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The Situation Room

Questions Swirl About National Security Impact of Trump-Harp Bond; Questions Grow Over Why Trump, Cohen Reunite After Massive Rift; Video Shows Plane's Deadly Collision With Pennsylvania Police Helicopter. Aired 10-10:30a ET

Aired August 21, 2026 - 10:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

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PAMELA BROWN, CNN ANCHOR: Happening now, with all my heart. That's a direct quote. Emotional letters allegedly written by Natalie Harp reveal just how devoted the White House aide is to President Trump.

Plus, controversial name change. He answered the call during the attack on Pearl Harbor, so why would the Navy consider switching an aircraft carrier name in his honor to potentially Donald J. Trump?

And powerful storms trigger flash flooding, twisters, and damaging winds in the Northeast as a second round is expected today.

WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: And reunited for the first time in years. President Trump reconciles with his former attorney, Michael Cohen.

Plus, dangerous bets, disturbing new information about military secrets on the Polymarket and the threat to U.S. national security.

And drivers, start your engines. The Grand Prix Freedom 250 takes over the nation's capital this weekend. Everything you need to know before the race takes off.

Welcome to our viewers here in the United States and around the world. I'm Wolf Blitzer with Pamela Brown, and you're in The Situation Room.

New this morning, we're getting a closer look into the contents of private communications between President Trump and one of his closest aides, now raising questions about the potential national security ramifications. Letters published in full for the first time by The Daily Beast show staffer Natalie Harp writing to the president in 2023, and I'm quoting now, you are all that matters to me, end quote, and also this, I don't want to ever let you down, end quote. She also reportedly tells President Trump she is, quote, unworthy of him.

CNN has not independently confirmed that Harp wrote or sent the letters to the president but the contents are prompting concerns about the broader implications of the very close relationship between Harp and the president, viewed by some in the White House as a gatekeeper of President Trump and the most powerful man in the world. Let's go live right now to CNN White House Correspondent Alayna Treene. She's working the story for us. What more can you tell us, Alayna, about these letters and how the Trump administration is responding?

ALAYNA TREENE, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Yes. Look, Wolf, I mean, we've heard some details of some of these, you know, experts that have been reported by The New York Times and other outlets. But I think what's interesting about these is that we are seeing them in full for the first time. I should note they are from 2023. And they're, of course, very personal.

I will read you some more of the excerpts from these letters that were published by The Daily Beast. One of them reads, quote, I didn't have to be human printer. I could take time to enjoy good conversation and still get all my work done at the end of the day. In fact, I even had time to take long morning and evening walks to enjoy each sunrise and sunset, though I did forget to eat and sleep.

Another reads, please, when I fail, will you tell me? You have the absolute right to cuss me out if need be when I deserve it, because no one knows or cares about me more. To modify a classic, it goes on to say, I could not have parted with you to anyone less worthy, and I will add, it is I who is unworthy, so clearly very personal in these letters.

And I think what's important, some important context to note here, Wolf, is just how deep the connection between Natalie Harp and the president is. And remind our viewers that she has credited the president with saving her life. She has said in the past that she had suffered from bone cancer and that she believes that it was the president's 2018 legislation that he had signed that she credits with allowing her to receive experimental treatments.

We don't know what those treatments are. She has never said what they are. But I think that gives you some insight into why she feels such total loyalty toward the president.

Now, I will say the White House said in a statement earlier this week this is from their spokesman, Davis Engel, he said, quote, that Natalie Harp is, quote, one of the most loyal and hardest working aides on President Trump's team. I should note that was from Tuesday. We have reached out to the White House again for additional comment on these letters being published in full.

But, again, a very important, I think, relationship that we're really seeing come to light more so this week ever since Senator Jon Ossoff, a Democrat, had made comments about Harp and how she travels with the president often. That spurred a lot of reaction from the White House. Some, again, like this White House statement, pointing out how loyal and hardworking she is. Some of them, though, were far more aggressive and sharp in their defense of Harp.

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And one thing I've actually picked up, Wolf, in some of my conversations with people here at the White House this week is that some of those more aggressive posts defending Harp actually had the adverse effect of drawing more attention to this relationship and dragging the story out, I think, into the public view in a bigger way.

And so I think for now they've kind of tried to move away from that, and I think likely we're going to continue to see kind of this one statement that's been circulating be the word from the White House for now.

BLITZER: All right. Alayna Treene reporting for us, Alayna, thank you very, very much. Pamela?

BROWN: All right. Joining us now in the situation room is Maggie Haberman. She's a White House correspondent for The New York Times and the co-author of the bestselling book, "Regime Change: Inside the Imperial Presidency of Donald Trump" with Jonathan Swan. Maggie, it's so great to have you on the show.

