trump did a double take with E. Jean Carroll and

misidentified her as Marla Maples, a second wife during one of his, his, um, deposition. So, you know, a lot of mistaking going on. Okay, so Natalie Harp, I think that was a good move for John Ossoff, don't you? John Ossoff, you know, young senator in Georgia, tight race to get elected but got elected and he's clearly emerging as a democratic darling. Well, he is very favoured to win to win a re-election in Georgia in November. The polls are suggesting that he's got an advantage of even towards double digits. John Ossoff is far and away the best performer that the Democrats have had in this election cycle at the moment, but in this in this populist moment, he has done something.

that none of the other Democrats who are running, we assume, for president in 20208, have managed to do, which is to break through this week with this Natalie mentioned. It's hiding in plain sight. There she is. There she was on Food Truck One, as we call it. I mean, she was with the president

at a point of high security drama. And this, you know, I just think, I mentioned earlier, thank you to our subscribers for allowing us to do this. Thank you to Michael Woolf for breaking these stories. There is a DC elite that doesn't want to talk about this. It's, oh, it's unseemly. How can you do this?

It's not policy. There is nothing more important than who the president is advised by and surrounded with. And we are absolutely right to want to know who's in the president's ear. And many of the people that are going after John Ossoff for saying this are people who are very happy to impeach Bill Clinton for his relationship with Monica Lewinsky. and not giving that a pass, but there is obviously hypocrisy going on here. One of the people that wanted John Ossoff to apologise was Newt Gingrich, and I don't think you can get a rich or double standard than that. Oh, Newt Gingrich, although is Newt speaking much at the moment?

He spends much of his time in Switzerland, where his wife, his third wife, Callista, is the ambassador, and I will just, as an aside, say, you should check her remarkable social media. She appears to be an aggressive user of that face tuning software, but she does not extend this courtesy to her husband. Oh, goodness, Callista. I wonder if she's being passive-aggressive then. Okay, so Natalie Harp, John Ossoff, Melania like Mitch McConnell,

is nowhere to be seen. She has not been seen, as you said, Joanna, since the FIFA World Cup soccer final. over in the Meadowlands in New Jersey. She brought Barron, a very rare sighting of Barron, but we haven't seen her. We have asked repeatedly, what is Melania doing? Where is she?

We even asked, there was a sighting, and we're going to be breaking, we've broken this news today in our Swamp newsletter, must read guide to what's really going on in D.C. There was a spotting of one of the executive jets that the White House used to fly around people, including the vice president,

sometimes the Secretary of State, and quite often the First Lady, one of them was spotted really unusually in Glasgow. This is my native city. Glasgow? What were they doing in Glasgow? We have asked why was this executive plane in Glasgow? It was not flying as Air Force 1 or Air Force 2, so it has a normal call sign.

But that is how people, including First Ladies and Secretaries of State, regularly moves around. Do you think someone was going to play golf in Scotland? Trump has two golf courses in Scotland. Right. So it's not that. It's not beyond bounds of possibility. And I just raise it because we asked.

And they said, we don't have an answer. And we don't have answers from the first lady's office about what has she been doing? Where has she been? Is she in Florida? Is she in New York? Is she in D.C.? We don't know. Well, we know how far.

It's an astonishing absence. Mar-a-Lago, too. So it's very, very strange. So. But what we do know, and I'm just going to do two. things. The first thing I should say is what we do know is how little she's been seen. If you're watching on YouTube, you can see a brilliant graphic that our Elizabeth Brockway has done, which shows how little we know of where Melania is. She's been seen once every six days this year, on average,

nothing in the past 31 days. And you think of how much comfort she might bring to military families right now, who are worried about their loved ones on the US Lincoln? There are so many things, right? And one could say it's between July and August, it's summer, it's a kind of time to relax. So we ran the sums. Second term, Michelle Obama, was seen 11 times in exactly that same month, that same time period between July the 19th and August the 19th in the Obama's second term.

So, you know, other people have been seen. But what I will say is that we also have news on Melania. she's going to be seen tomorrow. If you're watching this, I should say on Wednesday, she's going to be seen on Thursday in D.C. We know nothing more. And it is a mysterious appearance. And it's been announced by Mark Beckman,

who is her agent's advisor. The man behind the deal that made her a documentary star. And O'Juana, we have both seen that documentary. Melania, of course, produced by Amazon. Yes. Or distributed by Amazon. attributed by Amazon, yes. The 40 million documentary with 35 million more spent on promoting it.

