Nicholas Luna was a senior White House aide who served as a personal assistant to President Donald Trump. As Trump’s “body man,” Luna’s job required him to be in constant close contact with the president.
Here’s what you need to know about Luna.
1. Nick Luna Earned a $183,000 Salary as Director of Oval Office Operations
Getty Nicholas Luna, Assistant to the President and Director of Oval Office Operations, hands a folder to President Donald Trump on June 18, 2020.
Luna was promoted several times while working for the Trump administration. According to a White House memo about staffing appointments in September 2018, Luna had been working as “Trip Director” before he took on the additional role of “Special Assistant to the President for Operations.”
In February 2019, Luna was named as the “Deputy Assistant to the President for Operations and Personal Aide to the President.” Luna was promoted again in April 2020 to “Assistant to the President and Director of Oval Office Operations,” according to the White House.
White House OfficeNicholas ‘Nick’ Luna earns a $183,000 salary as Director of Oval Office Operations.
Luna’s paycheck rose substantially along with his job titles. According to an annual White House report to Congress listing the salaries of White House staffers, Luna earned $83,000 as a “Lead Advance Representative” as of July 2017.
But as of June 2020, Luna’s annual salary had risen to $183,000 per year, according to the White House report. The report shows Luna earns the same salary as White House Counsel Pat Cipollone. Luna’s wife, Cassidy Dumbauld, earns $158,000 as a deputy assistant to the president and adviser to Jared Kushner.
2. Luna Studied Political Science at Vanderbilt & Worked as a Personal Aide to a Candidate During the 2008 Presidential Election
Getty From left: Presidential aide Nicholas Luna, White House Social Media Director Dan Scavino and Senior Advisor Stephen Miller make their way to board Marine One on June 26, 2019.
Luna had prior experience assisting politicians before he started working for Trump. According to his LinkedIn profile, Luna served as a personal aide to a presidential nominee during the 2008 election.
Luna did not identify the candidate he worked for but specified on LinkedIn that the job lasted from May 2007 until May 2008, suggesting the job ended when the candidate dropped out of the race. Luna wrote that in addition to assisting the nominee, he was also responsible for managing media events and helping to draft speeches and policy positions. Luna said he also “developed a young adult voter campaign.”
Luna was still a college student at the time. He earned a bachelor’s degree in political science from Vanderbilt University in 2010, according to his LinkedIn profile.
3. Luna Has Also Worked for the Defense Department & On a Gubernatorial Campaign
Getty Nicholas F. Luna, Assistant to the President and Director of Oval Office Operations, looks on during a roundtable in the State Dining Room of the White House May 18, 2020.
Luna previously worked for the Department of Defense. He wrote on his LinkedIn profile that he started working with the department as a consultant in January 2017 but he did not elaborate on what that job experience entailed. Luna has not updated his account since accepting that role.
LinkedInNicholas Luna.
A search of online records also brings up information that appears to have since been removed from his LinkedIn page. Luna wrote that he served as a “State Advance Representative” during the Florida governor campaign in 2010. More detailed records via Instant Checkmate indicate Luna was working for Rick Scott, who went on to serve as Florida’s governor for two terms before he was elected to the Senate in 2018.
4. Luna Pursued an Acting Career
Getty White House Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney (L) and Nicholas Luna, personal aide to President Donald Trump, talk in the Oval Office on November 25, 2019.
In addition to his work in politics, Luna has pursued a career as an actor. He wrote on his LinkedIn profile that he has been a member of the Screen Actors Guild – American Federation of Television and Radio Artists labor union since 2010. He also wrote that he has “Film/TV, commercial and stage credits in NYC, LA and across the south.”
Luna’s most recent film credit was in 2018, according to his IMDB profile. Luna was credited in a short called Drinks Prior in 2018, as well as a short titled Sh*t We Do in 2016.
Luna has also been credited in a handful of movies. He appeared in the 2016 comedy Sammy & Sherlock Can’t Get Any, which is about a couple struggling to find marijuana in a dry town, in 2016. Luna starred in an independent action film called The Last Pick-Up in 2015. You can see the trailer for the movie here.
But Luna appears to have put his acting on the backburner for the time being. The “professional actor” section of his LinkedIn profile included a link to “NicholasLuna.com.” But the website has been deactivated; the link now leads to what looks like a foreign gaming site.
5. Luna Is Newly Married to Another White House Aide, Cassidy Dumbauld
Luna and wife Cassidy Dumbauld are newlyweds. According to an account on RegistryFinder, the couple tied the knot on September 5.
The New York Times mentioned Luna and Dumbauld in a February 2020 article headlined, “Young, Conservative and Working for Trump? The Dating Pool Is Small.” The piece mentioned that Luna was the president’s body man and that Dumbauld worked for Kushner. Other couples mentioned included Stephen Miller and Katie Waldman as well as former press secretary Stephanie Grisham and Max Miller, the advance office director.
Luna and Dumbauld keep their private lives out of the spotlight as much as possible. Dumbauld’s public-facing Facebook page includes only a few photos and no personal details. According to Dumbauld’s LinkedIn profile, she started working for the Trump campaign in 2015 and was also part of the transition team and Inaugural Committee.
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