Trump Gives $45,000 Cash Gifts to Three White House Staffers, Sparking Ethics Debate
US President Donald Trump gave 45000 dollar cash holiday gifts to three close White House female staffers, sparking debate among ethics experts over federal employee rules.
US President Donald Trump has given $45,000 cash gifts to his personal assistant Natalie Harp and two other young, loyal White House female staffers, according to a Washington Post report based on financial disclosures released by the administration.
In their disclosure forms distributed late last week, the three employees described the payments as "holiday cash gifts." The amount given to each of them is equivalent to about one-third of their annual White House salary of $150,000.
Ethics Concerns and Legal Debate
Richard Painter, former chief White House ethics lawyer under George W. Bush and a critic of Trump, argued that these payments appear to violate a federal law prohibiting the supplementation of government employees' salaries from outside sources.
«He is clearly trying to make it easier for them financially to work in government service at the White House. You can't do that. This isn't like tipping a doorman on Fifth Avenue. These are US government employees,» Painter said.
He added that if someone wants a job where they receive tips, they should not work for the US government.
White House spokesman Davis Ingle rejected allegations of procedural violations, stating that the president has a long-standing practice of giving Christmas gifts to people in his circle, including employees and aides both in government and during his time in the private sector.
«The gifts in question are in no way related to these individuals' official government duties and are therefore entirely permissible under relevant legal and ethical standards,» Ingle added.
Recipients of the Presidential Gifts
Natalie Harp, 35, an assistant who rarely leaves Trump's side, is known in the White House as the "human printer" because she carries a mobile device to provide Trump with printed copies of news articles and social media posts.
In addition to Harp, $45,000 gifts were received by Margo Martin, 31, a communications advisor who documents the president's daily activities for social media, and Chamberlain Harris, 26, a White House aide appointed in February to the Commission of Fine Arts. Furthermore, Walt Nauta, Oval House operations manager earning $175,000 a year, reported a $20,000 gift from the president.
According to the Washington Post report, there are no other known public instances of US presidents giving White House employees cash payments of this magnitude. Ethics experts noted they are unaware of payments on such a scale from a supervisor to a subordinate in government service.
Don Fox, former acting director of the Office of Government Ethics (OGE) under Barack Obama, noted that even in the absence of a sharp legal violation, the event is problematic, stating that OGE did not really foresee this scenario and it simply does not happen.