Well, it made us watch. Right. And which Donald Trump said was the world's most successful documentary. Best documentary never seen anything like it. And all I know about what is going to happen is that she is going to return to popular culture and public life with a plop down on culture. With a plop down on culture. What does that mean? do not know.

I do plop down. We do not know. We do not know. We do not. We will keep you informed. We will be updating Melania's status. So I wonder if it would be like the last unexpected appearance where she suddenly popped up and said, I don't know Jeffrey Epstein.

Who Jeffrey Epstein? That's certainly a pop down, wasn't it? That was certainly. And even Donald Trump, her husband said that he had basically advised against it. Yeah. Yeah. And was clearly very surprised by it. Yes, this is all the mystery of Melania.

And I just think we have a duty to say, where is the First Lady and what is she doing? Because the First Lady is not an official role. It's not in the legislation. It's not in the Constitution. But she is flown about by a government jet. She's guarded by the Secret Service. And she has a staff that we are paying for. And I think it's entirely appropriate for us and for others to ask where that money is being spent.

Well, I can't wait for her appearance tomorrow. So I was also watching with great interest the debate that Darlene Graham was in when she was facing a grilling from Greta Van Sustrin, who was a brilliant interviewer at one point, has sort of gone off onto right-wing media now, but at one point was on CNN. Yes. And, well, can we play the clip? We have the clip. Senator, are Taiwan and the South China Sea national security issues for the United States?

If so, why? I'm sorry, could you repeat the question? Are Taiwan and the South China Sea national security issues for the United States, and if so, why or how? I'm just going to be honest here. I'm not on national security. I'm not that informed on national security, so, but I do support the military. My brother was in the Air Force for 33 years. I mean, I'm just going to be honest here.

She's just inherited a brother's seat. Yeah. She's just inherited it. She seems to know nothing about affairs of state. How is it possible that he died, what, a month ago at this point? She very quickly said that she was happy to step in for his seat. The idea that she wouldn't even have a line to give during a debate about China, about Taiwan, when it's clearly an issue that's very much top of mind,

especially as we pull out the USS Washington to replace the USS Lincoln, leaving that whole area with no aircraft carrier, seems remarkable to me. So I don't know who's advising her, but it feels like she needs a Natalie harp. Natalie, get over to Darlene's side and help the woman.

Come on, come on. Get in the golf cart. Head down 95. You'll be in South Carolina eventually. Yes, eventually. With the printer. Yes. Take your printer.

Take your poster. Take your printer. And maybe print out some of the things people are saying about Darlene Graham online because they're not kind and a good advisor could help Darlene. Yeah. There was a bit of sort of groaning and booing. Yes. She said that she didn't really know anything about national security.

Yet she's trying to have the Senate seat. Well, she's in the Senate seat through January. And she has the same committee assignments as her brother. And they, of course, are focused on national security. And as Trump said, about her brother? There is no country that he didn't want to bomb out, I think, was roughly what Trump said in a glowing tribute

and also that he wasn't that good at golf. Right. Big on bombing, bad on golf. And not many people likes him. And not many people like, yes. I mean, when he broke from his eulogy and said, he was obviously reading it for the first time. I mean, come on, let's face it.

Not everybody liked Lindsay Graham. It's the warm tribute that you want. If you want anybody to do tributes, Donald Trump, invite them over. No, you want Natalie Hart. Oh, maybe you want Natalie Hart. I think this whole, the Darlene Graham situation is kind of, I mean, it's mind boggling. Yeah, she inherited the seat.

Then Trump decided she should get it for six years. You know, Michael Wolf has said there's a sort of sentimental aspect to this. And people in the comments... It's a Walmart movie. Yes, and people in the comments are all like, Trump isn't sentimental. I think that's true, but I think he recognizes how to exploit sentimentality. and sees it as a marketing tool. Here we have,

Darling Graham did not win the first round. She got 32.7% of the vote. So she's in a runoff. And now is in this runoff with Ralph Norman. It's a head-to-head, Ralph Norman five-time congressman. He has a long career. He's ultra-maga.

