The White House has defended President Donald Trump’s decision to give three senior aides $45,000 each as holiday gifts, saying the payments were personal and unrelated to their official government duties.
The three payments totaled $135,000 and came on top of each aide’s $150,000 annual taxpayer-funded salary, according to publicly disclosed White House documents.
“The President has a longstanding practice of giving Christmas gifts to people in his orbit, including at times employees and aides, both in government and in his time in the private sector. Harp serves as a special assistant and executive assistant to the president. She has attracted attention for her role in preparing printed articles, social media posts and other material for Trump . Harris is deputy director of Oval Office operations and an executive assistant to Trump. She was also appointed by the president to the Commission of Fine Arts, a federal panel involved in architectural and design decisions in Washington. Martin is Trump’s communications adviser.
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.
A White House official told Associated Press that Trump “has a longstanding practice of giving Christmas gifts to people in his orbit, including at times employees and aides, both in government and in his time in the private sector. She frequently travels with the president and records and posts videos of him, according to the disclosures-related report.
