President Donald Trump gave three of his closest aides $45,000 cash gifts for the holidays, according to financial disclosures filed by the White House.
Natalie Harp, Chamberlain Harris and Margo Martin each reported receiving the gift from Trump in their annual public financial disclosures. The gifts totaled $135,000 and came on top of each aide’s $150,000 taxpayer-funded annual salary.
The filings identify Trump as the source of each payment and describe the gifts as “cash gift for the holidays.” Harris listed Trump’s location as Washington, D.C., while Harp and Martin listed it as Palm Beach, Florida. They were filed under the federal government’s public financial disclosure requirements.
The payments amount to 30 percent of each aide’s annual White House salary.
The disclosures identify Trump as the source of the payments and describe them as “cash gift for the holidays.”
The recipients are among the aides with the most regular access to the president.
Harp, a special assistant and executive assistant to Trump, has drawn heightened attention over her prominent role in the president’s orbit. She is often at Trump’s side, printing articles, social media posts and other material for him, earning the nickname “the human printer.”
Harris is the deputy director of Oval Office operations and an executive assistant to the president. Trump also appointed her to the Commission of Fine Arts, the federal panel overseeing architectural and design decisions in Washington. That role places Harris on a panel involved in reviewing Trump’s proposed White House ballroom, a project that has generated legal and political controversy. Her appointment drew criticism from former commissioners and preservation advocates, who questioned her qualifications for the position.
Martin is Trump’s communications adviser. She travels frequently with the president and often records and posts videos of him, including footage of Trump dancing on a tarmac in Malaysia and greeting visitors in the Oval Office.
The filings provide few additional details about the gifts.
“The President has a longstanding practice of giving Christmas gifts to people in his orbit, including at times employees and aides, both in government and in his time in the private sector,” a White House spokesperson said. “The gifts at issue here have nothing to do with any of these individuals’ official government duties, and, therefore, are entirely permissible under relevant legal and ethical standards.”
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