There's no doubt about that. But he says, I'm qualified and you're not. quite how qualified. Anybody is, I don't know. Just to give you a quote from Ralph Norman last night, he was asked about Dr. Anthony Fauci. And he said, he should be in an orange jumpsuit, killed a million people. So yes, and if they proved an auto pen signed his pardon, I hope they'll retry him and put him in jail. It's a lot going on there. South Carolina, I'm sorry about this. Sounds like you could all do better. Between a rock and a hard place.

someone who doesn't know anything about where China is. At least Sarah Palin knew she could see Russia from her house. And a man who thinks Anthony Fauci killed a million people and should be in jail. Yes. Despite the pardon as well. But I'm quite surprised that Donald Trump hasn't endorsed Ralph Norman. Well, I think Ralph Norman's surprised that Donald Trump didn't endorse Ralph Norman. Everybody in South Carolina, I think was pretty surprised that Trump went for the 60-year-old

We saw the logic of the sister getting it, but nobody really saw the logic of a six-year term here. And that's why so many of them jumped in. There were nine candidates running in this first round, but down to two. So, you know, Darlene got the highest number of votes. She got almost a third of the votes. So that makes her the front runner against Ralph Norman. But then there were eight other candidates whose votes, we don't know how they'll go. We don't know.

Early voting starts today, I believe. voting days on Tuesday. You could see this two ways, and there's been no polling since then, by the way, so we don't know. You could see there's two ways that she was the frontrunner and she's got the Trump endorsement

so she should win a runoff. Or you could say two thirds of people didn't want to vote for her. That's not a good sign. We don't know, and I don't think we'll know until Tuesday. Well, I'm sure Lindsay Graham will be urging her on from that voting booth in the sky. I think when he heard the national security thing,

I imagine he was spinning rather energetic in his grave. I mean, that's what he was known for. Right. Well, as you say, Donald Trump said about him, he'd never met a country. He didn't want to bomb. Yes. And of course, Trump actually endorsed both people running for the governor of South Carolina. When it became clear that his first endorsement wasn't likely to win the seat, he promptly endorsed both candidates. So an endorsement from Trump at this point in the game doesn't necessarily mean very much. No, and we just had primaries last night, among other places Florida,

two Trump and Dorsey's lost there. There's been a series of Trump and Dorsey's who have lost. In the primaries as well, the Democrats flipped a Trump plus 19 Senate seat in the state Senate in Pennsylvania in Butler County. Sacred ground for MAGA, because that's the county, of course,

where the assassination attempt happened on Trump when he was running for his third attempt at election. So there are bad signs here about the grip on power loosening and the grip on endorsements listening. He is all in on Darlene. He is going to be rallying there, we understand, before, later this week. And if that doesn't get her across the line, that's pretty, that's pretty embarrassing. It's humiliating. Hey, y'all, it's Kelly Clarkson with Wayfair. Ever order furniture online and wonder, what if? Like, what if it doesn't hold up? That sofa was four days old. You should

have ordered from Wayfair. With Wayfair, there's no what if. Just style you love and quality you can trust. Visit wayfair.ca. Wayfair, every style, every home. There's a great clip. I don't know if you've seen it, of John Osoff talking about J.D. Vance's recent visit. And he says, you know, he held a rally. Nobody went.

Nobody went. Yeah. The energy, when energy slips away, when it becomes a less enticing prospect, it can, to quote that old Hemingway joke, it can happen gradually. and then all at once. And then all at once. All at once. But there is a person who's looking for energy and wanting it all to happen all at once. And of course, Joanna, we need to talk about

Scott Jennings. Scott Jennings, who's had a makeover in the last year. I've commented on his makeupover. You're always commenting on his makeover. Well, because it's a, it's a big makeover. And I used to run into Scott behind the scenes occasionally at CNN when we were both there. Gossip. And well, he's, he's, he's, he's, he's a big makeover. And he's a, it's, it's a big makeover. And he's, it's, it's, it's a He's lost a ton of weight, he's grown a beard, and he's clearly been working very hard as CNN's pet Republican, pet Trumper, for this job of White House press spokesperson. Yes. And I think some people are going to be saying, why are we talking about Scott Jennings,

right? It's a media story. It's the sort of thing that people are obsessed by. It's really, it goes back to the Natalie Harp issue, the press secretary in the Trump White House is always one of the most important people, way more so than any other White House, because Trump lives to be in the press. He loves it. That's what his existence is about. And also, Carolyn Levitt has actually been a very effective press secretary for him. Occasionally, when I say that, it inspires lots of comments. Yes. She's terrible. She's

terrible. Why are you saying that you like her? I'm not saying I like her. What I'm saying is I think she's been effective at her job, which is dividing the press. bringing it, I mean, they now choose who is in the room for the press briefings. It used to be the White House press correspondence that decided that, or the White House Press Association. Now it's the Trump administration who decides that. And so the White House has filled it with Trumpers and MAGA supporters who ask questions like, please, Mr. President, tell us again, how brilliant are you? Which is unhelpful. Well, I was hoping you asked. me that, Joanna. That's why I came in here

