Trump’s White House Staff Is Smaller and Better Paid Than Obama’s

Controversial counselor to the president Kellyanne Conway makes $183,000 a year, as did recently-departed presidential strategist Mercedes Schlapp and just-departed Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders, along with 19 other key White House employees.

But acting chief of staff Mick Mulvaney brings home $203,500, according to the annual report to Congress on White House salaries released this week. That’s because Mulvaney, as noted first in the Wall Street Journal, continues as director of the Office of Management and Budget, where salaries (many of them higher than those of White House staff) are set statutorily.

A Government Executive review of the salary roster in comparison with the 2016 version from the Obama administration shows that the President Trump’s White House staff is smaller (418 versus 473 under Obama). But Trump is paying more of his top advisers at the highest rate of $183,000 than Obama’s top counselors, who were paid $176,461. The difference of $6,539, or 3.7%, is greater than the roughly 2% inflation rate over the past three years.

Additional Trump team members who earn the top $183,000 annual salary include national security adviser John Bolton, Assistant to the President for Economic Policy Lawrence Kudlow, Domestic Policy Council director Joseph Grogan, Counsel to the President Pat Cipollone, Assistant to the President for Legislative Affairs Eric Ueland, Assistant to the President for Trade and Manufacturing Policy Peter Navarro, newly installed Press Secretary Stephanie Graham and Senior Advisor for Digital Strategy Dan Scavino.

Under Obama, the 16 top earners at $176,471 included Chief of Staff Denis McDonough, National Security Adviser Susan Rice, Deputy National Security Adviser Ben Rhodes, Press Secretary Josh Earnest, National Security Adviser Susan Rice, National Security Council deputy Lisa Monaco, National Economic Council Director Jeff Zeintz, Special Assistant for Intergovernmental Affairs and Public Engagement Valarie Jarrett, Domestic Policy Adviser Cecelia Munoz, Assistant to the President and Deputy Chief of Staff for Implementation Kristie Canegallo, Director of Political Strategy and Outreach David Simas, and Deputy Assistant to the President and Staff Secretary Joan Walsh.