President Donald Trump's threat to fire two of his top political advisers has stunned his own political orbit, and CNN reporters say the fallout could reach well beyond the two men.
Trump wrote on Truth Social on Wednesday that he would "terminate" James Blair and Chris LaCivita "if there's a conflict," after The New York Times reported that the pair had each been paid hundreds of thousands of dollars to advise the pro-Russian government of Republika Srpska, a self-governing region of Bosnia, ahead of its Oct. 4 elections. Trump insisted the two are "outside consultants" who "do not work for me."
CNN's Alayna Treene called the episode "astonishing," pointing to how deeply both men are woven into Trump's operation.
"James Blair really is in charge of the president's entire political operation, even though it's being run on the outside of the White House," Treene told anchor Dana Bash.
Blair runs MAGA Inc., the pro-Trump super PAC that had $415 million on hand at the end of August, according to the Times. LaCivita, Trump's 2024 co-campaign manager, is a senior adviser to the group.
Treene said Trump has never liked people potentially using his name to make money. She called his public threat to fire them "a huge deal for people who have been loyal to him from the beginning," coming less than a month before the midterms as Republicans already face alarm in vulnerable races.
CNN's Jasmine Wright said a MAGA-world operative who had been furious about the Times story the night before texted her an exaggerated "wow," spelled with seven w's, after Trump's post. She said the episode hits two sore spots at once: whether the people running Trump's midterm push are truly focused on it, and a growing debate on the right over whether advisers who consider themselves "MAGA first" should be working for foreign governments.
"These are two people who are constantly on Air Force One," Wright said.
LaCivita's firm was notably paid $1.6 million by Albania's opposition to advise the campaign of former Albanian leader Sali Berisha, the Times previously reported. And Republika Srpska's government has spent more than $4 million on Trump-linked lobbyists since the start of last year, according to the Times.