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Their position (we didn’t make a direct offer, opting instead to use Bill C. as an intermediary; the “alternatives” we presented were unpaid positions) doesn’t facially remove them from the statute’s reach because it says the offer can be indirect and doesn’t contain an exception for unpaid positions.
I think we’re talking about 18 USC §600. If so, it specifically applies only to positions “provided for or made possible in whole or in part by any Act of Congress.” Aren’t unpaid “Presidential Advisory Board” positions created entirely at the President’s whim, without any Congressional involvement? That’s the loophole I think the WH is aiming for here, not the indirection or the lack of salary. (For the record, I think the WH is lying, but I’ll give the administration credit for crafting a cover story that does, in fact, cover them.)