Donald Trump’s White House is stocked with 25 staffers who hold the title of “assistant to the president,” according to a disclosure released Friday, which also revealed that nearly two dozen aides all earn an annual salary of roughly $180,000.
The White House posted the salaries of its executive office staff in a 16-page document detailing the earnings of nearly 400 individuals — 18 are “detailees,” a distinction for people who were pulled from other agencies or organizations to temporarily serve in a White House role. The document was also shared with Congress, an annual requirement of administrations since 1995.
The president’s core West Wing staff dominate the top tier of earners, with the Chief of Staff Reince Priebus, chief strategist and senior counselor Steve Bannon, press secretary Sean Spicer, counselor Kellyanne Conway, spokeswoman Hope Hicks and social media director Dan Scavino all earning $179,700.
The West Wing has always been a competitive place, but Trump’s White House has been especially intense as aides are often forced to respond in real time to the president’s erratic tweets and frequently compete for the president’s ear. Trump’s communications shop has also struggled to contain the sprawling Russia investigations examining possible collusion between Moscow and the Trump campaign.
His top communications aides are joined by senior policy adviser Stephen Miller, legislative affairs director Marc Short, counsel Don McGahn and communications director for the Office of Public Liaison Omarosa Manigault, who make the same salary of $179,700.
Deputy White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders and Oval Office operations director Keith Schiller earn $165,000. Other notable staff salaries include strategist Sebastian Gorka ($155,000), first lady Melania Trump communications director Stephanie Grisham ($115,000) and National Economic Council Director Gary Cohn ($30,000).
Cohn told POLITICO his $30,000 salary was to cover the cost of health insurance.
Only three staffers — first daughter and adviser Ivanka Trump, son-in-law and senior adviser Jared Kushner and intergovernmental and technology aide Reed Cordish — take home no pay from taxpayers, according to the disclosure.
Kushner’s personal assistant, Avi Berkowitz, is paid $115,000 — more than any other assistant in the White House. By comparison, Bannon’s assistant’s salary is $40,000.
The Trump White House’s inaugural salary disclosures also show that it has nearly 100 fewer staffers than President Barack Obama had in 2016. Obama’s White House had 473 aides, with 19 assistants to the president.
Nine Obama aides earned top salaries of $176,461, and only one staffer, consultant Susan Davies, went unpaid. And Obama’s body man, Brian Mosteller, took home $60,000 less than Trump’s long-serving bodyguard, Keith Schiller.
Here are the salaries of some of the top officials in the current White House:
Reince Priebus, chief of staff, assistant to the president — $179,700
Steve Bannon, chief strategist, assistant to the president — $179,700
Kellyanne Conway, senior counselor to the president, assistant to the president — $179,700
Sean Spicer, press secretary, assistant to the president — $179,700
Hope Hicks, director of strategic communications, assistant to the president — $179,700
Dan Scavino, director of social media, assistant to the president — $179,700
Stephen Miller, senior policy adviser, assistant to the president — $179,700
Marc Short, director of the Office of Legislative Affairs, assistant to the president — $179,700
Retired Lt. Gen. Keith Kellogg, executive secretary and chief of staff for the National Security Council, assistant to the president — $179,700
Andrew Bremberg, director of the Domestic Policy Council, assistant to the president — $179,700
Rick Dearborn, deputy chief of staff for legislative, Cabinet, intergovernmental affairs and implementation, assistant to the president — $179,700
Omarosa Manigault, director of communications for the Office of Public Liaison, assistant to the president — $179,700.00
Don McGahn, counsel to the president, assistant to the president — $179,700
Tom Bossert, assistant to the president for homeland security and counterterrorism — $179,700
Dina Powell, deputy national security adviser for strategy, assistant to the president — $179,700
Lindsay Reynolds, chief of staff to the first lady, assistant to the president — $179,700
Jason Greenblatt, special representative for international negotiations, assistant to the president — $179,700
Sarah Sanders, principal deputy press secretary, deputy assistant to the president — $165,000
Keith Schiller, director of Oval Office operations, deputy assistant to the president — $165,000.00
Peter Navarro, director of trade and manufacturing policy, deputy assistant to the president — $165,000
George Gigicos, director of presidential advance, deputy assistant to the president — $165,000
Sebastian Gorka, strategist, deputy assistant to the president — $155,000
Stephanie Grisham, director of communications for the first lady, special assistant to the president — $115,000.00
Lindsay Walters, deputy press secretary and adviser to the press secretary, special assistant to the president — $115,000
Gary Cohn, director of the National Economic Council, assistant to the president — $30,000
Ivanka Trump, adviser to the president — $0
Jared Kushner, senior adviser, assistant to the president — $0
Reed Cordish, assistant to the president for intergovernmental and technology initiatives — $0