President Trump was reportedly surprised to learn that Joseph Dunford, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, makes less than $200,000 per year and suggested he be given a raise.

 President Trump was reportedly surprised to learn that Joseph Dunford, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, makes less than $200,000 per year and suggested he be given a raise.  The comment was apparently made to White House Chief of Staff John Kelly, who had asked Trump to guess Dunford's salary.  According to the Washington Post, citing sources who had heard Kelly talk about the exchange, Trump estimated the chairman was pulling in about $5 million annually. Upon learning that was far from the case, the president is said to have commented on the many stars on Dunford's uniform and noted he should get a pay increase.  That is a marked departure from his August move to prevent federal workers from receiving their scheduled 2.1% pay increase. 
"We must maintain efforts to put our nation on a fiscally sustainable course, and federal agency budgets cannot sustain such increase," Trump stated at the time.