Two of President Trump’s top political operatives donated the fees they earned for advising a pro-Russian Balkan government to his presidential library fund.
James Blair and Chris LaCivita confirmed in social media posts on Thursday that they made the donations. The revelation came more than two weeks after their work for Republika Srpska had provoked Mr. Trump’s ire.
“I love the President and am eternally grateful for the opportunities he has provided me,” Mr. Blair wrote in a post. “Contributing to the preservation of his legacy of greatness is my honor!”
Mr. LaCivita wrote in a separate post that the donation was “a no brainer!”
Mr. Trump suggested to reporters on Friday that he did not ask the men to make the donations.
“They took the money and they gave it to essentially a charity,” he said, adding, “I think it was a very nice thing to do.”
He said that he was not looking into whether the engagement, which involved traveling to Srpska this month, was appropriate or a conflict of interest.
Mr. Blair and Mr. LaCivita did not respond to questions about the donations, which were revealed by The New York Post on Thursday.
The committee raising money for the library, for which Mr. Trump and his allies are seeking $1 billion, did not respond to a request for comment.
Asked about the donations, the White House referred to Mr. Trump’s comments to reporters on Friday.
Mr. Blair, a former Trump campaign and White House official who runs a Trump-backed super PAC seeking to boost Republicans in the midterms, recently has been spotted traveling with the president to rallies for the party’s candidates.
The two have discussed campaign strategy in recent days, according to a person familiar with the matter, who discussed private conversations on the condition of anonymity.
Their relationship seemed to be in jeopardy after The New York Times revealed earlier this month that Mr. Blair and Mr. LaCivita had traveled to Srpska to advise the government around elections there. They were paid hundreds of thousands of dollars each by the Washington law firm Boies Schiller Flexner, which has represented Srpska, for the engagement.
“If there’s a conflict, I will terminate them, immediately!” the president wrote on social media in response to the Times article.
Republika Srpska is controlled by a pro-Russian party whose leader was put under sanctions by the United States government for years — including during the first Trump administration — for undermining the Dayton Accords peace agreement.
After an expensive influence campaign through which the Srpska government paid several allies of Mr. Trump, his administration lifted the sanctions late last year.
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