Trump Gave $155,000 to Four White House Aides

US President Donald Trump gave four close White House aides cash gifts totaling $155,000 last year, according to financial disclosures released by the administration.

Executive assistant Natalie Harp, communications adviser Margo Martin and deputy director of Oval Office operations Chamberlain Harris each received $45,000, while Walt Nauta, director of Oval Office operations, received $20,000. The disclosures described the $45,000 payments as “Cash Gift for Holidays”.

For Harp, Martin and Harris, the gifts amounted to roughly one-third of their annual federal salaries of $150,000. The payments have raised ethics concerns because federal employees are generally barred from receiving compensation beyond their government salaries.

The White House maintains that the gifts complied with ethics rules. A spokesman said Trump had a long-standing practice of giving Christmas gifts to people in his inner circle and that the payments were unrelated to the employees’ official duties.

Richard W. Painter, who served as the White House’s chief ethics lawyer under President George W. Bush, criticized the payments, writing on social media: “A White House staffer is not your Fifth Avenue doorman.”

Harp and Nauta are among Trump’s most trusted aides, with near-constant access to the president.

(Reuters, mja)