Melania Trump announced her first major hire for her return as first lady, naming a longtime Trump loyalist as her chief of staff.
Hayley Harrison, who worked in the East Wing during the first Donald Trump administration and joined the Trumps in Florida after they left the White House, was named to the position.
Harrison, along with her husband William ‘Beau’ Harrison, are Trump White House staffers who joined the first couple in Mar-a-Lago for their post-presidency life. Hayley and Beau traveled on Marine One with the Trumps from the White House on January 20th, 2021.
The couple have stayed in Trump’s inner circle and on the payroll: they are paid by Trump’s Save America PAC to work for former president, according to Federal Election Commission reports. Hayley was pulling in about $8,0000 to $10,000 a month in salary. William was earning a similar amount until November 2023, when he received his last payment from the PAC.
In the chief of staff announcement, Harrison’s longtime loyalty – seven years of working for Melania Trump – was noted. Donald Trump also has stacked his staff with loyalists.
‘Hayley Harrison has been appointed as First Lady Melania Trump’s Chief of Staff,’ Melania’s office announced on social media.
‘Mrs. Harrison has maintained an integral role and exceptional leadership on the First Lady’s team over the past seven years. She has a strong understanding of White House operations, and as Chief of Staff, Mrs. Harrison will oversee and manage the East Wing’s team while strategically liaising with other parts of government.’
Harrison, then using her maiden name D’Antuono, was a Director of Operations in the East Wing during the first Trump term. She married William ‘Beau’ Harrison, a low-level staffer in the West Wing.
After their time in Washington with the Trumps, the Harrison’s moved to Florida to work at Mar-a-Lago with Hayley working for Melania and William for Donald.
William ‘Beau’ Harrison was the staffer who organized the Trumps’ move from the White House back to their Palm Beach home.
Both Hayley and William Harrison were part of the federal investigation into the classified documents that ended up at Trump’s Florida estate.
In special counsel Jack Smith’s federal indictment of the case, Hayley Harrison and Molly Michael, another Trump aide, were said to be ‘Trump Employee 1’ and ‘Trump Employee 2,’ respectively.
The indictment contains their back-and-forth text messages about moving Trump’s boxes out of the business center at his Mar-a-Lago estate to create room for staff to work.
Michael no longer works for the Trumps but Hayley remains an assistant to Melania.
‘There is still a little room in the shower where his other stuff is. Is it only his papers he cares about?’ Trump Employee 1, identified as Hayley Harrison, wrote Trump Employee 2, identified as Michael, according to the indictment.
‘There’s some other stuff in there that are not papers. Could that go to storage? Or does he want everything in there on property.’
William ‘Beau’ Harrison was interviewed by the grand jury ahead of the charges level against Donald Trump and Walt Nauta, who serves as the former president’s personal aide.
He ran the logistics with the General Services Administration on moving the Trumps’ belongs out of Washington.
It’s nice to have a real woman back in the WH…i really like her.