This post is also available in:
Mere attendance at a rally does not necessarily mean these rules were broken, according to Ivana Korajlic, director of the Bosnia and Herzegovina branch of Transparency International, an international anti-corruption organisation.
But, she said, “If it was paid for from the budget, and they advised the party, then that would be a broader abuse that should be investigated.”
“That could already be a criminal offence, and not just a violation of the Law on the Financing of Political Parties or the Election Law,” she added.
Republika Srpska pays Trump-linked lobbyists
US President Donald Trump speaks with James Blair in front of the White House in July 2025. Photo: EPA/Al Drago/Pool.
On October 6, two days after the elections in Bosnia and Herzegovina, the New York Times reported that two Trump associates had been paid for a pre-election engagement in Republika Srpska. This paid trip came as electoral campaigns are in full swing for US elections in November.
The US media has since published more stories on this trip.
The New York Times later confirmed that at least six US advisers close to Trump had travelled to Bosnia and Herzegovina. The sources the reporting relied on claimed that Blair and LaCivita did not do work for SNSD and only worked for the government of Republika Srpska, which has paid lobbyists and consultants close to Trump and the Republican Party more than four million dollars since the beginning of last year.
According to the US Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA) register, the lobbying firm Continental Strategy was paid almost 240,000 dollars from the Republika Srpska budget between February and the end of August.
The New York Times reported that Blair and LaCivita were each paid several hundred thousand dollars by the law firm Boies Schiller Flexner, which represents Republika Srpska. Smith also works at the law firm and was reportedly hired by the Republika Srpska government, which the New York Times wrote is “essentially one and the same” with the party that controls it.
The arrival of Trump’s advisers in Republika Srpska drew criticism from members of the Republican Party, with some officials criticising the president’s advisers for spending time making money from foreign consulting instead of devoting themselves to the Republican electoral campaign in the US.
Trump said that Blair and LaCivita do not work directly for him and that there is no obstacle to them being paid by others for their services as his outside advisers.
On October 7, Trump wrote on his social network Truth Social that he had no idea who else they worked for but would ask them: “If there’s a conflict, I will terminate them, immediately!”
Later the same day, answering questions from the media, Trump said the two advisers were independent and that he did not think there was a conflict of interest.
“If I thought they had a conflict here, I would terminate,” Trump said.
Previous reporting in the US and Bosnia and Herzegovina relied on unnamed sources for the advisers’ trip to Republika Srpska. Of the firms involved, only Continental Strategy confirmed that its partner, Alex Garcia, was in Republika Srpska on October 4, election day.
In footage from local televisions stations and in photographs published by the SNSD from the Borik Hall rally, Garcia can be seen standing behind Dodik.
According to American media, Garcia is a partner at the lobbying firm Continental Strategy. Katie Wiles, the daughter of Trump’s current chief of staff Susie Wiles, also works for the firm.
Garcia did not immediately respond to a request from BIRN for comment.
Melissa Stone, a spokesperson for Continental Strategy, told The New York Times that the firm “meticulously complies with every ethical and legal requirement.” According to the newspaper, it was Garcia who recommended Blair and LaCivita to the government of Republika Srpska.
Asked by the online media outlet Semafor whether Continental Strategy had helped organise Blair and LaCivita’s trip, a spokesperson for the firm replied that Garcia was the only employee in Republika Srpska on October 4 and the only one who lobbies the US government on the firm’s behalf.
Citing three sources, Semafor reported that Continental Strategy had helped organise the trip. After publication, Stone said this information was incorrect.
None of the advisers answered BIRN’s question as to whether, apart from attending the party rally, they had advised the SNSD while being paid from the entity’s budget.
According to Transparency International’s Korajlic, “All this lobbying that Dodik financed from the budget, and which was actually for his personal interests – lifting sanctions and everything else – is questionable, but none of our institutions will deal with it.”
In mid-September, a few weeks before the elections, the Constitutional Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina banned all payments from the Republika Srpska budget related to a consulting services contract concluded between the Republika Srpska representation office in Vienna and the company Dickens & Madson Canada Inc.
