White House in ‘full-on panic mode’ over top Trump advisers hired by pro-Putin Balkans government

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Donald Trump was reportedly unaware that two longtime advisers working on his political operations heading into critical midterm elections were traveling in the Balkans to consult with a Russian-aligned government in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

After learning about the trip, which was reported in The New York Times this week, the president fired off a remarkable and rare attempt to publicly distance himself from the pair and threatened to fire them, triggering “full-on panic mode” inside the White House, according to Politico.

“The knives are now fully out for these two,” a person close to the White House told the outlet.

Chris LaCivita, who served as Trump’s 2024 co-campaign manager, and James Blair, who until recently was Trump’s White House deputy chief of staff, were reportedly paid hundreds of thousands of dollars through a Washington, D.C.-based firm retained by Republika Srpska’s government ahead of its elections.

Even Trump’s pugilistic communications director Steven Cheung unfollowed Blair on X in the aftermath.

Blair now leads MAGA Inc., a Trump-connected super PAC. LaCivita works as a senior adviser to the group.

Trump, however, now claims that the men “do not work for me,” despite hailing Blair earlier this year as “one of the brightest political minds in the Country” now in charge of helping embattled Republicans retain control of Congress.

The president has also called LaCivita “THE BEST” campaign manager, who steered Trump’s 2024 victory after leading the Trump-connected Preserve America super PAC.

With just weeks before Election Day, and dimming chances of critically needed GOP victories, Trump is facing the prospect of Democrats winning control of both chambers of Congress and derailing his political ambitions for his remaining years in office, with impeachments and investigations virtually assured.

“He has been livid for a while over how things have been heading, and he hates nothing more than when people make money off him, especially when those people abandon him like this,” a person close to the president told Politico.

Trump isn’t likely to make any major changes to his political shop before Election Day, but he could “cut them off forever” if the GOP’s picture gets worse, the person said.

MAGA Inc. does not believe its work was impacted while Blair and LaCivita traveled to the Balkans — but Trump’s top political advisers aren’t likely enough to save Republicans this fall.

“The MAGA Inc. ads aren’t going to save us anyways,” a PAC representative told Politico. “The ads are going to suck, and so if you don’t want Trump in the state, you also don’t want an ad up in the state about Trump.”

The White House referred The Independent’s request for comment to Trump’s Truth Social post, in which he diminished two key allies as merely “outside consultants.”

“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 Wednesday.

“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! Thank you for your attention to this matter,” he added.

He later told reporters at the White House that “they don’t work for me.”

“They are consultants, and I assume they have a lot of clients, so, I don’t know who their clients are,” he said. “If I thought they had a conflict, I would terminate, but all they are is consultants.”

The Independent has requested comment from Blair and LaCivita.

Republican Rep. Anna Paulina Luna, who Blair formerly worked for as a spokesperson, called the “attacks” on the pair “nonsense.”

“These are two of the best political operatives in the business,” she wrote on X. The anonymous ‘WH sources’ are laughable. They are patriots and loyal and any implication otherwise is laughable.”

Blair and LaCivita are not alone when it comes to Trump allies who have worked with the government of Republika Srpska.

Lobbyists and operatives with connections to the president and the Republican Party have been paid more than $4 million by the nationalist government since Trump returned to office last year, according to the Department of Justice.

Those efforts appeared to compel the Trump administration to lift sanctions against Republika Srpska leader Milorad Dodik, his family and aides.

White House chief of staff Susie Wiles, who co-managed Trump’s 2024 campaign with LaCivita, also met with a member of Dodik’s party at the White House last month, according to The New York Times.

Her meeting with Zeljka Cvijanovic was reportedly arranged by Alex Garcia, a lobbyist who also worked on Trump’s 2024 campaign with Blair.

The government of Republika Srpska was also a client at Ballard Partners, the lobbying firm Wiles previously directed.

Republika Srpska also tapped Continental Strategy for a one-year lobbying and consulting contract in January, valued at $420,000.

Susie Wiles’s daughter Katie Wiles is a partner at the firm.

Dodik, the former Republika Srpska president, has largely led the independent government in Bosnia Herzegovina since 1998 following the territory’s establishment in the wake of a 1995 peace treaty that ended Bosnia’s war.

He was sentenced in February 2025 to one year in prison for defying the diplomat responsible for safeguarding the accords.

The Bosnian Serb leader was barred from formally running in elections and banned from holding office for six years and was stripped of his post as president. Nevertheless, he has continued to campaign.

Dodik has previously called Putin “one of the most peace-loving leaders of our time” and met with him roughly a dozen times since Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine.

He met with Putin again on September 29, just five days before Bosnia and Herzegovina’s general election. Dodik’s pro-Russian nationalist party went on to win significant victories, with more than 55 percent of votes in regional elections, maintaining right-wing nationalist victories across Europe with Trump’s backing.

Congressional Democrats may be taking a closer look at the Trump administration’s relationships in the region.

Senators Jeanne Shaheen and Dick Durbin, top Democrats on the Senate Foreign Relations and Judiciary committees, respectively, are traveling to the Balkans this week to visit Bosnia and Herzegovina as well as Albania, Montenegro, Croatia and Kosovo.

The pair will “meet with officials, young leaders and civil society representatives to discuss security, economic opportunity and their countries’ relationships with the United States,” according to Shaheen.

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