Less than 30 days before the midterm elections, President Donald Trump separated himself from two of his top political advisers on Wednesday, writing that "I will terminate them, immediately!" if their outside work causes a conflict.

Trump issued the warning in response to a New York Times article that described how Chris LaCivita, Trump's 2024 co-campaign manager, and James Blair, one of the president's former deputy chiefs of staff who currently oversees his outside political operation, traveled to the Balkans last week for paid work on behalf of a pro-Russian government.

According to people familiar with the incident who spoke to CNN, Trump was not aware that the two individuals had visited the Balkans or that the pro-Russian administration was one of their clients until he was informed about the upcoming New York Times article. According to the sources, the president then called his allies many times on Tuesday nite to get their opinions on the matter.

According to one source, Trump seemed irritated, and another seasoned Republican who has contact with the president told CNN that Trump was "pissed" by the report, especially after learning that the two advisers had been overseas during the final stretch of the midterm campaign, making money off of their affiliation with him.

The seasoned Republican described the aides' behavior as "tone deaf."

However, according to a another source, Trump was merely looking for different perspectives on what had been stated.

According to two of the sources who spoke to CNN, Trump, who has been busily campaigning for Republicans ahead of the midterm elections in November, finally decided he wanted to react to the report. According to one of the individuals, he dictated a Truth Social post to Natalie Harp's assistant on Wednesday while he was in the Oval Office, telling everyone there that Blair and LaCivita are outside consultants who are permitted to have other clients. According to one report, he didn't appear irritated at the time.

James Blair and Chris LaCivita are outside consultants. Other than serving as outside advisors, they are not employed by me. You would have to ask them, but they probably have a lot of clients, Trump wrote.

"I don't know who else they work for, but I'll ask them after some thought, and if there's a conflict, I'll fire them right away," Trump tweeted.

Later on Wednesday, the president further distanced himself from the two advisers and minimized any potential conflict of interest. Trump told reporters in the Oval Office, "They don't have a conflict because they're independent people."

He said, "I assume they have a lot of clients." I am therefore unaware of their deal. I would fire them if I believed they were at odds.

He said that neither is employed by the White House at the moment.

Trump told CNN, "Well, they're allowed to do that." "It's alright that they have a large clientele. I'm a client there, and like everyone in Washington, I suppose they have a separate consulting firm. That is rather typical.

The Times reports that Blair and LaCivita went to the Bosnian enclave of Republika Srpska in advance of Sunday's elections. The trip took place at a time when polls indicate that Republicans in the US are having serious electoral difficulties.

According to the Times, Blair and LaCivita "were paid hundreds of thousands of dollars each through a Washington-based law firm that was retained by Republika Srpska's government to provide counsel on voting issues."

Despite the fact that they are practically the same, they claimed that the job was for the administration and not the nationalist party in power.

Blair is currently in charge of MAGA Inc., Trump's super PAC, and has been given the responsibility of spearheading the president's midterm election plan. LaCivita works with MAGA Inc. as a senior adviser.

Tens of millions of dollars have been spent by the group in an effort to support Republican candidates ahead of the midterm elections, including those in consistently red areas who now seem vulnerable.