President Donald Trump said Wednesday he was looking into reports that two of his top political advisers had performed consulting work for a pro-Russian nationalist government in Bosnia-Herzegovina, suggesting that he may fire both longtime confidants if there is a conflict of interest.
The comments followed a bombshell report in The New York Times that Chris LaCivita and James Blair traveled to Republika Srpska, the Serb-dominated region of Bosnia-Herzegovina, shortly before its elections on Sunday to advise the government on voting-related matters. Each was paid hundreds of thousands of dollars for the work, the Times reported.
Trump defended the arrangement in a post on Truth Social, saying both men are outside consultants and are allowed to work for other clients.
“They do not work for me, other than as outside consultants. They most likely have numerous clients,” he said, adding that he planned to ask them for an accounting of their client list.
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“If there’s a conflict, I will terminate them, immediately!” Trump added.
The president later addressed the situation during a press conference in the Oval Office, insisting that there was likely no conflict of interest because they do not work directly in the White House.
“They’re not sitting around a Cabinet table or anything like that,” he said, adding: “I’m sure they have many clients, but that would be true with everybody in Washington.”
Both men hold prominent roles in Trump’s political operation ahead of next month’s midterm elections. LaCivita co-managed Trump’s 2024 presidential campaign, while Blair served as his political director and later as a White House deputy chief of staff. Blair has since taken a leading role in executing Trump’s midterm strategy.
Republika Srpska is governed by the nationalist SNSD, the party of longtime Bosnian Serb leader Milorad Dodik, who has maintained close ties with Russian President Vladimir Putin. The Trump administration lifted U.S. sanctions on Dodik, his family members and several allies in October 2025.
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