The White House is standing firmly behind President Donald Trump’s decision to hand out $45,000 in cash gifts to three young female aides, insisting the payments were simply holiday generosity and fully within the bounds of the law, after the Washington Post reported the gifts may have run afoul of federal ethics rules.
The $45,000 given to 35-year-old special assistant Natalie Harp amounted to nearly a third of her $150,000 government salary, according to the Post, which cited ethics experts raising concerns about the payments. Harp disclosed the gift on a financial filing last week, listing it as a “cash gift for the holidays.”
White House spokesperson Davis Ingle defended the president, telling the Post that Trump has a “longstanding practice” of giving Christmas gifts to people in his orbit, both in government and during his years 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,” Ingle said.
Trump also gave similar cash gifts to 31-year-old communications advisor Margo Martin and 26-year-old executive assistant Chamberlain Harris. None of the three women responded to the Post’s request for comment.
Former White House chief ethics lawyer Richard Painter, who served under President George W. Bush, told the outlet the payments appear to run up against a federal statute that bars supplementing a government employee’s salary. “He’s clearly trying to make it easier for them financially to work in government service at the White House,” Painter said. “You can’t do that. It’s not like tipping the doorman on Fifth Avenue. These are U.S. government employees.”
Harp has become a familiar face around Trump, earning the nickname “human printer” for carrying a portable printer to hand the president favorable news clips. She drew national attention earlier this summer after Sen. Jon Ossoff quipped during a campaign rally that Trump would rather travel with Harp than tend to his job. Harp was also among a small group of aides who sheltered with Trump in a catering truck after a credible assassination threat from Iran was reported during July’s NATO Summit.
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