Bill Maher refused to touch on Donald Trump’s close bond with personal aide Natalie Harp during Friday’s “Real Time,” saying he had no interest in getting sued again following his legal drama with Laura Loomer.
“The Democratic Party has a new attack dog, and he’s very good at it. Sen. Jon Ossoff of Georgia,” Maher said in his monologue. “He really went after Trump this weekend. And, in the middle of it, he mentioned Natalie Harp. That’s the young lady who works for Trump, when he got on the catering cart, she came with him off the plane.”
As Maher went on, he noted that Ossoff’s comments had sparked a number of rumors about Trump and Harp’s relationship. Yet, that was as far as Maher went while addressing the president’s dynamic with his aide – and the comedian explained why to his studio audience.
“Okay, let me tell you, folks. I got sued about this once,” Maher said. “No. Not the Orangutan. No, this was just a couple years ago. Laura Loomer sued me. I won, by the way. But, it’s expensive and unpleasant to get sued. So, you know, I took one for the team on this – you handle it. All I’m going to say.”
As we previously reported, Loomer’s defamation lawsuit against Maher and HBO over the “Real Time” host’s comments suggesting the right-wing commentator was having an affair with Trump was dismissed in April by a federal judge, who ruled that the comments were jokes, not actionable statements of fact.
The lawsuit centered on remarks made during a Sept. 2024 episode of “Real Time,” when Maher joked that Loomer might be in “an arranged relationship” with Trump to influence the election. He then added that he thought she “might be” the answer to an earlier comedic bit asking who Trump was sleeping with. Loomer alleged Maher falsely accused her of adultery with Trump and sued the comedian and HBO for $150 million.
Maher clearly learned his lesson, as he merely acknowledged Harp as Trump’s “emotional support employee” before he took umbrage with the way people were treating her.
“She travels with him everywhere and she brings a portable wireless printer so she can print out flattering news articles. Trump is old school. He wants hard copies of the smoke blown up his ass,” Maher said elsewhere in his monologue. “But that’s on him. I don’t know why you have to go after her.”
Maher then praised Harp for being “incredibly devoted to her job,” highlighting that she “never takes a day off” and sometimes forgets to “eat” and “sleep.”
“Now everyone in America is saying the same thing, ‘Why can’t I get a millennial that works like that,” he quipped. “There is a little more to the story. She had bone cancer in her 20s. She likes Trump because he speeded up experimental treatments, which she believes helped her. But, you know, in America it’s just like, ‘Oh good someone new to hate.’”
New episodes of “Real Time” air Fridays at 10 p.m. ET on HBO.
