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US President Donald Trump has given $45,000 in cash as a gift to his executive assistant, Natalie Harp, who has emerged as one of his most prominent and loyal aides in recent months, according to US media reports cited by AFP on Wednesday.
Harp has frequently been seen alongside Trump during his second term, accompanying him at various events and carrying out a range of tasks, including typing social media posts on his behalf and printing news reports and other information for him.
Her close association with the president has earned her the nickname “human printer” in some US media reports.
According to The Washington Post, two other White House employees — communications adviser Margot Martin and deputy director of Oval Office operations Chamberlain Harris — also received $45,000 cash gifts each.
The payments were listed in financial disclosures filed by Trump administration employees as “cash gifts received during the holidays.”
According to an annual White House salary report submitted to Congress, Harp earns $150,000 a year as a special assistant and executive assistant to the president.
The disclosure of the large cash gifts has raised questions about additional payments to government employees and the federal ethics rules governing such gifts.
The White House, however, has defended the payments as lawful. A spokesperson said Trump has a longstanding practice of giving generous Christmas gifts to people in his close circle and had done so during his career in the private sector as well.
White House employees and associates are also included among those who receive such gifts, the spokesperson said.
The spokesperson added that the gifts had no connection to the recipients’ official duties and were therefore permissible under applicable laws and ethical standards.
Some ethics experts, however, have questioned that interpretation.
They said federal restrictions could apply when government employees receive large sums of money outside their salaries. Whether such payments are permissible may depend on the purpose of the gift and the circumstances surrounding it.
