President Donald Trump has said James Blair, one of his top political advisers, would come back to the White House after the midterms. People close to the situation now say that won’t happen.
Blair stepped away from his job as White House deputy chief of staff to run MAGA Inc., Trump’s super PAC. Trump called it a “short leave of absence.” But two sources told Reuters on Saturday that Blair’s return is now unlikely.
“He’s not coming back. That is not happening,” one of them said.
Blair has become the main target of Trump’s frustration as Republicans struggle ahead of the Nov. 3 election, according to Reuters. Trump has questioned how Blair handled campaign money. Public records show MAGA Inc. has spent about $200 million so far, and Trump wants to know why Republican polling in key races hasn’t improved.
Things got worse in early October. Blair and Chris LaCivita, who co-managed Trump’s 2024 campaign, went to Republika Srpska, a self-governing region of Bosnia. The New York Times reported that both men were paid substantial sums to advise the regional government ahead of local elections there.
Trump then publicly distanced himself from them. On Oct. 7 he called them “outside consultants” and warned that if he found a conflict of interest, he would “terminate them, immediately!”
Senior White House officials asked why Blair was taking on lucrative work overseas when he was supposed to be steering the final stretch of the campaign, three people told Reuters. Two sources said Trump’s bigger worry is that the outside work has pulled Blair away from his political job.
Blair pushed back.
“All of this mudslinging is ridiculous, and counterproductive,” he said in a statement. “President Trump and me are focused on helping Republicans win in November. Every other Republican should be doing the same.”
The post ‘He’s not coming back’: Insiders say Top Trump political aide’s White House return is dead appeared first on Raw Story.
