By Humeyra Pamuk and Doina Chiacu
WASHINGTON, Sept 9 (Reuters) - President Donald Trump gave tens of thousands of dollars in cash gifts last year to executive assistant Natalie Harp and three other close aides working in the West Wing, according to financial disclosures released by the White House.
The payments raised ethics concerns because federal employees are generally barred by statute from receiving compensation beyond their government salaries.
Harp, communications adviser Margo Martin and deputy
director of Oval Office operations Chamberlain Harris each received $45,000, described in their disclosures as "Cash Gift for Holidays."
The payments were equivalent to roughly one-third of the aides' federal salaries of $150,000 per year, according to the White House annual personnel report to Congress. Walt Nauta, another aide who works as the director of Oval Office operations, received $20,000 in cash, the disclosures show. His annual compensation is $175,000.
The Washington Post first reported the gifts on Tuesday.
"A White House staffer is not your Fifth Avenue doorman," Richard W. Painter, a law professor who served as the chief White House ethics lawyer between 2005 and 2007 under President George W. Bush, said in a social media post.
GIFTS COMPLY WITH RULES: WHITE HOUSE
White House spokesman Davis Ingle said the gifts complied with ethics rules.
"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," Ingle said in a statement on Wednesday. "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."
Harp and Nauta are among Trump's most trusted aides, with near-constant access to the president during long days on the road or at the White House.
Harp drew public scrutiny last month when the Washington Post reported that she and Nauta were in a catering truck that secretly moved Trump to a flight he took in July from Turkey to the United Kingdom amid concerns about potential threats from Iran.
Harp exercises control over Trump's Truth Social account, posting on his behalf and helping draft social media statements, according to a person familiar with her role. Colleagues sometimes call her the “human printer” as she provides often favorable news coverage to Trump from a portable printer that she carries.
Nauta, a former White House valet, faced accusations from federal prosecutors of helping Trump hide top-secret documents that the Republican president took when he completed his first term at the White House in 2021. Nauta pleaded not guilty, and the case was dropped after Trump returned to office.
(Reporting by Humeyra Pamuk, Doina Chiacu and Susan Heavey; Editing by Colleen Jenkins and Rod Nickel)
