President Donald Trump gave Natalie Harp and two other White House aides $45,000 each in cash gifts, according to financial disclosure statements.
Harp, whose close relationship with Trump has come under intense scrutiny in recent weeks, and the other two female aides reported the money as a “cash gift for the holidays” in their annual executive branch disclosure forms released by the White House.
Harp, and the other aides — Chamberlain Harris, deputy director of Oval Office operations and Margo Martin, a communications adviser — each make an annual salary of $150,000, according to publicly disclosed White House documents.
The White House press office posted a statement about the president’s cash gifts to the three aides, saying, “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.”
“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 statement said.
