Fresh financial disclosures show President Donald Trump personally handed $45,000 cash “holiday gifts” to three close White House aides — and $20,000 to a fourth — on top of their federal salaries, Reuters reported 9 September 2026 (Washington Post first flagged the filings).
The recipients: executive assistant Natalie Harp, communications adviser Margo Martin, and Oval Office ops deputy Chamberlain Harris ($45k each). Oval Office ops director Walt Nauta got $20k. Their own disclosure PDFs label the payments “Cash Gift for Holidays.” Harp, Martin, and Harris earn $150,000 a year; Nauta $175,000 — so the $45k gifts are roughly a one-third bump for that trio.
Federal employees are generally barred from compensation beyond government pay. Former Bush ethics chief Richard Painter: “A White House staffer is not your Fifth Avenue doorman.” White House spokesman Davis Ingle said the gifts comply with ethics rules — Trump’s “longstanding practice” of Christmas gifts to people “in his orbit,” unrelated to “official government duties” and “entirely permissible.”
Harp and Nauta are among Trump’s closest aides (including the secret Turkey-to-UK flight shuffle amid Iran threat fears, per prior WaPo reporting noted by Reuters). Harp helps run his Truth Social feed; colleagues call her the “human printer.” Nauta, a former valet, was charged (case later dropped) over the Mar-a-Lago documents matter after Trump returned to office.