Media reports: Donald Trump paid large sums of money to employees

According to media reports, Donald Trump gave his personal assistant Natalie Harp a cash gift of $45,000 (around 38,600 euros). Two other White House staffers, Margo Martin and Chamberlain Harris, received similar amounts, the Washington Post reported. The three women described the payments as a "holiday cash gift," the newspaper wrote, citing financial disclosure documents.

Richard Painter, chief ethics adviser in the White House under President George W. Bush, said the payments violated federal law. This prohibits the salaries of federal employees from being increased from external sources.

A White House spokesman, however, defended the cash gifts. He referred to Trump's "long-standing practice of handing out Christmas presents to people around him, including occasionally to employees and advisers." Don Fox, acting director of the US Office of Government Ethics in the Obama administration, said the facts do not make it clear that the payments violated the ban on additional payments, the Washington Post reported.

Harp is Trump's personal assistant and is also one of the few employees who have direct access to his account on his own media service Truth Social. In the recently published book Regime Change about the work of the US President, Harp is described as very loyal to Trump. According to an annual report to Congress, she earns $150,000 a year. The cash gift corresponds to almost a third of her annual salary.

Trump is also said to have given $45,000 to Margo Martin, a 31-year-old communications consultant, and Chamberlain Harris, a 26-year-old White House employee. According to the Washington Post, White House Oval Office Operations Director Walt Nauta also received a $20,000 gift from the president.