today. But yeah, Caroline Levitt, look, you're right. Caroline Levitt's fed up of being screamed that by the president. She's fed up and the people in the comments are right. Her record is not one of truthfulness. It's not one of honesty. It's not one of allowing

the president to be held to account. That's what Trump wants. And that's why we have said that she does a good job in those terms, because we're always trying to analyze in those terms, you know, what, what does it mean for Trump? So she needs a successor. He needs a successor. He needs somebody to come in who has got the ability to hold the presence in front of the

cameras, who looks the part in some shape or form, and who will defend him to the hilt. Well, exactly. And who has the ability to spin and to take questions and spin them as if in a laundrette, and take them back out, open the door, take them back out, and they're completely different to the question that was being asked. So sort of master of smoke and mirrors and over here

and never answering the direct question. I mean, it's what Trump does when he insults people and shouts, quiet, Piggy, or be quiet or fake news as he does to Caitlin Collins and her colleagues. Do we think it will be Scott Jennings? I mean, Michael Hawke is convinced that he wants a young woman doing it.

This is an amazing, race, and I don't mean the old CBS show. This is a full-on, you know, it's a brawl, it's eye-gouging, it's backstabbing, it's knifing. Who are the candidates? Well, first of all, we don't know there's an official list of candidates, but we know who wants to this job, Scott Jennings, is auditioning for it on CNN as regularly as he can. I don't think there is any more dangerous place than between Scott Jennings and a CNN camera. If you get in the way, it's bad. Alina Haba went to

Bedminster, where she's a member, and sat beside Trump. She is clearly auditioning for this show. Now, she's one of his lawyers. She was one of his lawyers in one of his, in his many cases. Hot lawyer. Right. Although he often shouted at her

and told her that she was a terrible lawyer. Well, you know, legal, you know, get on that legal review website, Donald. Other candidates are more internal ones. Anna Kelly, who has increasingly had a public profile on television. Very good at the insult.

She gives a lot of insults. Margo Martin, who is not on television as much, but is prolific on the social media. She does a lot of the viral and quote marks videos that you see of Trump. And is sometimes mistaken at a distance for Melania because she looks very similar to Melania. Yes. Yeah, there's been quite a few mix-ups by a number of people, by a number of outlets. And I just say, fortunately, at the Daily Beast, we have not done that.

So there but for the grace of God. But she is somebody that is regularly confused. Well, I think it's the president that doesn't want to get them confused. Well, the president definitely doesn't. Well, Melanie isn't there. That's an easy way to tell the difference. Weirdly, Matthew Boyle, who is a Breitbart political journalist. He does not look the part.

I don't want to sound disparaging about it, but he is not for. very telegenic, but for some reason it's being whispered about in D.C. Elizabeth Pipco, who worked in the campaign, who is much more, she's on very marginal channels, like she does foreign TV, sometimes she's on the BBC. Very pretty. Yes. And her father is the ambassador to Estonia, an unusual, unusual country to be ambassador to. He was born there. A hundred percent confident Donald Trump couldn't pick out Estonia on a globe. Very confident of that. I'm not sure I could either, to be fair. It's an easy one.

It's an easy one. He might have it near Nipple and Button, which was what he famously called Nepal and Bhutan. Nipal and But anyway, there's all these contenders. The prediction markets are the only thing that we've got any sort of numbers to deal with. And on those, Alina Haba has recently rushed ahead. Scott Jennings has fallen behind

Anna Kelly's sort of level pegging. But we have new information this morning, which I think if you're on the prediction markets, you might, this might move Scott Jennings. By the way, that's not a tip. No, we're not giving tips. We do not give investment tips. But Scott Jennings, it turns out,

has been secretly meeting with Susie Wiles. And Susie Wiles, her grip may be slipping, but she is really, really important here. They have been at Mortons, the Steakhouse in D.C. For at least one secret meeting. they've had others. How secret was it if they were at Morton's, which is a restaurant that other people go to?

I don't think any restaurant meeting is secret unless you're in a private room and you take a private entrance. This is a very good point. That sounds to me like it's a dinner that wanted to be seen. Well, there are two types of secret dinners, sound there. There's dinners that are really secret

and then dinners that you say are secrets. Well, there are dinners that are secret that no one ever knows about. And then there are dinners that are secrets. Nudge, wink, wink. Right, that suddenly appear in the press. But yeah, they were, they were not spotted, but this was later leaked after the event, which makes me think that it's probably to his advantage for this to be out there.

