President Donald Trump on Wednesday admonished his top political advisers for working for other clients during the height of the midterm campaign when Republicans are trailing, warning he could fire them for future conflicts.
The advisers in charge of the president’s political operation, Chris LaCivita and James Blair, are “outside consultants” who “do not work for me,” Trump said on social media. “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!”
On Tuesday the New York Times reported that LaCivita and Blair traveled last week to the Balkans to advise the pro-Russian government of a territory in Bosnia called Republika Srpska. The Times, citing unnamed sources, said each adviser received hundreds of thousands of dollars through a Washington law firm.
LaCivita and Blair did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Trump’s announcement was the latest in a series of recent reversals responding to ethical concerns — an unusual step for a president who doesn’t like admitting fault or showing anything that could be perceived as weakness.
On Monday he said he would stop using taxpayer money to run campaign-style television ads aggrandizing himself. He did not commit to reimbursing the government for the ads that already aired, and they have continued to run with the same disclosures of being government-funded.
Last month he said his son Donald Trump Jr. had paid back a Kremlin-connected Russian businessman for wedding celebrations. The investigative news website ProPublica reported the festivities cost hundreds of thousands of dollars, from a boxing executive who does business with the Russian state and has received honors from Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Catch up quickly every weekday morning with a rundown of the 7 most important and interesting stories. Sign up for The 7 newsletter.
The post Trump rebukes political advisers for taking other work during midterms appeared first on Washington Post.
