Melania Trump’s office has now weighed in on the chatter surrounding presidential aide Natalie Harp, as public curiosity grows over her highly visible role alongside Donald Trump.

Marc Beckman, the first lady’s chief spokesperson, pushed back forcefully against speculation about Trump and Harp’s close day-to-day working dynamic.

Speaking with host Stella Escobedo in a Wednesday interview, Beckman dismissed the coverage, saying, “The liberal media is ridiculous.”

He added that critics and commentators have little insight into Melania Trump’s private world, arguing, “They don’t know anything about the first lady’s personal and private life. They don’t even take the time to put us on air to cover these incredible achievements that our first lady has accomplished.”

Harp, 35, has earned the nickname “human printer” because she is often seen traveling with a portable printer, reportedly handing the president hard copies of news stories and social media posts throughout the day.

‘What they need to do is look in the mirror because they’re all attacking this hardworking, very talented, very intelligent person in Natalie Harp,’ added Beckman.

‘And they’re obsessed with the gossip with the first family. And I can tell you firsthand that it’s time for them to become journalists and stop looking at the gossip.’

 Trump and Harp’s bond became the center of national media attention in August when Democratic Senator Jon Ossoff told a rally that Trump would rather ‘build his ballroom and travel with Natalie’ than do his job.

Ossoff was referring to when Harp was among a tiny handful of aides Trump kept beside him as he slipped off Air Force One in Turkey and onto a decoy jet over an Iranian assassination threat. Top cabinet officials, including Marco Rubio and Scott Bessent, were left behind on the larger plane while Harp stayed with the President.

‘The media doesn’t know about the first lady’s private life. Period. The media doesn’t know about the first family’s life. Period,’ said the first lady’s advisor.  

‘And what they do is they harp on the issues of gossip rather than going ahead and covering the substantial achievements that this first lady and the president also have conducted during this past year and a half.’

ALSO READ: Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker, Darren Bailey Bring Rival 2026 Midterm Messages to GOP Convention as Trump Looms

Escobedo highlighted Melania’s efforts to support children in foster care and those who have aged out of the system.

Aside from her initiatives, the first lady has been seen out in public less than 50 times this year, according to the Daily Beast. 

However, Harp has remained glued to the Trump’s side to the point that it raised concerns within the Secret Service and the president’s inner circle.

The aide wrote Trump a series of personal letters in 2023, telling him in one: ‘You are all that matters to me.’

She also called him her ‘Guardian and Protector in this Life,’ according to letters reviewed by the New York Times.

Trump told people that same year that Harp was the only person on his team who cared about him: ‘All of you will go off and make money … she’ll never leave me.’

It was revealed on Wednesday that the human printer was gifted $45,000, along with two other female aides.

Harp, Chamberlain Harris, 26, and Margo Martin, 31, received $135,000 between them, each identifying Trump as the source of a ‘cash gift for the holidays,’ according to Politico.

The money came on top of their $150,000 salaries paid by taxpayers, giving each woman a gift worth 30 percent of her annual government pay.

The Daily Mail has contacted the White House, Harp, Harris and Martin.

‘The President has a longstanding practice of giving Christmas gifts to people in his orbit, including at times employees and aides, both in government and in his time in the private sector,’ a White House spokesman told Politico.

‘The gifts at issue here have nothing to do with any of these individuals’ official government duties, and, therefore, are entirely permissible under relevant legal and ethical standards.’

Los Angeles commuters faced a worsening rush-hour nightmare Wednesday after a brush fire broke out in the hills near the Getty Center, pushing heavy smoke across the 405 Freeway and drawing a large emergency response.

The fire, identified as the Getty Fire, started around 4:15 p.m. above the northbound side of Interstate 405 near Getty Center Drive in Brentwood. Firefighters reported roughly five acres of brush burning intensely in the area.

Video obtained by The California Post captured thick plumes of smoke rising and drifting over the freeway as traffic moved below.

Aerial footage showed flames moving through dense vegetation while crews worked to slow the fire’s spread.

Several firefighting aircraft were also sent in to make drops from above.

Ten additional engines were requested by an arriving unit as the Los Angeles Fire Department called in hand crews and air resources.

RELATED: Jimmy Kimmel’s Late-Night Goodbye Begins, Dividing Fans

Evacuation warnings have been issued for zones:

LAFD Air Operations reported that no structures were threatened at the time.

The fire’s cause was unknown.

No injuries had been reported, but the blaze erupted during the afternoon rush, with smoke hanging over one of Los Angeles’ major freeway corridors.

This is a developing story.

A surrogate who refused a California couple’s request to terminate a pregnancy following a severe heart diagnosis for the baby is now asking the U.S. Supreme Court to intervene, saying a lower court decision has stripped her of any ability to speak up for the medically fragile infant.

