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.