Financial Disclosures Show Trump Gave Three Female Aides Including Natalie Harp Nearly One-Third of Their Salaries in Cash Gifts

President Donald Trump lavished his favorite female aides with massive cash gifts out of his own pocket, according to his financial disclosures.

Trump, 80, gave Natalie Harp and aides Margo Martin and Chamberlain Harris, all of whom earn $150,000 salaries, a $45,000 cash gift "for the holidays" in 2025, new documents reveal.

The cash gift is particularly eye-popping for Harp, whose fawning adoration for Trump has become a national headline. The 35-year-old blonde aide has reportedly written the president intimate letters and scattered them through the White House for him to find. The letters include phrases like, "You are all that matters to me."

Martin, 31, is a communications advisor to the White House, while Harris, 26, is the deputy director of Oval Office operations.

The gifts effectively bumped the aides' annual salaries up to those of senior White House staff. Former White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt, White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles and White House Communications Director Stephen Cheung all earn roughly $195,000 per year.

The White House insists that the massive "gifts" are above board.

“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," said White House spokesperson Davis Ingle. "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."

However, experts aren't so sure. Richard Painter, the former chief White House ethics lawyer under President George W. Bush, told USA Today that the gifts could violate federal law prohibiting improper boosting of government salaries through gifts and other means. He explained the law is intended to ensure federal employees who leave higher-paying jobs in the private sector get bonuses from their former employers in exchange for political favors.

"He’s sort of buying loyalty from his White House staff," Painter said of Trump. "You don’t give Christmas bonuses to government employees. We do it at law firms and at banks, but that’s why you’re employed at law firms and banks."

Furthermore, news of the exorbitant gifts comes just weeks after North Carolina Republican Rep. Chuck Edwards was found guilty of sexual harassment by the House Ethics Committee for lavishing his female staffers with gifts.

The story is yet another potential scandal concerning Harp. The young aide is reportedly thought of as a security risk by the Secret Service due to her intense fondness for the president.

Harp's close relationship with Trump has also reportedly caused some tension with First Lady Melania Trump. Conflicting reports suggest Melania is unhappy about Natalie's closeness to her husband, while other sources claim she's grateful that the aide commands so much of the president's attention.

Natalie is also named in a lawsuit challenging the president's plan to charge $100,000 for access to his early Truth Social posts.