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Three got $45,000 and one got $20,000
Generous holiday bonuses can feel like a welcome reward after a demanding year at work.
But when top bosses hand out personal cash payments to public servants, the boundaries of office workplace culture get complicated very quickly.
Four young White House staffers recently received tens of thousands of dollars directly from President Donald Trump.
Nearly a third of annual salary
Financial disclosures published by the administration revealed the payments, which were listed on official forms as a “Cash Gift for Holidays.”
According to reporting by The Washington Post, executive assistant Natalie Harp, communications adviser Margo Martin, and aide Chamberlain Harris each received $45,000.
Oval Office operations director Walt Nauta was given $20,000.
The extra cash represents nearly a third of the annual $150,000 salary earned by three of the aides.
Questions over ethics
The payments raised immediate concerns among government ethics experts.
Former George W. Bush ethics lawyer Richard Painter pointed out that federal law bans people from supplementing government salaries.
“He’s clearly trying to make it easier for them financially to work in government service at the White House,” Painter said to The Washington Post. “You can’t do that.”
Painter added that public roles require strict separation from personal cash gifts.
Don Fox, former acting director of the Office of Government Ethics, called the payments “troublesome” when speaking to The Washington Post.
The official defense
The White House strongly rejected any suggestion of wrongdoing. Spokesperson Davis Ingle stated that Trump has a long habit of giving holiday presents to workers and allies.
“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 told The Washington Post.
He added that the money had “nothing to do with any of these individuals’ official government duties, and therefore is entirely permissible under relevant legal and ethical standards.”
The recipients include long-time loyalists. Harp, known as the “human printer” for carrying a portable printer, and Nauta, who previously faced legal scrutiny over classified documents, remain among Trump’s closest companions.
