Since 1995, it’s been an annual requirement for the White House to release a comprehensive list of annual wages of staff to Congress and the public. Yesterday, the White House released the first of those lists of the Trump administration, which has in the past, come under criticism for including several cabinet members worth millions of dollars.
According to ABC News , the report released by the White House shows that 21 of 377 West Wing staffers make $179,700, which is a little more than members of Congress, who each earn $174,000 a year. In comparison, the highest paid members of staff in the Obama administration, including his chief of staff Denis McDonough earned $176,461 in 2016. With that in mind, the highest tier of White House salary hasn’t changed significantly in the shift of power from the Obama administration to the Trump administration.
That aforementioned $179,700 salary bracket is paid to some of the most prominent names in the Trump administration, including chief strategist and senior counselor Steve Bannon, press secretary Sean Spicer, Chief of Staff Reince Priebus, and senior counselor Kellyanne Conway.
Two of Trump’s senior advisers, his daughter Ivanka Trump and her husband Jared Kushner are unsurprisingly not receiving a salary from the White House. That being said, according to Politico , Kushner’s personal assistant, Avi Berkowitz, is paid $115,000 — more than any other assistant in the White House, including Steve Bannon’s assistant, who is paid $40,000.
Report: Twenty-two White House aides are earning the maximum salary of $179,700 https://t.co/IslmFTbnDe pic.twitter.com/7DBY5Usr8l
— CNN (@CNN) June 30, 2017
The White House’s annual salary disclosure also shows that the Trump administration employs nearly 100 fewer staffers than his predecessor Barack Obama did. 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.
Perhaps one of the most surprising salary takeaways is Gary Cohn, who currently serves as assistant to the president and director of the National Economic Council. According to the release, Cohn currently takes home a salary of $30,000 from the White House, despite receiving a severance package of nearly $65 million from Goldman Sachs, as its former CEO.
Omarosa, Spicer, Conway among White House staffers making maximum salary allowed https://t.co/J6fvfTq5lM pic.twitter.com/SNNpIiUcPL
— The Hill (@thehill) June 30, 2017
President Trump himself is unsurprisingly the highest earner in the White House, with an annual salary of $400,000. However, he reportedly donated the first three months of his salary to the National Parks Service.
[Featured Image by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images]
