— President Trump gave $45,000 cash gifts to three young White House aides, including executive assistant Natalie Harp, communications adviser Margo Martin, and aide Chamberlain Harris, WaPo reports.The payments were reported as “Cash Gift for Holidays” and amount to roughly one-third of their annual $150,000 salaries.
Former White House ethics lawyer Richard Painter said the payments appear to violate federal law prohibiting outside supplementation of federal employees’ salaries, while the White House argued the gifts were personal holiday presents unrelated to their official duties and therefore permissible.
Trump also gave $20,000 to Oval Office operations director Walt Nauta.
