Trump gave $45,000 cash gifts to Natalie Harp and two other aides, public records show
The White House has described the $45,000 cash gifts to Natalie Harp and three others as personal - and legal.
Trump gave $45,000 cash gifts to Natalie Harp and two other aides, public records show
President Donald Trump gave substantial cash gifts to four White House staff members, including $45,000 (£33,000) to close aide Natalie Harp, according to financial disclosures released by his administration.
Two staffers received the same amount as Harp, while his longtime aide and director of Oval Office Operations Walt Nauta was given $22,000.
The documents show that no other White House staffer has reported receiving any gifts from the president. Federal employees are barred from accepting outside compensation for their work.
The White House has said the gifts were personal, had nothing to do with the staffers’ jobs, and were lawful under US law.
In a statement to the BBC, a White House official said 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 are entirely permissible under relevant legal and ethical standards," the official added.
The cash gifts, which total $157,000, are listed as a "cash gift for the holidays" for Nauta, Harp and two other officials: communications adviser Margo Martin and Chamberlain Harris, a White House aide who serves as Trump's executive assistant.
The White House did not respond to a separate BBC question about why the other 91 listed staff members did not receive gifts.
The four people who received the cash are among those widely regarded as closest to the US president.
Harp, 35, is one of Trump's longest-serving and most loyal aides. She is often relied on to type his frequent Truth Social posts, among other duties.
Last month, she was pushed into the national spotlight after being named as one of a small number of people who stayed with Trump as he secretly switched planes leaving Turkey last month.
Nauta, a US Navy veteran, has also long been at Trump's side. He worked as a White House military valet to the president during his first term, and later joined him as an assistant at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida after Trump left office.
In June 2023, he was indicted alongside Trump on charges that he mishandled national security documents. The case was later dismissed.
The third recipient, Margo Martin, is widely known for posting about Trump's activities on social media.
The final recipient, 26-year-old Chamberlain Harris, officially serves as the president's executive assistant. In February, he was also appointed to the US Commission of Fine Arts, which oversees the construction of the White House ballroom and other Trump-directed projects in Washington.
There are no other known examples of a sitting US president giving cash gifts to White House staffers.
However, many presidents have given souvenirs or personal keepsakes to staff.
For instance, President Barack Obama gave former press secretary Robert Gibbs a framed necktie that he had once borrowed before the Democratic National Convention in 2004.