$45,000 Payments to Three Staffers Raise Questions Over Federal Ethics Rules as White House Defends Holiday Gifts
President Donald Trump gave three White House aides $45,000 each in cash and another aide $20,000, according to newly released financial disclosures, prompting questions from government ethics experts about whether the payments crossed federal legal or ethical lines.
The annual disclosures show executive assistant Natalie Harp, communications adviser Margo Martin and deputy director of Oval Office operations Chamberlain Harris each reported receiving a $45,000 “Cash Gift for Holidays” from Trump. Director of Oval Office operations Walt Nauta reported receiving $20,000.
Harp, Martin and Harris each earn $150,000 annually at the White House, while Nauta earns $175,000, according to the administration’s salary report to Congress. That means the $45,000 payments amounted to nearly one-third of each recipient’s government salary.
A White House official defended the payments, saying Trump has a longstanding practice of giving Christmas gifts to employees and others in his orbit and arguing that the payments were unrelated to the aides’ official government responsibilities.
The official said the gifts were “entirely permissible under relevant legal and ethical standards.”
Trump’s own administration confirmed at least one of the payments through Harp’s financial disclosure, which lists Donald J. Trump as the source of a $45,000 holiday cash gift.
Ethics Experts Question Unusual Payments
The size of the payments has drawn scrutiny because federal law restricts private parties from supplementing the salaries of government employees under certain circumstances.
Richard Painter, who served as chief White House ethics lawyer under President George W. Bush and has been a vocal Trump critic, told The Washington Post that he believes the payments appear to violate the federal prohibition against supplementing government salaries.
Other ethics experts have been more cautious.
Don Fox, a former acting director of the U.S. Office of Government Ethics during the Obama administration, told the Post that the available facts do not necessarily establish a legal violation. He said the question would depend in part on whether the money was intended to compensate employees for remaining in government service.
Fox nevertheless called the size of the gifts troubling because receiving tens of thousands of dollars directly from a supervisor could leave an employee feeling indebted to that person.
The payments also stand out because government ethics experts told the Post they were unaware of previous examples of a U.S. president giving White House subordinates personal cash gifts on this scale.
The White House maintains the payments were simply holiday gifts and had no connection to government work.
Critics Point to Broader Questions About Trump and Money
Rodericka Applewhaite, who served as White House director of Black media under the Biden-Harris administration, told theGrio that the disclosures were striking compared with the ethics restrictions she encountered while working in government.
Applewhaite recalled being reprimanded by White House counsel after allowing a Black radio outlet to display its signage outside a room in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building because officials were concerned it could appear that the administration was favoring one media organization.
“That’s the high caliber of ethics this institution demonstrated just two years ago,” Applewhaite said.
She contrasted that experience with Trump making large direct payments to employees, while also pointing to other controversies involving his financial interests, cryptocurrency ventures and relationships with wealthy donors.
Democratic strategist Jamarr Brown similarly told theGrio that the payments should be viewed in the larger context of financial and ethical controversies surrounding Trump’s administration.
Brown described the administration as a “revolving door of corruption” and questioned why aides already earning six-figure government salaries were receiving tens of thousands of dollars directly from the president.
The criticism comes as Trump continues to face broader scrutiny over the intersection of his presidency and personal finances. Reports that Trump’s cryptocurrency businesses generated nearly $1.2 billion last year, according to his federal financial disclosure.
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Trump’s recent claims that the United States made “hundreds of billions” of dollars on stocks as questions surrounding his economic record and personal financial interests remain part of the national political debate.
Harp is one of Trump’s most visible aides and frequently travels alongside him. Martin has worked with Trump since his first administration and later joined his post-presidency operation in Palm Beach before returning to the White House.
Trump appointed Harris this year to the U.S. Commission of Fine Arts, which has oversight responsibilities connected to federal construction projects, including his White House ballroom project.
Nauta previously served as Trump’s valet and was charged alongside Trump and Mar-a-Lago property manager Carlos De Oliveira in the federal classified documents case.
Those charges were dismissed in 2024.