Lawyers for McKenna West, an Alaska cardiac nurse, filed an emergency application Wednesday seeking to have Justice Elena Kagan temporarily halt a Los Angeles court order that recognized the California couple as the newborn’s legal parents.

Kagan oversees emergency requests from the 9th Circuit, which covers California. She has not yet issued a ruling on West’s application.

West gave birth under a surrogacy agreement with California couple Nausheen Gilkar and Omar Ahmed, who refer to the baby as Rumi. West calls him Gabriel.

The baby was born in Texas Aug. 12 with hypoplastic left heart syndrome, or HLHS, a rare condition in which the left side of the heart is severely underdeveloped.

The legal war began after the condition was detected during a 20-week ultrasound. West alleges Gilkar and Ahmed asked her to terminate the pregnancy under a provision in their surrogacy agreement covering serious fetal abnormalities.

West refused, telling the surrogacy agency she could not abort “this precious baby” after feeling him move and learning treatment was available, according to the filing.

She offered to raise the child herself or arrange an adoption if the couple no longer wanted him, while allowing them to walk away from any further financial obligations.

Her attorneys allege West was then warned that continuing the pregnancy could expose her to more than $250,000 in financial penalties.

Gilkar and Ahmed later turned to a California court to establish their legal rights as the baby’s parents. West argued the case belonged in Alaska under the surrogacy agreement and said she appeared in California solely to challenge the court’s jurisdiction.

The Los Angeles Superior Court determined that West had effectively consented to its authority by submitting a 147-page filing that addressed the “substance of the issues,” according to the application.

West’s lawyers said most of those pages were exhibits supporting her jurisdictional challenge and that she had repeatedly refused to argue the underlying case.

“Any reasonable view of consent would recognize that ‘no’ does not mean ‘yes,’” they wrote.

West also claims she was never properly served. Her filing says a FedEx package containing the court papers was delivered to her babysitter, who allegedly was not told what was inside.

The California court declared Gilkar and Ahmed the baby’s legal parents June 22, and West failed to persuade three state courts to put the ruling on hold.

The judge acknowledged during the California proceedings that the dispute “[m]ay be a question of life and death” for the unborn child, according to West’s application.

ALSO READ: Car Found in Search for Father Accused of Impregnating Daughter

The fight then moved to Texas, where West traveled so the baby could be delivered at a hospital equipped to treat his condition.

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton secured an emergency order before the birth, directing the hospital to provide life-saving care and preventing the child from being removed from the state.

West previously said she had only about one minute with the newborn while his umbilical cord was still attached before he was taken from her. A court order later barred her from seeing or holding him.

The baby underwent the first of three anticipated open-heart surgeries Aug. 17. He was later returned to a breathing tube after his condition declined, according to court filings previously reviewed by News Media.

Gilkar said during a hearing last month in Dallas that the couple had remained at their son’s bedside and accused West of trying to take him.

“He’s our child,” Gilkar said, according to The Associated Press. “He’s the love of our lives.”

She also told the court the newborn was “suffering a lot” as he struggled to breathe, choked on tubes and required a blood transfusion following surgery, according to the AP.

West has said she would abandon her custody effort if a court determined the intended parents were committed to providing the child with life-saving care.

But on Sept. 2, a Texas judge upheld the California ruling and removed West from the case. Paxton has also stepped away from the legal fight.

West’s attorneys argue she is now barred from receiving information about the baby or defending the order requiring his continued treatment. They allege Gilkar and Ahmed are challenging that medical care order.

The couple previously agreed to the baby’s first surgery and said they would approve life-saving care if doctors determined he was a candidate.

West is now asking the Supreme Court to temporarily block the California ruling, which could give her a path back into the Texas case. Her attorneys argue the dispute raises a broader constitutional question over whether challenging a court’s authority can itself be treated as accepting that authority.

Her lawyers stressed that temporarily blocking the ruling would not decide who the baby’s legal parents are or direct doctors to provide a particular course of treatment. Instead, it could allow West to ask the Texas court to bring her back into the case.

Without Supreme Court intervention, her attorneys warned, West will remain shut out of decisions and updates about the baby’s condition as the appeals process plays out.

“Unless this Court provides relief from that judgment, M.W. will have no access to information about Baby G.’s condition,” West’s attorneys wrote.

They argued that a victory later could come too late to protect the child.

“Relief later in Texas proceedings may only restore her right to protect a child that has already passed,” the filing states.

California authorities say they have found a vehicle linked to a suspect as the search continues for a father and his 14-year-old daughter, whom he is accused of impregnating.

The Monterey County Sheriff’s Office announced Tuesday that deputies searching along the central California coast located a white Nissan Altima with no license plates believed to be connected to 38-year-old Sergio Galvez Perez.

Investigators believe Perez was driving the car when he allegedly abandoned the newborn he had with his teenage daughter on the side of a road.

