Financial Disclosures Indicate Donald Trump Provided Holiday Cash Gifts To Several White House Staff Members

Financial disclosures indicate Donald Trump provided holiday cash gifts during the 2025 holiday season worth about £33,200 ($45,000) each to three female White House staff members, Natalie Harp, Chamberlain Harris and Margo Martin.

The three gifts totalled about £99,600 ($135,000), with each recipient identifying Trump as the source of a 'cash gift for the holidays'.

The gifts were disclosed separately from the aides' government salaries of about £110,700 ($150,000) a year. Each £33,200 ($45,000) gift equalled 30 per cent of that annual salary, while another White House aide, Walt Nauta, disclosed receiving a holiday gift worth about £14,800 ($20,000) from Trump.

However, the White House strongly defended the transactions, saying the president has a longstanding practice of giving personal holiday gifts to people in his professional and private orbit that are unrelated to their official duties.

Holiday Cash Gifts Appear in Staff Disclosures

Harp, 35, serves as a special assistant and executive assistant to the president after joining Trump's team in 2022. She travels with the president and is known as the 'human printer' because she carries a portable printer and provides him with paper copies of news reports and social media posts.

Harris, 26, works as an executive assistant to Trump and is also deputy director of Oval Office operations. Martin, 31, is a communications adviser to the president who accompanies him on trips and records videos for his social media accounts.

A White House spokesman told Politico that Trump has a 'longstanding practice of giving Christmas gifts to people in his orbit', including employees and aides in government and during his years in the private sector.

'The gifts at issue here have nothing to do with any of these individuals' official government duties, and, therefore, are entirely permissible under relevant legal and ethical standards,' the spokesman said.

Harp, Harris and Martin did not immediately respond to requests for comment, according to previous reporting.

Gifts Also Included £14,800 for Walt Nauta

Nauta, the White House director of Oval Office operations, listed a holiday gift worth about £14,800 ($20,000) from Trump in his disclosure. He previously served as Trump's valet and body man during the president's first term.

Harp and Nauta were among a small group who travelled with Trump when he secretly transferred from Air Force One to a smaller aircraft in Turkey after US officials identified a potential Iranian threat to his plane. Senior officials including Marco Rubio and Scott Bessent remained aboard the larger aircraft.

Harp's proximity to Trump has also drawn public attention. In August, Democratic Senator Jon Ossoff referred to her at a rally while criticising Trump, saying the president would rather 'build his ballroom and travel with Natalie' than do his job.

The New York Times previously reported on personal letters Harp wrote to Trump in 2023.

One letter, reviewed by The New York Times, said, 'You are all that matters to me.' Another described Trump as her 'Guardian and Protector in this Life'.

Previous reporting has described concerns among some Trump aides about Harp operating outside the usual chain of command.

Trump was also reported to have told staffers, 'All of you will go off and make money ... she'll never leave me.' The disclosures identify Trump as the source of the reported holiday gifts but do not specify how the money was transferred or provide further details about the circumstances in which the gifts were made.

The holiday-gift disclosure adds to an escalating wave of public curiosity about the inner workings of the current administration.

As political analysts digest the latest filings, debate continues over whether federal ethics frameworks require tightening regarding personal cash gifts. Neither the recipients nor executive representatives offered additional comments beyond the initial administration defence.