"Regime Change" introduced us to Natalie Harp. A lot -- for a lot of people, it was the very first time they learned about her. So, remind our viewers about her power in President Trump's White House, and what the details from these letters demonstrate to you.

MAGGIE HABERMAN, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: So, one of the things that Jonathan and I reported in the book was, yes, Natalie Harp, who was so devotional to him that, you know, she would write these letters. We had looked at the letters. We'd obtained them. They had and reviewed them.

These were in 2023, as Alayna said. But she was going into the White House with him, and he would tell people in the four years out of power, three some odd, that she worked for him, that, you know, she was the only person among his staff who loved him as much as his wife and children. And he would say, you know, all of the rest of you will go off and make money. She will never leave me.

And so that tells you about how much he values loyalty. It tells you how much that he values somebody who, you know, he will be a constant supplier of good news. There is a reason -- the human printer nickname that she refers to in her own letter that Alayna just read, that was coined by people working for the president because Natalie Harp has been a controversial figure inside his world for a while.

And I understand the White House is upset now about focus on her, but, you know, this is coming in part because of people around the president have been concerned, including the Secret Service during those four years out of office.

But she does fill a role that he wants. She handles a lot of his social media. She is a channel by which outsiders can bypass existing systems to get to him and vice versa, where he can reach out to other people. That does include, in some cases, foreign leaders. That's the role she serves.

BLITZER: Our colleague, Erin Burnett, interviewed Natalie Harp's estranged brother earlier this week and asked for his view of some of your reporting for "Regime Change". Listen to this.

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ERIN BURNETT, CNN ANCHOR: What do you think it is about her? I mean, what do you -- I mean, what do you make of how much the president relies on her? We've learned a lot, you know what I mean, from Maggie Haberman and Jonathan Swan's new book, we've learned, right, about his incredible reliance on her at all hours of the day to post social media posts, just as one example.

PRESTON HARP, ESTRANGED BROTHER OF NATALIE HARP: Yes. I think that Trump's best friends are people who are his fan club, you know? Like -- and so she's his biggest fan, and so that's probably why he likes her.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: So, what's your assessment of that? Is it that simple?

HABERMAN: I think that's a lot of it, yes, Wolf. I mean, there's nothing else that goes beyond that in our reporting. You know, Trump, as I think we've all watched over a long period of time likes to have sycophants around. It doesn't mean exclusively, but that has gotten more pronounced and, you know, devotion is the coin of the realm in his world and in his larger orbit. She is the most pronounced example of it that I can see in, in recent years.

And I think the other piece, too, Wolf, is she doesn't have, that we know of and according to people we've spoken to in the president's world over several years now, she doesn't really do much outside of work. She works constantly for him. That is something that he has a huge amount of value in. I described her the other day as, you know, a binky, for lack of a better way of putting it, so a comfort blanket.

There are men who have played that role for him, too. One of them would be Boris Epshteyn, about whom, you know, he, his lead legal adviser, you know, of whom the president describes him as his psychiatrist and says, you know, sometimes you just want somebody to tell you everything is going to be okay. That is a lot of what the president values.

BLITZER: You know, when I mentioned that there potentially could be national security concerns, I was referring to the fact, and correct me if I'm wrong, Maggie, that she does not have top secret security clearances even though world leaders were occasionally calling her to try to set up a phone conversation with the president.

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HABERMAN: So, our understanding is that she does have a security clearance. We haven't independently corroborated that she was delayed on her SF-86 forms to get a longer term one. She came in our reporting with a temporary clearance the way that most other people working in the White House did.

I think, you know, look, the president speaks on a cellphone that is, you know, like everybody has the number, as we've discussed many, many times. That includes world leaders. That includes a bunch of people, and, you know, we don't quite know exactly how secure that phone is. I think the bigger issue that people have had about concerns is just her level of, you know, intense devotion to him, and that was what became a question for the Secret Service in 2022 and I believe part of 2023.

There is -- I just want to make one other point, Wolf, you know, and Alayna was talking about this, that the White House now seems to be realizing that they helped elevate attention around Natalie Harp by pushing back on Jon Ossoff and going further than what Ossoff had said about their relationship themselves. That is absolutely true.

But there's also -- you know, the way a president's world functions, and you know this, who is around him, who helps provide him information, that is going to be of interest and importance in any administration. She's a government employee. It should not be a surprise.

BROWN: So, there's been quite a few questions swirling about First Lady Melania Trump's absence from the White House, especially given the storyline around Natalie Harp. Let's play what she said yesterday at an event for her Fostering the Future initiative.

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MELANIA TRUMP, U.S. FIRST LADY: Good afternoon. I heard you missed me. Here I am. Welcome to the White House.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BROWN: So, what is your read on just that moment and where Melania fits into all of this?

