Trump gave executive assistant Natalie Harp $67,000 cash for Christmas
Updated . First published at
Donald Trump gave his executive assistant Natalie Harp a $US45,000 ($67,000) Christmas gift – a cash payment amounting to almost a third of her annual salary.
The eye-watering sum was revealed in financial disclosure forms released by the White House, which showed Trump handed out tens of thousands of dollars to four staffers.
Donald Trump gave his personal aide Natalie Harp $US45,000 for Christmas. Getty
Communications adviser Margo Martin and deputy director of Oval Office operations Chamberlain Harris were also given $US45,000 each.
Director of Oval Office operations Walt Nauta received $US20,000 ($30,000).
First reported by The Washington Post, the cash gifts have brought renewed attention to the unusually close ties within the West Wing.
Harp, who earns $US150,000 a year, is a constant presence at Trump’s side.
She is known for carrying a portable printer so she can give the president paper copies of favourable media coverage and social media posts.
But her relationship with the president has drawn much attention following media leaks detailing her bizarre level of devotion.
A series of letters Harp wrote to Trump, published by The Daily Beast, exposed an intense personal obsession with the president.
“I had no idea how rapidly I was approaching burnout, and starting to envy those whose only ‘job’ seems to be to talk with you and look pretty. I want that job!!” she wrote to him in one note.
In another letter, Harp wrote: “I miss the days you used to call…and we’d talk about everything and nothing”.
Harp is known within the White House as the “human printer”. AP
“I need to reunite with my past self with my current into a better version who will make you proud.
“And please, when I fail, will you tell me?
“You have the absolute right to cuss me out, if need be, when I deserve it, because no one knows or cares about me more.”
Trump has previously snapped at reporters when asked about his relationship with Harp.
In August, when questioned about a senator’s tongue-in-cheek comments about their relationship by CNN’s Kristen Holmes, he told her “you’re a loud, boisterous person. You’re fake news. Be quiet”.
As for the Christmas payments, a White House official defended them, saying Trump has a longstanding practice of giving personal Christmas gifts to those around him.
The official said the cash payout was legal and ethical and was completely unrelated to the aides' official government duties.
It’s unclear if other White House staff received similar gifts.
According to the White House’s salary report to Congress, Martin and Harris both earn $US150,000 a year, while Nauta is paid $US175,000.
Martin worked with Trump during his first presidency, joined his media operation in Palm Beach after the 2020 election, and returned to the White House following his 2024 win.
First reported by The Washington Post, the cash gifts have brought renewed attention to the unusually close ties within the West Wing. AP
Meanwhile, Trump appointed Harris this year to the US Commission of Fine Arts, which oversees the president’s White House ballroom project.
Nauta, a former valet, was charged in 2023 alongside Mar-a-Lago property manager Carlos De Oliveira with conspiring to obstruct an FBI investigation into classified documents taken to Florida.
Those charges were dismissed in 2024.
– with Associated Press
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