Trump Gave Three Aides $45,000 Holiday Gifts

Financial disclosures show that President Donald Trump gave four White House aides holiday cash gifts totaling $155,000: $45,000 each to executive assistant Natalie Harp, communications adviser Margo Martin and deputy director of Oval Office operations Chamberlain Harris, plus $20,000 to operations director Walt Nauta. The three $45,000 payments amounted to roughly one-third of the recipients’ annual $150,000 salaries, while Nauta earns $175,000. The gifts have drawn legal and ethical scrutiny because federal law generally bars executive-branch employees from receiving salary supplementation from nongovernmental sources. The Campaign Legal Center filed a complaint with the Office of Government Ethics, arguing that the payments may violate federal law and warrant investigation. The White House said Trump has long given Christmas gifts to people in his personal and professional orbit and maintained that the payments were unrelated to official duties and therefore permissible. Harp, who manages Trump’s Truth Social content and has unusually close access to him, has received particular attention.