A New York Times report has raised questions about what two key political operatives for US President Donald Trump were doing visiting pro-Russian politician Milorad Dodik in Bosnia and Herzegovina ahead of parliamentary elections there on Sunday.
According to sources cited by the US newspaper, James Blair and Chris LaCivita advised Dodik and were paid hundreds of thousands of dollars for their work.
The revelation has triggered a wave of criticism from within the Republican Party. Blair currently runs Trump’s main fundraising organisation, MAGA Inc, while LaCivita is a senior adviser to Trump.
Blair, who has previously served as Trump’s deputy chief of staff, and LaCivita have not commented on the visit.
Here is what we know so far:
Who is Milorad Dodik?
The Bosnian Serb is a pro-Russian politician in Bosnia and Herzegovina. He last met Russian President Vladimir Putin on September ۲۹ in Moscow in a notably cordial meeting, just five days before Bosnia and Herzegovina’s general election.
Last November, the Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina – the country’s highest – upheld a ban on Dodik from formally running in this year’s October ۴ elections, after a Sarajevo court convicted him of refusing to comply with decisions issued by the international envoy overseeing the country’s peace deal.
The former president of Bosnia’s autonomous Serb Republic – or Republika Srpska – was sentenced in February to one year in prison for defying Christian Schmidt, the German diplomat responsible for safeguarding the ۱۹۹۵ peace accords that ended Bosnia’s war in the ۱۹۹۰s.
He was also banned from holding political office for six years and stripped of his post as president.
Dodik nevertheless campaigned for the election. His pro-Russian, nationalist SNSD party went on to celebrate major wins on multiple levels. It won more than ۵۵ percent of votes in regional elections, maintaining its strong grip on power in the Serb-dominated entity of Republika Srpska.
Dodik has led Republika Srpska since ۱۹۹۸, with brief interruptions. He advocates the secession of the entity, established in ۱۹۹۵ under the Dayton Peace Agreement and its eventual unification with neighbouring Serbia – a position that has raised fears of a new conflict in the country and the wider region.
Peace in Bosnia and Herzegovina was achieved in ۱۹۹۵ after four years of bloody conflict and genocide against Bosniak Muslims, under pressure from the administration of US President Bill Clinton, at a US military base in Dayton, Ohio. The agreement therefore became known as the Dayton Peace Agreement.
Ironically, Dodik then came to power with the backing of the US administration, as an alternative to the Serbian nationalists who dominated the political scene at the time. Madeleine Albright, then US secretary of state, famously described him as a “breath of fresh air” in the Balkans.
Dodik soon turned against US interests, however, and moved closer to Russia. After Donald Trump returned to power in ۲۰۲۵, he again sought to establish closer relations with Washington. During the ۲۰۲۴ US election campaign, he was seen wearing a MAGA hat.
He appears to have achieved at least some of his goals. Although he had been under US sanctions for years over his role in destabilising Bosnia and Herzegovina, those sanctions were lifted this year. The Trump administration said the move was pragmatic and aimed at easing tensions in the country. In return, Dodik dropped several unconstitutional laws.
How did key Trump advisers end up working for Dodik?
The New York Times reported that James Blair and Chris LaCivita were hired through a Washington law firm retained by the government of Republika Srpska.
According to sources cited by the newspaper, each received hundreds of thousands of dollars.
Documents filed with the US Department of Justice show that Republika Srpska has paid more than $۴m since the beginning of ۲۰۲۵ to lobbyists and political operatives linked to Trump for lobbying activities.
The issue of Republika Srpska using public funds to pay lobbying firms recently also reached the Constitutional Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina. On September ۲۵, the court ruled that Republika Srpska’s lobbying acts and activities were not in accordance with the constitution of Bosnia and Herzegovina as their objectives were contrary to the constitution, decisions of the Constitutional Court or the institutions of Bosnia and Herzegovina.
Ivana Korajlic of Transparency International told Al Jazeera that Republika Srpska would likely not stop lobbying, “it will only be presented in a different way”.
LaCivita previously worked as a political campaign strategist for Sali Berisha, one of the most influential Albanian politicians of the post-socialist period, in the run up to Albanian elections last year.
Berisha is a former president of Albania (۱۹۹۲-۱۹۹۷) and prime minister (۲۰۰۵–۲۰۱۳), and is currently the leader of Albania’s opposition, centre-right Democratic Party.
The administration of former US President Joe Biden banned Berisha from entering the United States in ۲۰۲۱, citing corruption and the misuse of public funds as the reasons. Berisha denied the allegations.
In June this year , during Trump’s second term as US president, it was reported that the US had lifted the travel ban on him and members of his family, just as it had done with Dodik.
How have Republicans reacted to Trump advisers visiting Republika Srpska?
The news prompted reactions within the Republican Party, particularly because of the timing.
Blair and LaCivita were in Republika Srpska at a time when Trump’s political operation was focused on the final stretch of its campaign for midterm congressional elections in the US. According to polls, Republicans are not performing well among voters amid the war on Iran, which has proved deeply unpopular in the US.
Steve Bannon, Trump’s former chief strategist, called Blair and LaCivita “grifters” and demanded a detailed review of the money they had received, Politico reported.
What has Donald Trump said?
Trump initially said he was unaware of Blair and LaCivita’s other engagements and that he would ask them who else they were working for. He added that if he found a conflict of interest, he would fire them immediately.
Later, responding to questions from reporters in the Oval Office, Trump softened his rhetoric.
Trump said Blair and LaCivita did not actually have a conflict of interest because they were not currently White House employees and, as consultants, are allowed to have multiple clients.
Why would Dodik hire Trump’s political operatives?
It is unclear what Dodik gains by hiring people close to Trump.
Aleksandar Trifunovic, editor of Buka magazine in Banja Luka, said he could see no concrete result from their work advising Dodik.
“We don’t see anything that would allow us to say: ‘This is what they taught him, and that is why he won the election.’ Dodik’s rhetoric has not changed. It has been similar to MAGA rhetoric for a long time. But it was important for Dodik to be able to say that he had Trump’s people working for him. So what Dodik paid for and what he got was proximity to Trump through Trump’s people,” Trifunovic told Al Jazeera.
Trifunović said he views the answer to why Trump’s political operatives would work for Dodik through the lens of the pragmatic nature of the US political system. The American lobbying system is relatively transparent.
“The more money you give, the more support you get,” he said.
However, Trifunovic singled out the relationship between Trump’s political circle and Dodik as particularly significant, given Dodik’s ties to Russia and Russian President Vladimir Putin.
“The main criticism is actually something else: how is it possible that Trump’s people are on good terms with someone who has such close relations with Russian President Vladimir Putin? You cannot be with both Trump and Putin at the same time. That certainly does not have a great future,” Trifunovic said.
What effect could this have on Trump-Dodik relations?
Dodik’s ties to Trump’s political circle have a broader context.
Miljan Kovac, an editor and political commentator from Nevesinje in southeastern Bosnia and Herzegovina, said Trump and the Republicans have given Dodik political space after years of US sanctions imposed on him, members of his family and his associates.
The lifting of sanctions against Dodik last October was justified by the US administration as a pragmatic move aimed at easing tensions in Bosnia and Herzegovina.
“Dodik was clearly bargaining with the US administration, in his own way,” Kovac told Al Jazeera.
On election night, after declaring victory for his SNSD party, Dodik himself spoke about the significance of Trump’s return to the political stage in the United States.
“If it had not been for Trump’s magnificent victory, we would probably be political corpses today. But thanks to the new environment, we are now political winners,” Dodik said.
