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Reuters

US President Donald Trump gave tens of thousands of dollars in cash gifts last year to executive assistant Natalie Harp and three other close aides working in the West Wing, according to financial disclosures released by the White House.
The payments raised ethics concerns because federal employees are ‌generally barred by statute from receiving compensation beyond their government salaries.
Harp, communications adviser Margo Martin and deputy director of Oval Office operations Chamberlain Harris each received US$45,000, described in their disclosures as “Cash Gift for Holidays”.
The payments were equivalent to roughly one-third of the aides’ federal salaries of US$150,000 per year, according to the White House annual personnel report to Congress.
Walt Nauta, another aide who works as the director of Oval Office operations, received US$20,000 in cash, the disclosures show. His annual ⁠compensation is US$175,000.

The Washington Post first reported the gifts on Tuesday.
“A White House staffer is not your Fifth Avenue doorman,” Richard ‌W. Painter, a law professor who served as the chief White House ethics lawyer between 2005 and 2007 under President George W. Bush, said in a social media post.
White House spokesman Davis Ingle said the gifts complied with ethics rules.
“The president has a long-standing ⁠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,” Ingle said in ‌a statement on Wednesday.
“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.”
Harp ‌and Nauta are among Trump’s most trusted aides, with near-constant access to the president during long days on the road ‌or at the White House.

Harp drew public scrutiny last month when The Washington Post reported that she and Nauta were ⁠in a catering truck that secretly moved Trump to a flight he took in July from Turkey to the UK ⁠amid concerns about potential threats from Iran.
Harp exercises control over Trump’s Truth Social account, posting on his behalf and helping draft social media statements, according to a person familiar with her role.
Colleagues sometimes call her the “human ‌printer” as she provides often favourable news ‌coverage to Trump from a portable printer that she carries.
Nauta, a former White House valet, faced accusations from federal prosecutors of helping Trump hide top-secret documents that the Republican president took when he completed his first term at the White House in 2021.
Nauta pleaded not guilty, and the case was dropped after Trump returned to office.


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Trump gave US$45,000 cash to close aide Natalie Harp and others

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Margo Martin, special assistant and communications adviser to US President Donald Trump, listens as Trump speaks during an event in the Rose Garden of the White House in August. Photo: AP

White House aide Natalie Harp and Walt Nauta, personal aide to US President Donald Trump, walk to board Marine One at the White House in August. Photo: AP

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White House aide Natalie Harp disembarks Air Force One at Joint Base Andrews on August 9. Photo: AP

US Senator Jon Ossoff during a Senate Intelligence Committee hearing on Capitol Hill in July. Photo: TNS

US President Donald Trump and his aide Natalie Harp attend a dignified transfer for US service members killed during operations in the Middle East at Dover Air Force Base in Delaware in July. Photo: TNS

Trump and Harp exit Marine One on the Ellipse near the White House on Sunday. Photo: AFP

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Former US president Donald Trump’s aide Walt Nauta helps his boss with his collar during in the Pro-Am tournament at the Trump National Golf Club in Sterling, Virginia, in May. Photo: Reuters

An undated image attached as evidence in the indictment against former US president Donald Trump shows the contents of a box containing classified material found by Walt Nauta in a storage room allegedly at Mar-a-Lago. Photo: US Department of Justice via AFP

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United States & Canada

The payments raise ethics concerns because federal employees are ‌generally barred from receiving compensation beyond their salaries


The payments raise ethics concerns because federal employees are ‌generally barred from receiving compensation beyond their salaries.


US Politics

United States

Trump gave US$45,000 cash to close aide Natalie Harp and others

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}The payments raise ethics concerns because federal employees are ‌generally barred from receiving compensation beyond their salaries

The payments raise ethics concerns because federal employees are ‌generally barred from receiving compensation beyond their salaries