Newly released White House financial disclosures show Donald Trump gave three young female aides – Natalie Harp, 35, Chamberlain Harris, 26, and Margo Martin, 31 – $45,000 each as a holiday gift, on top of their $150,000 government salaries. The disclosures, first reported by Politico, highlight the unusually close and well-rewarded circle of personal staff surrounding the president, at a time when Harp's constant presence at his side has already drawn political scrutiny and concern within his own inner circle and the Secret Service.

The $45,000 gifts amounted to roughly 30 percent of each woman's annual taxpayer-funded salary, totalling $135,000 between the three recipients. Harp, a former One America News host known as the "human printer" for supplying Trump with printed news articles throughout the day, has been at the centre of controversy since Democratic Senator Jon Ossoff cited her closeness to Trump at a rally, and after she was one of the few aides who accompanied him onto a decoy jet in Turkey amid an assassination threat. Harris serves as deputy director of Oval Office operations, while Martin is a communications adviser who films Trump's social media content. Separately, Oval Office operations director Walt Nauta received a $20,000 gift. A White House spokesperson said the gifts were part of Trump's "longstanding practice" of giving Christmas presents to those in his orbit and were unrelated to the aides' official duties.