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WASHINGTON — President Trump threatened Wednesday to “terminate” two key advisers after they were revealed to have raked in “hundreds of thousands of dollars each” advising a pro-Russian political party in Bosnia as Republicans brace for a potential bloodbath in the Nov. 3 midterm elections.
“Chris LaCivita and James Blair are outside consultants. They do not work for me, other than as outside consultants. They most likely have numerous clients, but for that, you would have to ask them,” Trump wrote on Truth Social.
“They are allowed to do work for others, just like all consultants in Washington, D.C. I do not have any idea who else they work for but will, on reflection, ask them and, if there’s a conflict, I will terminate them, immediately!”
Blair formerly worked as Trump’s White House deputy chief of staff for legislative, political and public affairs, leaving in May to lead Republican midterm efforts at the pro-Trump MAGA Inc. super PAC.
LaCivita led Trump’s 2024 campaign alongside Susie Wiles, who is now White House chief of staff, and remains an important outside ally and senior adviser to MAGA Inc.
Their side hustle was revealed Tuesday by the New York Times — drawing stunned reaction in part because the men were focusing on Republika Srpska’s election and not the campaigns of Republicans struggling in polling.
MAGA Inc. spokesman Alex Pfeiffer dismissed the concern that their focus may be diverted, telling the paper: “James and Chris hosted a team call with race captains on Saturday morning to go over recent survey data.”
LaCivita and Blair reportedly returned Monday from a weekend trip to the Serbian enclave after advising the victorious ruling party, led by Milorad Dodik, ahead of the region’s Sunday election.
Dodik, who thanked Russian President Vladimir Putin during his victory speech, has reportedly paid $4 million to Trump allies since last year as part of a lobbying campaign.
US sanctions against him, imposed in 2022 for allegedly undermining a peace settlement with Muslim Bosniaks and Catholic Croats, were lifted last October.
The 1995 Dayton Agreement ending the sectionarian conflict in Bosnia and Herzegovina put the Republika Srpska in charge of Serb-majority areas and a Bosniak-Croat government in charge of the rest.
The two entities form a federal government, but some nationalists in Dodik’s party prefer independence or unification with Serbia.
