Two of Trump's strategists worked for Republika Srpska before the elections: Gorica Dodik spent hours attacking Americans on X

Two of Donald Trump's most important political strategists, James Blair and Chris LaCivita, stayed in Republika Srpska just before the 4 October elections in Bosnia and Herzegovina. According to American media, each of them was paid several hundred thousand dollars for advisory work, through a law firm hired by the Government of Republika Srpska.

These are not fringe consultants. LaCivita played a leading role in Trump's 2024 presidential campaign, and Blair now runs MAGA Inc., the main political fund linked to Trump's movement. Both are also involved in the Republican preparations for the congressional elections coming up on 3 November. According to filings with the US Department of Justice, Republika Srpska has spent more than four million dollars since the start of 2025 on lobbyists and political operatives close to Trump's circle.

Thanks to both Washington and Moscow

The case is even more sensitive because of Milorad Dodik and his ties to the Kremlin. He met Vladimir Putin on 29 September, five days before the elections. After his SNSD party declared victory on 4 October, Dodik publicly thanked both Trump and Putin. Bowing to both sides in one sentence - that is a skill Banja Luka has been honing for years.

When the story made waves in America, the Dodik family sent no explanation. It sent insults. Gorica Dodik, daughter of the SNSD leader, spent the night firing off a series of posts on X attacking American critics. "All those who have been lobbying for pro-Bosniak policies for years, spreading their anti-Serb propaganda and taking huge money for it, have spoken up," she wrote, tagging CNN journalist Christiane Amanpour as part of "yet another orchestrated campaign". She also posted footage from the Bosnian war and from the 2011 attack on the US embassy in Sarajevo, trying to link criticism of her father to radical Islamism.

The criticism came from MAGA, not from Biden

Her fiercest exchange was with Evi Kokalari, a conservative activist from American MAGA circles of Albanian origin, who describes Dodik as part of the political circle tied to Russia and Putin. "You are a sick woman full of hatred and you need treatment. If there were justice, you would end up in prison for all the lies you write about Milorad," Gorica Dodik told her. She called the criticism "propaganda from the Joe Biden era", and Kokalari "Biden's poodle".

The problem with that defence is that Biden's people did not break this story. It was raised by critics from Trump's own camp and from the Republican Party, who are asking why key operatives, in the middle of an American election campaign, are working for the government in Banja Luka.

Trump first said he knew nothing: "Chris LaCivita and James Blair are my outside consultants. I don't know who their other clients are." He said he would end the cooperation if a conflict of interest was found. Later he softened his tone, stressing that they are not White House employees and are allowed to have other clients.

The timeline is public

Milorad Dodik has a final conviction for defying the decisions of the High Representative and is banned from holding political office for six years. Despite that, he remains president of the SNSD and one of the key figures in Republika Srpska. In 2023 the US put Gorica Dodik, her brother Igor and several family-linked companies on its sanctions list. The Trump administration lifted those sanctions on 29 October 2025, along with the sanctions on Milorad Dodik, Željka Cvijanović and a string of other people and companies from Republika Srpska.

The lobbying began at the start of 2025, the sanctions fell in October 2025, and the strategists arrived before the elections. The dates are public; anyone can draw their own conclusion. What remains is the question the Balkans have been asking for a long time: if politics in the region is bought through consultants in Washington, who actually chooses the leaders - the voters or the fees?