Trump gave Natalie Harp, other aides $45K gifts: Disclosures

President Trump gifted several White House aides — including longtime assistant Natalie Harp — $45,000 cash gifts, according to financial disclosures released by the Trump administration last week.

The payments, which totaled $135,000, were marked as “Cash Gift for Holidays” and attributed to the president on the disclosure forms.

Three of Trump’s closest aides — Harp, Margo Martin and Chamberlain Harris, who each have an annual taxpayer-funded salary of $150,000 — received these gifts.

Harp serves as a special assistant and executive assistant to the president. The former conservative TV anchor has come under public scrutiny amid reports about her proximity and devotion to Trump.

Harris, the deputy director of Oval Office operations and an executive assistant to the president, was also nominated by Trump to the Commission of Fine Arts. The federal panel is responsible for reviewing architectural and design decisions around Washington, including the president’s controversial White House ballroom project .

Martin is Trump’s communications adviser, and she films social media content for the president at the White House and during his trips abroad.

Another White House employee, Oval Office Operations Director Walt Nauta, received a $20,000 gift from the president, according to a financial disclosure. Nauta has an annual salary of $175,000, according to public White House records.

The Washington Post first reported on the cash gifts.

Richard Painter, a White House ethics lawyer under former President George W. Bush and vocal Trump critic, pointed to a federal statute that bars federal employees from receiving supplemental funding. Both the person who pays and the person who receives this supplemental income are liable under federal law.

“A White House staffer is not your Fifth Avenue doorman,” Painter wrote on social platform X . “No tipping, and no holiday gifts from a current boss or former employer. The salary is what it is. Full stop.”

A White House spokesperson pushed back against accusations that these gifts violated any rules in a statement shared with The Hill.

“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 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,” they added.