N. Harp, whose close relationship with D. Trump has received significant attention in recent weeks, and two other women, his aides, named in their annual financial declarations as receiving a “cash gift for the holidays.”
As the report shows, communications advisor Margo Martin and Deputy Chief of Staff Chamberlain Harris also received $45,000 in cash each, while Chief of Staff Walt Nauta was awarded $20,000, writes the newspaper “The Guardian.”
The White House salary report submitted to Congress shows that N. Harp, M. Martin, and Ch. Harris each earn $150,000 per year, while W. Nauta earns $175,000.
One White House official told the news agency “Associated Press” that D. Trump “has long had a tradition of giving Christmas gifts to his close associates, sometimes including employees and aides, both while working in government and in the private sector.”
The official did not specify whether other employees also received similar gifts from the president but added that the cash gifts were not related to “individuals’ official government duties, so according to relevant legal and ethical standards, they are completely permissible.”
These gifts were first reported on Tuesday by the newspaper “The Washington Post.”
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N. Harp constantly accompanies D. Trump and is known as one of the oldest and most loyal aides of D. Trump, performing several important duties. She became famous for carrying a portable printer to print favorable media articles and social media posts for the president, who prefers to read important information on paper rather than on a screen.
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M. Martin has worked for D. Trump since the beginning of his first term in the White House. She started her career as a White House press aide and, after the president lost the 2020 election to Joe Biden, moved with him to Palm Beach, Florida, to help manage his media relations. After D. Trump’s victory in the 2024 election, she returned with him to the White House.
Earlier this year, D. Trump appointed Ch. Harris to the U.S. Arts Commission, which oversees the president’s White House ballroom project.
Meanwhile, W. Nauta, who previously worked as D. Trump’s personal driver, and Mar-a-Lago property manager Carlos De Oliveira were charged in 2023 with conspiracy with D. Trump to obstruct the FBI investigation into classified documents that the Republican took with him when leaving the White House at the end of his first term. The charges were dismissed in 2024.
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