Trump gifts 4 aides $45K each as Americans struggle

President Trump gave four White House aides a total of $155,000 in cash holiday gifts last year, according to new financial disclosures.

Who got the money? Well, Natalie Harp, Margo Martin and Chamberlain Harris received $45,000 a piece. Walt Nauta received $20,000.

Harp, Martin and Harris each make $150,000 a year. So that $45,000 “gift” equals 30 percent of their annual government salary — roughly three-and-a-half months of pay — handed over in cash directly from the president.

The White House says Trump has a longstanding practice of giving Christmas gifts to people in his orbit, and insists these payments had nothing to do with their official duties and were therefore permissible.

But federal law tells a different story.

Government employees generally can’t get extra compensation from a private person for doing their government job. The idea is to make sure their paycheck and their loyalty comes from the government and not from someone who has power over them.

The law exists in part to prevent outside money, like in this case, from influencing a public employee’s loyalty.

Former White House ethics lawyer Richard Painter told The New York Times these payments appear to raise exactly that problem.

Let’s go back to who got these big holiday bonuses. Natalie Harp is Trump’s executive assistant, famously dubbed the “human printer” because she carries a portable printer to give him favorable media coverage and social-media posts. She was also among the aides involved when Trump secretly left Air Force One during a security threat in Turkey.

Margo Martin has worked with Trump since his first presidency, followed him to Palm Beach after the 2020 election and returned to the White House after his 2024 victory.

Chamberlain Harris is deputy director of Oval Office operations and serves on the U.S. Commission of Fine Arts, which has been heavily involved in the White House ballroom project.

And Walt Nauta is the current director of Oval Office operations. He was also the guy who was charged alongside Trump in the classified-documents case — charges that were dismissed in 2024. So you could say he’s Trump’s “ride or die.”

Now let’s talk about the amount of money these folks were given. $45,000 is not pocket change. For many Americans, that could erase high-interest debt, cover months of housing, fund child care, build an emergency savings cushion or become a down payment.

Imagine being another federal employee who got no bonus because you weren’t blindly allegiant to the president. Better yet, imagine all of the teachers, nurses, warehouse workers, farmers, military families or parents who are working just as hard and watching the cost of housing, food and insurance eat up more of their paycheck with each decision the administration makes.

We are watching a president whose personal wealth and business interests remain intertwined with the presidency. A president who is personally handing tens of thousands of dollars to the government employees closest to him. Even if you set aside the ethics questions and the legal implications involved, it’s clear that everyone who is not in Trump’s inner circle, every average American, will be paying the bills he’s left the country with as he and his closest allies continue to profit.

Lindsey Granger is a NewsNation contributor and co-host of The Hill’s commentary show “Rising.” This column is an edited transcription of her on-air commentary.