White House says cash holiday gifts to four Trump aides were personal and legal

President Donald Trump provided cash holiday gifts totaling $157,000 to four close aides, including communications adviser Margo Martin, executive assistant Chamberlain Harris, longtime aide Walt Nauta and senior staffer Natalie Harp, according to public records. The gifts were recorded as "cash gift for the holidays" and ranged from $22,000 for Nauta to $45,000 each for Harp and two other aides.

A White House spokesperson told the BBC that the president has a long-standing practice of giving Christmas gifts to people in his circle, both in government and the private sector, and that the gifts "have nothing to do with any of these individuals' official government duties, and are entirely permissible under relevant legal and ethical standards."

Federal employees are generally prohibited from receiving outside compensation for their official duties, but the administration argues the payments were personal gifts rather than compensation. No other White House staff members have reported receiving similar gifts, and the White House declined to explain why the remaining 91 listed employees, including other senior aides and First Lady Melania Trump's advisors, did not receive cash.

Legal scholars noted the ethical ambiguity. Cassandra Burke Robertson, a law professor at Case Western Reserve University, said it is "not an easy call" to determine whether the gifts are ethical, adding that while they may be legal, they could "add to a generalized perception of really rampant conflicts of interest."