The infant, referred to by authorities as “Baby Angelita,” was discovered on August 1 in the 100 block of Struve Road in north Monterey County. A post-mortem forensic examination found signs of traumatic injury.

Perez and his daughter, Diana Galvez Ortega, were last seen on August 4. An Amber Alert was later issued for the 14-year-old over Labor Day weekend, with police accusing Perez of hiding her from authorities.

Perez is now wanted on suspicion of incest, lewd or lascivious acts with a child under 14, lewd acts with a minor, unlawful sexual intercourse, child concealment and child endangerment.

‘These allegations are extremely serious and are an important part of why locating Diana and ensuring her safety and well-being remain a priority,’ the sheriff’s office said in a statement.

Officials had previously said there was a warrant out for the teenager’s arrest on suspicion of murder, but last week the Monterey County District Attorney’s Office said no charging decision has been made.

‘We recognize that the 14-year-old is a victim of her father’s abuse. No child should ever have to endure such horrific circumstances,’ the District Attorney’s Office said on September 2, noting: ‘The responsibility for getting a child to safety does not rest on the child.’

‘Our priority is to ensure that this young girl is safe and has access to the support and services she needs,’ it continued. ‘If she is located, our District Attorney victim advocates and partner agencies are ready to assist her, connect her with resources and help ensure that she has the support she needs.’

Sheriff Tina Nieto also urged Perez to turn himself in at a news conference on Monday.

MORE STORY: Amazon Cargo Plane Captain in Fatal Crash Was Former Black Hawk Helicopter Pilot

‘We need Sergio Galvez Perez to stop hiding and face the charges against him,’ she said.

Authorities have previously arrested the mother of the 14-year-old, Ofelia Garcia Ortega, 36, a resident of Castroville/Salinas, on suspicion of child endangerment. Ortega has been released from the Monterey County Jail on bail and prosecutors are now reviewing the potential charges against her.

Monterey County Sheriff’s Office public information commander, Andres Rosas, told the Daily Mail that information on whether Ortega has denied her involvement or knowledge of the case cannot be released due to the ‘ongoing investigation.’ 

But the charges against Ortega are not connected to the infant’s death or the alleged abuse of her daughter, according to CNN. 

As authorities now continue to search for Perez and his daughter, they have used controversial Flock cameras – which Nieto said made ‘good police work more effective.’

Within 53 hours, investigators were able to obtain information identifying the involved suspects and track a vehicle of interest, she noted.

The sheriff’s office has also received hundreds of calls, emails and messages related to the case since the Amber Alert was issued over the weekend.

Officials said they are grateful to the community members who have shared information and remained vigilant, but said they cannot release certain details without potentially jeopardizing the investigation and efforts to locate Ortega.

In the meantime, authorities ask the community to remain on the lookout for Perez and Ortega. They have described Perez as 5-foot-5-inches tall, weighing roughly 170 pounds with black hair and brown eyes, while Ortega is described as 4-foot-10-inches tall, weighing 100 pounds with black hair and brown eyes.

However, the sheriff’s office said, anybody who sees Perez or Ortega should not approach them and should instead call 911 immediately.

Jimmy Kimmel was back on television last night after a two-month summer hiatus, returning just as Page Six reported that “Jimmy Kimmel Live” is expected to come to an end after next season.

“His contract is not getting extended,” a source told the outlet, with the late-night show reportedly set to sign off in May 2027 after a 24-year run on the air.

As speculation over the future of his ABC program made the rounds, Kimmel leaned into familiar territory: a sharp, politically loaded monologue aimed at Donald Trump.

“Donald Trump and I have one thing in common. We both accomplished nothing all summer long,” Kimmel said, taking shots at the 47th president over the war with Iran, gas prices and inflation. He also claimed Trump was trying to “keep us from voting in the midterms.”

The punchlines, such as they were, followed.

(An ABC spokesperson later claimed Page Six’s “information is inaccurate.”)

What a metamorphosis Kimmel has undergone in that nearly a quarter century. He went from slightly chubby, sarcastic everyman to a bitter partisan preacher, repeatedly delivering the same sanctimonious sermon: orange man bad.

He has long ceased being entertaining. And a show like that sure is costly. Page Six reported ABC honchos has “been offering veteran execs early retirement packages as part of restructuring and cost-cutting across the company.”

Remember when late night television was a humorous and breezy format that helped us unwind before we met Mr. Sandman?

The jokes were topical and had broad appeal while taking lighthearted hits at both sides of the political aisle.

Then Trump was elected in 2016 and Kimmel and his then CBS counterpart Stephen Colbert turned their shows into MSNBC-after-dark, ranting against the right while explicitly elevating Dem politicians.