HABERMAN: Yes. I actually don't have any reporting, Pamela, to suggest that this has anything to do with Natalie Harp. Natalie Harp has been around for years at this point. I don't think that would be a surprise to the first lady. It's possible that the first lady is irritated by the coverage. It's also possible she's not. I don't know the answer one way or the other.

But the first lady, I believe, was referring to the fact that there have been questions about just her presence generally. She has not been -- there have been a number of stories about this long predating the Natalie Harp focus, how much time the first lady is spending at the White House. My colleagues have done stories on it. What her profile looks like compared to last time.

You know, we know, and we reported in the book that she was very frustrated by the ballroom construction, remember the Rose Garden, which he paved over to turn into a version of the Mar-a-Lago patio, that was one of her proudest pieces of work, was redoing the Rose Garden, and it was actually kept, most of it, I think all of it by the Bidens when they came into the White House. So, that in and of itself raised a lot of eyebrows in the White House, but I don't believe this is connected to Natalie Harp. BLITZER: And as you know, Maggie, President Trump appeared on the radio show of Michael Cohen, his former lawyer turned foe yesterday, to bury the hatchet after several years of a truly acrimonious relationship. Listen to some of that. Listen to this.

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DONALD TRUMP, U.S. PRESIDENT: They weaponized you like nobody's ever been weaponized, like few have been.

MICHAEL COHEN, FORMER TRUMP LAWYER: Well, maybe just you and I, sir. But --

TRUMP: And you. Yes, me too, but I don't consider mine. You know, mine was at a level that nobody's ever seen before. But they weaponized you, they weaponized a lot of people. And I respect the fact that you recanted everything you said, and that's a big thing that you did. That's a very big thing.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: Maggie, you covered both of these men for a very long time. What stood out to you from that interview?

HABERMAN: A couple of things, Wolf, one of which, speaking of the whole, you know, binky and people who provide the president with a supply of positive information, Michael Cohen was among the people who played that role for a long time, you know, as did others in that world.

What struck me in that moment was that Michael Cohen did not recant what he had said, and what he said under oath still stands as far as I know. And I think it would be very challenging for Cohen if prosecutors brought him back under oath, or anyone did to see what he would say, because he is the person who would be at risk there.

One of the things we also reported in the book, Wolf, Jonathan and I did, about was that Trump was keeping this running tab of people who were part of his vengeance campaign, people who were, in his mind, his perceived enemies. That included the judge who had overseen that trial in which Michael Cohen was a key witness, in which Trump was criminally convicted, but not Michael Cohen. He was not attacking Cohen last year. And it became clear as a possible reason why earlier this year that Cohen declared on his Substack that he felt coerced. Felt coerced is not the same as saying he was coerced.

But what was also striking is -- and again, Cohen is one of the only people who went to jail in any of these investigations.

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Trump is very aware of that. But Cohen was looking to sort of a, a more, you know, reminiscent reunion and the president didn't seem quite that focused on that part of it.

BROWN: Yes, we heard a lot of the same talking points from the president in response to Cohen asking, remember when, trying to be nostalgic. And the president really wasn't that way in return. How much do you think this was about wanting a pardon on Cohen's part, Maggie?

HABERMAN: I think that Cohen has been quite plain that he wants a pardon even though he had previously said he didn't. I believe I saw somewhere that he had put in a pardon maybe it was with Jake Tapper that he'd put in a pardon application now with the Trump White House. He had with the Biden White House. He was very upset that he didn't get one. You know, he was upset that he didn't get more of a reprieve. He's said this publicly for the, and to other, many people for the testimony that he provided in other cases and other investigations. So, I certainly think that's part of it.

And I think for the president's team part of this is about the fact, yes, while the president has said he feels bad for Cohen, it's about the possibility that Cohen saying what he's saying now, that he felt coerced, could help them in their efforts to appeal the criminal conviction, which they are in the process of doing. And we'll see whether that actually works, but those are the main factors here.

BROWN: Yes, something in it for both of them. Maggie Haberman, thank you so much for coming on, as always. It's so great to have you.

HABERMAN: Thanks, Pam. Thank you.

BLITZER: And a special congratulations from me, Maggie, to you, Jonathan, for your excellent book, "Regime Change". It's now been number one on the New York Times bestsellers list for several, several weeks and deserves to be there. I appreciate it very, very much.

Still ahead, the FBI says it foiled an ISIS-inspired plot to bomb the New York State Capitol. What the agency now says the suspect did that sounded alarm bells.

Plus, the NTSB just released new details on that collision between a small plane police helicopter. We're going to bring you that up next.

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BROWN: Breaking news out of Central Pennsylvania. We're seeing some new video that captures a small plane crashing into a state police helicopter. We want to warn you, this is troubling. From the left side of your screen, if you look right here, you'll see the plane sweep in and clip the top of the helicopter. The plane's pilot was killed and two state troopers in the helicopter were injured. And just last hour, NTSB investigators gave an update.

