President Donald Trump has provided cash holiday gifts to four White House aides, according to financial disclosures released by the administration last week.
The forms set out gifts of $45,000 each for executive assistant Natalie Harp, communications adviser Margo Martin, and deputy director of Oval Office operations Chamberlain Harris. They also list a $20,000 gift for director of Oval Office operations Walt Nauta. The disclosures were published alongside the staffers’ annual financial reporting.
Gifts And Reported Salaries
The financial disclosures show that Harp, Martin and Harris each earn $150,000 a year, according to the White House salary information submitted to Congress. Nauta is shown as being paid $175,000 annually.
The documents were first reported earlier on Tuesday by The Washington Post.
White House Says Gifts Are Unrelated To Duties
A White House official, speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not authorised to comment publicly, said Trump has a long-running practice of giving Christmas gifts to people around him. The official said this can include employees and aides, both during his time in government and in the private sector.
The official added that the cash payments were not connected to the recipients’ official government responsibilities, and therefore complied with applicable legal and ethical standards. The official did not specify whether other staffers received similar gifts.
Background On The Recipients
Harp has long been a regular presence at Trump’s side. She is known for bringing a portable printer so that she can print material, including favourable media coverage and social media posts, for the president, who prefers reading information on paper.
Martin has worked for Trump across multiple periods in the White House. She began during his first term as a White House press assistant, and later moved to Palm Beach, Florida, to support the president’s media operations after he lost the 2020 election to Democrat Joe Biden. She returned to Washington with Trump following his election victory in 2024.
Harris was appointed earlier this year to serve on the U.S. Commission of Fine Arts, an organisation that provides oversight relating to the president’s White House ballroom project.
Nauta previously worked as a valet to Trump. In 2023, Nauta and Mar-a-Lago property manager Carlos De Oliveira were charged with conspiring to obstruct an FBI investigation into classified documents that Trump took with him when he left the White House after his first term. Those charges were dismissed in 2024.
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9 September 2026
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