Natalie Harp
Financial disclosures list the president's Palm Beach address and mark each payment as a cash gift for the holidays The White House

President Donald Trump gave three of his closest White House aides $45,000 (£33,000) each in cash, financial disclosures show, and a former government ethics lawyer says the payments could break federal law and even open the door to impeachment.

The money went to executive assistant Natalie Harp, communications adviser Margo Martin, and deputy Oval Office operations director Chamberlain Harris, three women in their 20s and 30s with limited work experience that isn't tied to Trump. Each earns $150,000 (£110,000) a year, so the gift equals roughly 30% of their annual pay. A fourth aide, Walt Nauta, a co-defendant in Trump's classified documents case, reported a separate $20,000 (£15,000).

A Pattern, Not a Present

The disclosures show three identical $45,000 cash gifts plus a separate $20,000 gift, totalling $155,000 (£115,000). The forms list Trump as the source and describe the money as a cash holiday gift, and at least two of the $45,000 filings give a Palm Beach address, while one lists Washington.

Scrutiny had already fallen on Harp, a 35-year-old former television anchor nicknamed the 'human printer' for feeding Trump printed news and social posts, after Senator Jon Ossoff named her in a viral floor speech.

The Law at the Centre

The dispute turns on 18 US Code Section 209, which bars executive branch employees from supplementing their government salaries with outside sources.

Richard Painter, chief White House ethics lawyer under President George W Bush, calls the arrangement a classic case of supplementation of government salary. 'A White House staffer is not your Fifth Avenue doorman,' he wrote, noting the aides had earlier worked for Trump's campaign and political operation.

A willful violation can carry a prison sentence of up to five years, while the law also provides for civil penalties.

Impeachment and the 'Beholden' Problem

Painter told Newsweek the payments could carry both legal and political consequences, including impeachment, and warned that a future Justice Department could prosecute after Trump leaves office in 2029, once the legal protections of the presidency no longer apply. Not every expert agrees a crime occurred.

Don Fox, former acting director of the Office of Government Ethics under President Barack Obama, said the known facts do not prove a violation. He still called the gifts 'troublesome' because they could make recipients potentially feel indebted to the president. 'I'd feel somewhere between really uncomfortable and beholden to the person who gave it,' Fox said.

The White House Pushes Back

The White House rejects any wrongdoing. Spokesperson Davis Ingle said Trump has a longstanding practice of giving Christmas gifts to people in his orbit, and that the payments have nothing to do with the aides' official duties and are 'entirely permissible'.

Sean Cooksey, a former counsel to Vice President JD Vance, backed that view and argued the gifts clearly break no ethics or outside-income rules. Barbara McQuade, a former US attorney, countered that the payments violate ethics rules meant to promote loyalty to the United States over loyalty to one person.

The clash leaves an unresolved legal question. Career federal employees can face discipline or charges for taking outside money as a supplement to official pay. These aides received tens of thousands of dollars described as personal holiday gifts.

The White House says that characterisation keeps the payments outside the salary-supplementation and gift rules, while critics say the size and source create the appearance of extra compensation or personal loyalty. No enforcement action has been reported.

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