Sen. Jon Ossoff, D-Ga., did not say why he invoked President Donald Trump's executive assistant, Natalie Harp, directly during a campaign rally, when confronted during an interview Monday.
"Obviously, that speech you gave over the weekend, lots of people have questions about it. Why did you decide to invoke Natalie Harp specifically in that speech?" MS NOW host Jen Psaki asked.
The senator made the comment during a campaign rally in Atlanta, and a video of the moment went viral on social media. He said Trump wants to "travel with Natalie" rather than do the job of the presidency, with some progressives gleefully suggesting online that he was nodding to unfounded rumors that they were involved.
"We're in wartime. The commander-in-chief has mired us in this geopolitical disaster. People have lost their lives, our naval logistics are frayed, the global energy system is in crisis, and he retreats into this bubble of West Wing aides who are his security blanket, to make him feel good about himself, to reassure him that he's doing a great job, to help him while he designs his new ballroom," Ossoff responded.
"And he adorns the Oval Office in gold and depicts the interior decorations on this new luxury flying palace he received from a foreign prince, when every single minute of every single day what the President of the United States should be doing is bearing his most solemn burden of care for the sailors and Marines and aviators and all service members deployed on his orders on the basis of his lies to this disaster in the Middle East," he continued.
Psaki pressed him to explain why he "specifically" mentioned Harp.
"Well, I've heard this particular aide referred to as his security blanket, and I think we could say that about any number of the senior aides in the White House. They're not telling him what he needs to hear, they're telling him what he wants to hear. And the nation is at war, and we cannot afford that. We need a team in the White House. We need folks at the State Department, at the Defense Department, in the United Congress, who take their jobs seriously," Ossoff said.
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Ossoff added Trump was a "disgrace" during the MS NOW interview.
The senator said at the rally on Sunday, "While the sailors on the Lincoln fight his war, while he fruitlessly drains our munitions and oil reserves, the president sleeps through his meetings, he golfs, and trades stocks."
"He doesn’t want to do the job. He wants to build his ballroom and travel with Natalie on their apparently defenseless flying palace gifted by the Emir of Qatar," Ossoff said, referring to Harp.
White House spokesman Davis Ingle hit back at the senator in a statement to Fox News Digital.
"Jon Ossoff is a feminine theatre kid who voted to massively raise taxes, give illegal immigrants free taxpayer-funded healthcare, and defund federal immigration enforcement and Border Patrol. Lightweight Jon’s rhetoric is cringeworthy, but his extreme voting record is dangerous," Ingle said.
The White House lashed out at a CNN reporter who asked Trump about Ossoff's remarks on Monday as well, calling her an embarrassment.
Liberals lauded Ossoff for his remarks on X, while conservatives called out the Democratic senator.
"Ossoff winking at the rumor that Natalie Harp is more than just Trump’s staffer. The question now is whether this will kick up a round of actual reporting by news outlets," host of "Pod Save America" and ex-Obama staffer Tommy Vietor wrote on X.
Rep. Brandon Gill, R-Texas, wrote, "Natalie Harp survived bone cancer because President Trump allowed her the 'right to try.' Now she’s an extremely hardworking and trusted assistant. Any other insinuation is vile."
Some others felt Ossoff had made a misstep with his alleged innuendo.
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When the president was asked about the remarks at the White House on Monday, Trump replied that Ossoff looked like "Pee-wee Herman."
White House director of communications Steven Cheung said, "Instead of denigrating hard working people serving their country, Jon should look deep into his soul and ask himself why he's a miserable person who hates this country. It's because he's a radical, extremist Dumocrat."