Well, the backing of Susie Wiles is clearly important. And the backing of Susie Wiles is important. I'm assuming the backing of Natalie Harp is important. Well, that's another thing. And, you know, if you're dining in Morton's, there's a chance of being seen and that's not a bad thing. to be seen with Susie Wiles. Jennings himself, we've actually, we're going to be breaking a story,

we're breaking a story today on The Daily Beast, a very intriguing insight into Scott Jennings. Of course, Scott Jennings used to work for Mitch McConnell. I'm just reminding people. We mentioned, you mentioned that he comes from Kentucky. Yes. But he also said that he'd spoken for 20 minutes to Mitch McConnell. We have no idea if Mitch McConnell spoke back.

Yes. So Scott Jennings, after the 2020 election, he got an appointment at the Kennedy School in Harvard to talk about government. And the person who got this appointment the year after him, these are like kind of rotating things. They get in big names from either side and they do some classes with postgraduates there. The next year's tutor, professor, whatever you want to call it, was Sean Spicer, fresh off strictly come dancing. Sean Spicer, who was the first White House Press Secretary. And, of course, had to lie about the size of the crowds. Yes. And then hide behind a plan to avoid Donald Trump. Yes. And a lie that he never recovered from. Never recovered.

Because people could see the crowd size, wasn't the biggest crowd size that had ever been for an inauguration. They could match it against the size of the Obama inauguration. And Sean Spicer and his credibility never rebounded. He was mercilessly mocked on SN. Melissa McCarthy. What to say Melissa McCarthy? Yes. Who would carry the podium around and hit people.

It was such an effective rampooning. And Trump also shouted abuse at him about his cheap suit because it was a color that Trump didn't like. It was a kind of greeny brown. Trump was really angry. Anyway, going back to Scott Jennings, who's always immaculate addressed, worth pointing out, Scott Jennings was doing this course at Harvard. And one of his former students is writing for The Daily Beast.

he's called Kaven Shroff. And among the things he learned from Scott Jennings were that Scott Jennings had decided he wanted to have a television career after working for Mitch McConnell and he paid somebody to get him on CNN. This is not improper, he wasn't paying CNN, but he was paying somebody to help him get booked on CNN

and he would pay this person $25 every time he got booked. So it looks like that investment has paid off. Well done, Scott. Good investment, $25 an appearance. Wow. Obviously, he has a contract with CNN. I mean, there's an intriguing ethical dilemma here for CNN. He is openly campaigning to be press secretary on their dime, on their airtime. Interesting question, I think, for CNN there. But Scott Jennings looks to me like he's edging ahead in this race today. But this is the world of Trump. So we'll be looking for the story about Scott Jennings. We'll be looking to see if he manages to grab the microphone. and elbow Caroline Levitt off the stage once and for all. I wonder what Caroline's going to go do. I'm very curious.

Well, there's a slot on CNN. Is a slot on CNN? Could be a one in one out. Yeah, very interesting. A slot on CNN. Or I would think she goes to Fox. She has the look of Fox. And of course, Natalie Hart, where will Natalie go next?

And Melania's announcement tomorrow. And we will be watching very closely. first of all, Melania is the president going to be with her. We are also expecting to see Melania on Sunday. There is an IndyCar race taking place around the capital. That's right, in D.C. And Donald Trump is going to be doing an honorary lap in The Beast. Driving his limo around in D.C., of course, has gone a bit wrong in the past.

Remember, he squashed the reflecting pool after trying to do it up. Yes, and he left Marx on it. Yes, and I don't think you want to leave Marseley, of course. want to leave Marx on an IndyCar track. It's kind of important that's very clean. But will Melania be in the beast with Donald Trump? We don't know. She's apparently going to be at this event. And an intriguing question for everybody is, if Melania is there, will Natalie Harp be part of the entourage as well? We are going to be watching really closely to see what happens there. An exciting week ahead. And a shout out to our DC team. You are behind the Swamp newsletter,

which is how you find out what's going on in DC. Yes, absolutely. And And they broke the news that Darlene had made a two donations, both of them to a pro-choice Republican, something that again has roiled that race, and she has had to try to awkwardly answer. And we've got news today on the swamp. I would just recommend going and checking it out of how she's trying to answer that question, which himself is really, really revealing. Well, Hugh, have a fabulous holiday. You deserve every moment of it.

Please, hurry back. Big thanks to you, if you have been for joining us and for our production. team, Ryan Murray, John Romero, Rachel Passer, Heather Pizarro and Neil Rosenhaus. So the good news is we have so many Bee Beast tier members now. There are too many names to read out. And we really appreciate your support.