Story perspectives

Trump’s Office of Legal Counsel Says Executive Privilege Applies

8/19/2026

Summary

Trump Flies Harp

President Donald Trump flew Natalie Harp and Pete Hegseth on Air Force One, while Marco Rubio stayed on the older plane.
Harp rode in an SUV trunk to a courthouse with Trump in October 2023.
Insiders call Harp the “human printer,” and she apologized after falling behind Trump’s golf cart in Scotland, saying she missed meals and sleep, and posted a racist Obama video on Trump’s Truth Social, which was deleted.

Summary

Trump Wealth Reveal

Public Citizen reports 57 Trump officials hold at least $100 million, including 17 ambassadors and eight billionaire Cabinet members such as Howard Lutnick (? $7 billion) and Linda McMahon (? $3 billion).
The Justice Department’s Office of Legal Counsel said President Donald Trump can claim executive privilege for talks with personal advisors not government employees.
GDP grew 1.9 percent, below the 2.4 percent in Trump’s final year, while Labor Department lost 23,000 jobs and consumer prices rose 3.5 percent.

History

Historical Context

After the Supreme Court’s unanimous eight-justice ruling in United States v. Nixon on July 24 1974 forced President Richard Nixon to surrender Oval Office tapes, the decision established a qualified executive-privilege doctrine. Subsequent cases—from Nixon v. Fitzgerald (1982) to Trump v. Vance (2020)—have refined presidential immunity, and the Justice Department now invokes that precedent as Donald Trump seeks to shield advisors.

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Trump Flies Harp

President Donald Trump flew Natalie Harp and Pete Hegseth on Air Force One, while Marco Rubio stayed on the older plane.
Harp rode in an SUV trunk to a courthouse with Trump in October 2023.
Insiders call Harp the “human printer,” and she apologized after falling behind Trump’s golf cart in Scotland, saying she missed meals and sleep, and posted a racist Obama video on Trump’s Truth Social, which was deleted.

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