Donald Trump has distanced himself from two of his closest campaign strategists after it was revealed they had travelled to the Balkans to advise a pro-Russia government less than a month before the US midterm elections.
In a post on his Truth Social site on Wednesday, the US president said longstanding aides Chris LaCivita and James Blair “do not work for me, other than as outside consultants”.
But he added, “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!”
Trump’s remarks come a day after The New York Times revealed LaCivita, who co-ran Trump’s 2024 campaign, and Blair, who until recently was deputy White House chief of staff, have been advising the government of Republika Srpska, a self-governing entity within Bosnia and Herzegovina, ahead of elections last Sunday.
Blair and LaCivita now work with Maga Inc, the Trump-aligned Super Pac (political action committee) with a $400mn war chest that is funding many Republican campaigns. Maga Inc did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
When Blair left the White House in April, Trump praised him as “one of the brightest political minds in the Country”, and announced the Republican strategist would return to his administration after his work on the midterms campaign.
LaCivita, who is an outside adviser to Maga Inc and has never held a staff position within the Trump administration, was one of the key architects of the president’s comeback in 2024.
However, he has been embroiled in a previous controversy over his advisory business. In 2024, the Atlantic magazine reported Trump was “livid” over a report that LaCivita had made $22mn on presidential campaign work. LaCivita later sued the Daily Beast, which reported the figure, claiming it was defamatory, before settling the suit.
LaCivita has also faced criticism from parts of Trump’s Maga coalition — notably from former White House strategist Steve Bannon — over his decision to align with the Republican Party establishment in support of incumbent Texas senator John Cornyn, over his primary challenger Ken Paxton. The president ultimately endorsed Paxton.
In the White House on Wednesday, Trump shrugged off any alleged conflicts over LaCivita and Blair’s outside work. “They don’t have a conflict because they are independent people,” he said. “They don’t work in the White House, they are not sitting around a cabinet table or anything like that.”
But the president added he would ask the duo for their client list.