Trump Gave Aide Natalie Harp $45,000 Cash Gift, Raising Federal Ethics Questions
President Donald Trump gave White House aide Natalie Harp a $45,000 cash gift for the holidays, according to her recently released federal financial disclosure. Harp listed Trump as the source and described the payment as a “Cash gift for the holidays.”
Harp, a special assistant and executive assistant to the president, earns $150,000 annually. The $45,000 payment therefore amounted to about 30% of her yearly government salary. Two other White House aides, Margo Martin and Chamberlain Harris, also reported receiving $45,000 gifts from Trump, while Oval Office operations director Walt Nauta reported a $20,000 gift.
The unusually large payments have prompted questions from government-ethics experts. Richard Painter, who served as chief White House ethics lawyer under President George W. Bush, told The Washington Post that the payments appear to raise concerns under federal law restricting outside supplementation of federal employees’ salaries.
Former acting Office of Government Ethics director Don Fox said the available information does not establish that the payments violated the law, but he nevertheless described the gifts as “troublesome,” noting that such a large payment could create concerns about an employee feeling indebted to a superior.
The White House maintains that Trump has a longstanding practice of giving Christmas gifts to people in his orbit, including employees, and says the payments were unrelated to the aides’ official duties and permissible under applicable legal and ethical standards.
The disclosures have nevertheless drawn renewed attention to Harp’s unusually close working relationship with Trump and her prominent role around the president