Want to understand Kimmel’s level of self-importance? Just look at what his wife and executive producer Molly McNearney said last year on the “We Can Do Hard Things” podcast about losing relationships with relatives because they voted for Trump.

“It hurts me so much … my husband is out there fighting this man, and to me, them voting for Trump is them not voting for my husband and me and our family,”

Yes, the pair believed Kimmel — whose literal job was to read jokes off a teleprompter and make amusing chatter with celebrities — was the battle-hardened leader of the Trump Resistance.

Kimmel and Colbert forgot their jobs were to entertain, not alienate.

ALSO READ: Lindsay Clancy Juror Backed Defense Cheered Karen Read Acquittal

That’s not to say Trump doesn’t give them fodder with his ridiculous rants and trolling campaigns like renaming Lake Ontario to Lake America.

However, when it came to Democrats, Kimmel and his late night hosts ignore all of the insane characters and obvious jokes they’re serving up on a platter.

In fact, Kimmel had now disgraced ex-Congressman Eric Swalwell on his show last November to announce his bid for California Governor. When the horny pol went down in a flaming pile of sexual misconduct accusations, Kimmel suddenly became shy.

Crickets.

And Biden? He was a bumbling old man with a former crackhead son who impregnated a stripper. The family denied the baby’s existence until being shamed into acknowledging her along with the rest of the grandchildren.

The jokes write themselves. But any mention of the Biden family scandals ended with Kimmel making Trump the punchline.

Instead Kimmel decided to go after a segment of the American people. In 2021, he said those who didn’t get the covid jab shouldn’t get a hospital bed.

“Vaccinated person having a heart attack? Yes, come right on in,” he said adding, “We’ll take care of you. Unvaccinated guy who gobbled horse goo? Rest in peace, wheezy.

So, who was watching this show?

Barely anyone. But the out of touch Hollywood establishment kept making arguments for its cultural worth.

Late night has long been dead, first suffering from cord cutting and a balkanized media landscape. Then it was bludgeoned to death by the likes of Trump obsessed Kimmel and Colbert.

Colbert’s show was reportedly losing $40 million a year before it was taken off air in May. He did not go quietly.

We had to endure his never-ending goodbye tour, where his fellow celebs feted him like some sort of First Amendment martyr. In reality, he was just costing the network tons of money.

Presumably, we can expect the same protracted farewell from Kimmel.

But I’ll always remember Kimmel as a man who allowed a Big Apple-developer-turned-president to become his entire personality.

DALLAS (WLS) — The Illinois governor’s race moved into Texas on Wednesday, with Republican challenger Darren Bailey and Democratic Gov. JB Pritzker both making appearances in Dallas ahead of the midterm Republican convention.

Bailey headed to the American Airlines Center, where Republicans were gearing up for an event some party members have called “Trump-a-palooza.” Images of President Donald Trump lined the venue’s hallways, and Trump was scheduled to give the keynote speech Wednesday night before returning for the closing address Thursday. Bailey and his running mate, Aaron Del Mar, were set to join the Illinois delegation.

“We’re working our tails off in Illinois, but we just we need more help. We need to get the message out,” Bailey said. “So that really is the prime focus of coming down here to Dallas to find those people and have those conversations who will understand and partner with us to help get this message out.”

Bailey also said fundraising is part of the purpose of his trip.

Pritzker, meanwhile, joined Texas Democrats in an effort to push back against the convention’s message while taking aim at Trump and Republican policies.

“I care a great deal about what happens in Texas. Voters everywhere in the country should care about what happens in Texas,” Pritzker said. “So I’m pleased to be here for that reason. If I can advance the cause, that’s why I should stand here.”

ABC7 Chicago political analyst Laura Washington said Pritzker’s presence reflects broader ambitions.

“JB Pritzker is there because he is probably running for president, and he wants to enhance his national stature and be in a place that’s a key race and a key location for Democrats at a time when he’s supporting Democrats nationally,” she said.

READ MORE: Pennsylvania Measles Outbreak: Coroner Shares New Details on Infant Deaths

Pritzker recently launched a political action committee called Ready for the Fight, seeding it with $20 million of his own money to oppose “Make-America-Great-Again”-aligned candidates in Texas and other states. He downplayed any future plans beyond his current campaign.

“First of all, I’m running for reelection as governor, and I do want to serve as governor of the state of Illinois,” Pritzker said. “And any decisions that get made after that are going to be about whatever’s best for the people of our state.”

Bailey, meanwhile, embraced the convention but kept distance from Trump, whose poll numbers have dipped.

“Donald Trump being president has nothing to do with Darren Bailey being governor. It really doesn’t,” Bailey said.

Washington said Bailey faces a delicate balance.

“Donald Trump’s going to be the star of this convention; so he’s going to have to do a balancing act in terms of trying to woo Republican support while also keeping some distance from the president,” she said.