So for more on that, I want to bring in CNN aviation correspondent Pete Muntean. What are you learning, Pete?

PETE MUNTEAN, CNN AVIATION CORRESPONDENT: Well, right now we don't know exactly why this collision happened, but the NTSB just laid out some really key findings here, and investigators now say the Cessna was apparently out of control before it ever hit the Pennsylvania State Police helicopter.

Investigators cannot yet say why the airplane went out of control, but the NTSB is now specifically investigating whether the helicopter's powerful rotor wash could have played a role, more on that in a second. The surveillance video shows the police helicopter was just over the grass to the side of the runway when it was hit by the Cessna.

Now, investigators say the two-man helicopter crew was on a training flight doing what's called a hover taxi. That's when the helicopter is flying only a few feet above the ground while still moving forward slowly. Then the Cessna came toward the helicopter in what investigators now call an unusual attitude.

And I want you to listen now to investigator in charge, Aaron McCarter, as he describes this crash sequence.

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AARON MCCARTER, NTSB AIR SAFETY INVESTIGATOR: The video evidence we have showed that it was flying in an unusual attitude. It was in a steep nose-pitched-up attitude, right wing low. The wings were rocking back and forth, then it temporarily leveled off, and for reasons unknown, flew off the right side of the runway, runway 28, and impacted the helicopter.

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MUNTEAN: Now, one thing investigators will look into is they're examining the helicopter's rotor wash. That's the powerful wake generated by the helicopter's blades that has caused fatal crashes before. There was a similar crash to this one in California in 2022, where a landing Cessna was tossed like a toy by the wake of a hovering helicopter.

Now, investigators stress there is no proof that is what happened here, but they are ordering studies of each aircraft involved and the weather to examine that possibility, because wind can move wake across an airport.

Important to note that a Cessna 150 weighs only about 1,400 pounds. That's very light, only about half the weight of a Honda Civic. One more point. The NTSB now says that witnesses tell them the Cessna pilot knew that the helicopter was there and that the pilots of the two aircraft had communicated before the crash over the radio using what's called the common traffic advisory frequency. That's what pilots use to announce their positions on or near an airport when there's no control tower, like this one. So, a lot of evidence coming out here, and a lot of it for investigators to dig into.

BROWN: Yes, just seeing that video.

MUNTEAN: Yes.

BROWN: Ugh, incredible.

All right, Pete Muntean, thank you.

MUNTEAN: Any time.

BROWN: Wolf?

BLITZER: And happening now, the FBI says it has foiled an ISIS- inspired plot to bomb the New York State Capitol in Albany and to kill state senators. The U.S. Justice Department says this photo shows 35- year-old Jessica Bowie of Albany, New York, buying several materials to try to make an explosive device. Investigators say she also conducted surveillance of the building after pledging allegiance to the Islamic State terror group.

CNN Law Enforcement Correspondent Whitney Wild is joining us right now. Whitney, what more are you learning about the suspect and her alleged plot?

WHITNEY WILD, CNN LAW ENFORCEMENT CORRESPONDENT: Wolf, she conducted five surveillance operations around the State Capitol, and through those operations, she took dozens of photos.

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She is alleged to have, as you said tried to carry out actually making this explosive device, and the overt acts that the FBI described here was she actually went out to purchase those materials on her own. The plan was this: She was going to put a device inside a food delivery bag, she was going to take it to the New York State Capitol, and she hoped to take down as much of the building as possible, kill senators while they were inside meeting, and kill half of the people inside.

This plot began to be foiled by the FBI when she began communicating with an FBI informant in mid-July. Here's more from federal officials there detailing just how serious these allegations are.

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JOHN SARCONE, FIRST ASSISTANT U.S. ATTORNEY, NORTHERN DISTRICT OF NEW YORK: The allegations in this complaint are deeply disturbing that someone would harbor such hatred toward our way of life and seek to target the New York State Capitol and New York State senators.

That's an attack on democracy itself and one we will not tolerate.

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WILD: Once the FBI had enough to move forward, they did so swiftly. Wednesday she was arrested and here's how it went down, Wolf. She was in a car with an informant who sold her an inert firearm, she didn't know was inert. But that included ammunition and one magazine as well. They also showed her an inert explosive device. Again, she didn't know it was inert. When she exited the vehicle, that's when the FBI moved in.

She is now facing up to 20 years in prison, a $250,000 fine, and potentially a lifetime of supervised release. Wolf? BLITZER: All right, Whitney Wild reporting for us, very disturbing development indeed. Thank you very much. Pamela?

BROWN: All right, Wolf, coming up, high-speed spectacle. Washington, D.C., set to host an Indy car race this weekend, and CNN got access to walk the track. We'll show you up next.

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