US President Donald Trump has given away thousands of dollars to his White House aides as holiday gift.
According to The Guardian, a new financial disclosure revealed that Trump gave sizable holiday gifts to four White House aides, including $45,000 to executive assistant Natalie Harp.
Communications adviser Margo Martin and deputy director of Oval Office operations Chamberlain Harris also received $45,000, while director of Oval Office operations Walt Nauta received a $20,000 gift.
The gifts were noted in the staffers’ annual financial disclosure forms that were published by the administration last week.
As per the White House’s salary disclosure report to Congress Harp, Martin and Harris make $150,000 annually and Nauta is paid $175,000 a year.
Trump’s longstanding practice of giving gifts
A White House official while commenting on the cash gifts said that the 80-year-old “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.”
However, the official did not reveal whether any other staffers were given similar gifts from the US president.
“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,” the White House statement added.
Harp is a constant presence by Trump’s side and is known for carrying a portable printer with her so she can print out favourable media coverage and social media posts for the president
Martin has been working for Trump since his term in the White House. She started as a White House press assistant and followed the president to Palm Beach, Florida, to help run his media operations after he lost the 2020 election to Joe Biden.
Nauta, who previously served as a valet to Trump, and Mar-a-Lago property manager Carlos De Oliveira were charged in 2023 with conspiring with Trump to obstruct an FBI investigation into classified documents that the Republican took with him when he left the White House after his first term. The charges were dismissed in 2024.
