Did President Donald Trump defend White House aide Natalie Harp after she posted nuclear codes on Instagram? No, that's not true: The claim originated on a website known for posting satirical news content, and there is no evidence that Harp actually posted nuclear codes on Instagram. No credible news organizations reported such an incident as of Sept. 9, 2026.
The claim appeared in a post (archived here) by the @Roshan_Rinaldi account on X on Sept. 8, 2026. It read:
BREAKING: Trump Defends Natalie Harp,... After She Posts Nuclear Codes on Instagram
The post featured a clearly legible image of the nuclear codes adorned with heart and smiley-face emojis.
This is what the post looked like on X at the time of writing:
(Image source: post by @Roshan_Rinaldi on X.)
The claim originated in an article (archived here) published by Andy Borowitz on The Borowitz Report on Sept. 8, 2026. Borowitz (archived here) is a longtime political satirist who started publishing The Borowitz Report in 2001. His column appeared in The New Yorker from 2012 to 2023.
This is what the article looked like at the time of writing:
(Image source: The Borowitz Report.)
News searches
Lead Stories searched Google News (archived here) and Yahoo News (archived here) and found no matching reports from credible news outlets using the search terms: "Trump," "Natalie Harp," "nuclear codes," and "Instagram."
