Fox News host Jesse Watters stated Tuesday that President Trump has used "so much more sleazy" language than a recent remark made by Sen. Jon Ossoff (D-Ga.). During a broadcast of "The Five," Watters said he was not "fazed" by the senator's comments regarding White House executive assistant Natalie Harp, adding that while Trump has said "so much worse" about others in the past, he has defended those statements.
The remarks follow a Sunday rally in Atlanta where Ossoff mocked Trump's recent departure from a NATO summit in Turkey. Ossoff referenced a reported incident in which Trump used a "secret plane switch" to leave the country. Harp was among the staff members who reportedly boarded the alternate aircraft while cabinet members remained on Air Force One. Ossoff joked that Trump preferred to travel with Harp on a "flying palace gifted by the emir of Qatar" and later told MSNBC he had heard the aide described as Trump's "security blanket."
White House officials responded to Ossoff's comments on social media. Communications Director Steven Cheung characterized Ossoff as a "radical, extremist Dumocrat" on the platform X. When asked by reporters for a response, Trump referred to the senator as "Pee-Wee Herman." Watters defended Harp during his broadcast, noting that Trump signed the Right to Try Act in 2018, which Harp has credited with saving her life following a 2019 bone cancer diagnosis.
The disagreement centers on the 2018 Right to Try Act, a law that impacts thousands of patients with life-threatening illnesses by providing access to experimental treatments. Harp, a former employee of One America News Network, joined the Trump campaign in 2024 and now frequently travels with the president to locations including Mar-a-Lago and Bedminster, N.J. The scale of the "plane switch" event involved members of the presidential cabinet who remained on the primary aircraft while a smaller group of staffers used the secondary jet.
A person following this news would notice a focus on the personal characteristics and travel habits of federal officials rather than changes to their bills or legal rights. The knock-on effects include potential shifts in how executive assistants and non-elected staff are treated in political messaging. What happens next depends on whether the White House or Sen. Ossoff provides further formal statements or if the incident leads to a change in travel protocols for future summits. No specific court dates or legislative votes related to this exchange are currently scheduled.