'Knives out' as Trump rages against operatives 'making money off his name'

This week has exposed a number of allies of Donald Trump finding ways to profit from their relationship with the president. It's nothing new, but it turns out he's not happy about two of his aides in particular.

Top Trump staffer and ally Chris LaCivita and James Blair drew attention this week when it was discovered they'd been using their links to the president to score paid consulting work for a pro-Russian government in a Balkan election, Bloomberg reported.

The New York Times version of the report stated that the men traveled to Republika Srpska, a self-governing part of Bosnia and Herzegovina. There they "consulted" on voting issues ahead of Sunday's election for the nationalist party.

Blair left his White House job in May and began working on a primary campaign against Indiana Republicans who refused to follow Trump's order to redraw the state's congressional lines. At the time, Republicans feared that doing so would spread Democratic voters around to more districts, making more GOP districts also more Democratic. It's the strategy they deployed in Texas. Axios reported this week that the tactic, which was crafted by Blaire, has now backfired. Of the 13 seats they hoped to gain, they could still net five.

A CNN reporter alleged that Blair, who still runs the pro-Trump super PAC known as MAGA Inc., essentially runs the entire Trump political operation outside of the White House.

He and LaCivita are managing to make millions abroad at the same time. The Washington law firm scored them several hundred thousand dollars each with the consulting contract.

On Truth Social, Trump claimed he knew nothing about it and said he'd fire the two "immediately" if there's a conflict.

"They do not work for me, other than as outside consultants," Trump seethed.

Puck and Politico reporters told host John Berman on Thursday that the statement from Trump was "remarkable."

"And like you said, I think it really sent shockwaves through Washington. I mean, these are, like you said, these are the James Blair, Chris Lacivita — the president has thanked them essentially for resurrecting his political career and giving, you know, winning, running the campaign that brought him back to power in 2024," said Politico "Playbook" co-author Will Steakin.

In fact, he noted just a few months ago Trump wrote on Truth Social that Blaire is "one of the most talented operatives he's ever met."

"Playbook" reported Thursday morning that Trump is furious about how the 2026 midterms have turned out and he's searching for someone to blame.

He called it a story "as old as time" that Trump will often "look at who's actually running the political operation to blame. And I wonder if that's what's happening here."

Puck's chief Washington correspondent Leigh Ann Caldwell explained that one of the things the president hates most is when "other people make money on the president's name. He can make all the money he wants, but he doesn't like other people to make money on his name. And that's exactly what this story was."

"So, it's, yes, it obviously irked the president.

“This has opened the floodgates. The knives are now fully out for these two,” a person close to the White House told Politico.

There is a growing "backlash" against the two men.

The Times also previously revealed that the Trump consultants' firm collected $1.6 million from Albania's opposition to help former leader Sali Berisha. At the same time, that government has faced immense opposition to a luxury resort that Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner want to build on an island.

Others who have used their relationship with Trump to score big profits include ex-lawyer Michael Cohen, Trump fundraiser Brian Ballard, Corey Lewandowski and Barry Bennett and now, if reports are accurate, Kimberly Guilfoyle.