WASHINGTON DC -- President Donald Trump gave Natalie Harp and two other White House aides $45,000 each in cash gifts, according to financial disclosure statements.

Harp, whose close relationship with Trump has come under intense scrutiny in recent weeks, and the other two female aides reported the money as a “cash gift for the holidays” in their annual executive branch disclosure forms released by the White House.

Harp, and the other aides — Chamberlain Harris, deputy director of Oval Office operations and Margo Martin, a communications adviser — each make an annual salary of $150,000, according to publicly disclosed White House documents.

The White House press office posted a statement about the president’s cash gifts to the three aides, saying, “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.”

“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 statement said.

John Ronquillo, an associate public policy professor at the University of Maryland, pointed to the amount of the cash gift — nearly one-third of the aides’ salary — as a point of concern.

“It’s not a trivial amount and so that should raise red flags for a lot of people, you know, who are watchdogs, who are ethics experts in terms of why, why is this happening,” Ronquillo told CNN.

Meanwhile, Richard Painter, a former White House ethics lawyer under former President George W. Bush, told CNN that Trump’s cash gift is “likely” an example of a government employee receiving extra income on top of their government salary, which federal law prohibits.

“If someone is your employee and you would give them a gift, it is almost certainly not a gift. It’s income,” Painter said. He added: Trump’s “the president and they work for the United States government. They aren’t his … Fifth Avenue doorman. You … can’t give a gift there.”

The spotlight intensified on Harp, a 35-year-old former far right TV anchor, after Sen. Jon Ossoff mentioned her by name in a now-viral speech attacking Trump. The Georgia Democrat swiped at the president’s “travel with Natalie on their apparently defenseless flying palace gifted by the Emir of Qatar,” a reference to her joining the president — along with a very limited group — when he secretly boarded a smaller aircraft to leave Turkey due to a threat from Iran in July.

Harp, who frequently types the president’s Truth Social posts as he dictates them to her, has been intensely dedicated to Trump since joining his staff in 2022. She has trailed him across the country, feeding him positive stories, social media posts and other correspondence so frequently that allies dubbed her the “human printer.”

The Washington Post first reported on the cash gifts.

Walt Nauta, a longtime Trump aide, also received a “gift for holidays” from the president. He reported in his financial disclosure statement that the president gave him $20,000.

Nauta was once charged in the case involving Trump’s handling of classified documents before the case was dropped.

This story has been updated with additional information.

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