The ban also applies to other lobbying activities whose aims are contrary to the Constitution of Bosnia and Herzegovina, the decisions of the Constitutional Court and the institutions of Bosnia and Herzegovina.
State prosecutors had earlier decided not to open an investigation into a complaint about payments made through the Vienna office for lobbying for Republika Srpska’s independence.
Trump associates rally for Dodik
James Blair at the SNSD rally in Banja Luka (centre, head turned). Photo: TOK TV.
At the October 2 Borik Hall campaign rally, a person who resembles LaCivita can be seen behind Dodik. LaCivita was one of the managers of Trump’s 2024 campaign and is an important Republican strategist.
Blair can be seen in footage sitting in the audience in Borik Hall and also appears in a photograph of the event published by SNSD. Blair was a deputy chief of staff at the White House and political director of Trump’s 2024 campaign. Since this spring he has led MAGA Inc., Trump’s super PAC, an organisation that raises donations for US elections.
BIRN was unable to obtain comment from the two men. MAGA Inc. did not immediately respond to BIRN’s request for comment.
MAGA Inc. spokesman Alex Pfeiffer earlier declined to comment to The New York Times about the trip to the Balkans, but told the paper that Blair and LaCivita remained involved in the campaign during the trip.
According to photographs available on the website of the law firm Boies Schiller Flexner and photographs from the SNSD rally, Andrew H. Smith was also with the other advisers. His biography on the law firms’ website states that he previously held leading roles at the Departments of the Treasury and Justice.
He did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The New York Times later reported that Blair, LaCivita, Garcia and Smith, together with former Trump associates Caroline Wren and Barry Bennett, attended the SNSD’s victory celebration on election night, Sunday October 4.
BIRN could not independently confirm these claims. BIRN was also unable to identify Wren and Bennett in the available videos and photographs. According to the FARA register, the firms Tactic COC and CRB Global, for which Wren and Bennett are registered as agents, have since the middle of last year had contracts with the Republika Srpska Ministry for European Integration and International Cooperation worth 100,000 dollars a month each.
Seeking business in Banja Luka
SNSD leader Milorad Dodik with allies in Banja Luka after the announcement of early results of the general election, 4 October 2026. Photo: EPA/NIDAL SALJIC.
According to several American media outlets, Katie Wiles, the daughter of White House chief of staff Susie Wiles, posted a photograph on social media with Republika Srpska Interior Minister Zeljko Budimir at a shooting range in Laktasi. The caption on the photo read: “mostly work + some serious fun!”
According to the New York Times, Wiles came to Republika Srpska in August with Texas businessman John V. Calce, owner of TXC Energy, who was exploring the possibility of building a gas pipeline. The visit was organised by Continental Strategy at the request of the Republika Srpska government, and Garcia was also in Republika Srpska at the time.
Trump and his chief of staff have come under criticism over a possible conflict of interest because Susie Wiles had earlier met Zeljka Cvijanovic at a time when Continental Strategy, where the younger Wiles works, was receiving money from Republika Srpska.
The meeting between Susie Wiles and Zeljka Cvijanovic at the White House was arranged by Garcia, the New York Times reported.
On October 16, Trump said a Politico report that he was considering replacing Susie Wiles was “fake” and that she would remain in her post.
A few days earlier Trump had fired Paolo Zampolli, his longtime friend whom he had appointed special envoy for global partnerships with a mandate limited to cultural diplomacy and partnerships.
The firing occurred shortly after Politico published correspondence between Zampolli and Deputy Secretary of State Christopher Landau in which Landau questioned a trip Zampolli took to Banja Luka.
In footage and photographs from the pre-election rally at Borik Hall, BIRN could identify two people from the American lobbying and PR firm DCI Group.
The government of Republika Srpska hired DCI Group in February this year under a contract worth $750,000. According to the FARA register, DCI has been registered as an agent of Republika Srpska since the end of February, and the two men who were in Banja Luka are listed in the register as agents of the firm.
The SNSD did not respond to a request for comment from BIRN.