Trump aide daughter's visit to Bosnia's Republika Srpska sparks scandal over US ties to Russia-linked politicians
The daughter of White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles visited Bosnia & Herzegovina's predominantly Serb entity Republika Srpska in August and was photographed with its interior minister, sparking a political scandal after photos posted by Katie Wiles on social media were shared by Albanian-American activist Evi Kokalari.
The disclosures have intensified scrutiny of how Republika Srpska has used US lobbying firms to cultivate relationships with figures close to US President Donald Trump, as Washington recalibrates its policy towards the Western Balkans.
Katie Wiles, a partner at Washington lobbying firm Continental Strategy, was pictured holding a rifle beside Republika Srpska Interior Minister Željko Budimir at a shooting range in Republika Srpska. CBS News said it had verified the image using satellite imagery and earlier social media posts.
The photograph shared by Kokalari appeared to be a screenshot from Wiles' personal Instagram account, with the caption "mostly work + some serious fun!"
"People from the region are reporting to me that Katie Wiles has been working for months for @MiloradDodik , and there’s a huge conflict of interest here," Kokalari wrote on October 7, when she shared the screenshots.
"This would explain why Željka Cvijanović, the Serbian candidate who “won” the Presidential election a few days ago in Bosnia, was at the White House on September 21st, meeting with Susie Wiles and taking pictures that she used for her election a few days ago," she added.
"This raises serious questions about interference in a foreign election, and it is absolutely wrong, especially since President Trump clearly has no knowledge of what was going on."
Kokalari has since posted extensively on the story, including an October 8 X post in which she suggests Susie Wiles has "installed all her people around @realDonaldTrump, fully isolating him from his original loyalists while her people do whatever the hell they want? That would explain why US foreign policy in the Balkans is changing in favour of our enemies."
Continental Strategy confirmed that Wiles visited the territory for two days in mid-August, but said her trip was connected to a separate client rather than the Republika Srpska government.
"Katie Wiles visited the country in mid-August for two days with a US-based company who was invited to do a feasibility study in the region," a company spokesperson told CBS News. "Wiles provides strategic communications support to this US company and has done so for over two years. Wiles has not spoken with any United States Government official regarding Srpska."
A White House official told CBS News: "Susie does not discuss work matters with her daughters."
Questions have already been raised over the activities of US political operatives who reportedly advised Republika Srpska's ruling party ahead of elections in Bosnia on October 4, and the business interests of people connected to the Trump administration.
Continental Strategy had a $35,000-a-month contract to lobby for Republika Srpska, according to US Foreign Agents Registration Act filings. The agreement provided for the firm to organise meetings and cultivate relationships with senior figures in the US executive and legislative branches.
The firm helped arrange a visit by Republican strategists Chris LaCivita and James Blair, who travelled to the territory ahead of the elections, Semafor reported, citing people familiar with the trip. The New York Times first reported their visit.
Responding to Republican congressman Richard Hudson's defence of the two strategists, Kokalari accused them of "helping Russian proxies cheat the Bosniaks out of their election".
The firm's partner Alejandro Garcia, a former deputy political director for Trump's presidential campaign, was involved in lobbying for Republika Srpska and arranging contacts with White House officials, according to media reports and registration documents.
Continental Strategy said Garcia was its only employee present in Republika Srpska on election day and the only team member who had interacted with the US government on behalf of the territory.
Trump distanced himself from LaCivita and Blair on October 7, saying on Truth Social that he did not "have any idea" who they had been working for and pledging that "if there's a conflict, I will terminate them, immediately!" He later said the two men were independent consultants who did not work for him..
Dodik, who until recently served as Republika Srpska's president, has maintained close ties with Russian President Vladimir Putin and repeatedly challenged Bosnia's central institutions. A Sarajevo court last year convicted him of failing to comply with the terms of the country's 1995 peace accords, leading to his removal from office and a ban on holding political office.
The German-based Society for Threatened Peoples on October 9 urged the European Union to impose targeted sanctions on Dodik and his associates and investigate political and economic links between Republika Srpska authorities and Trump's circle. The rights group also called for greater scrutiny of lobbying agreements, investment projects and potential conflicts of interest, warning that Bosnia's sovereignty and territorial integrity must not become bargaining chips in political or commercial arrangements.
The EU has not imposed sanctions on Dodik, although the UK, Germany and Austria have taken measures against him or people in his network.
The scrutiny of Trump-linked businesspeople in Bosnia extends to a planned gas pipeline linking Bosnia and Croatia, a project valued at more than $1.5bn. US company AAFS Infrastructure & Energy, headed by former Trump personal attorney Jesse Binnall and Joseph Flynn, brother of former Trump national security adviser Michael Flynn, was named lead developer of the project after Washington lifted sanctions against Dodik and associated individuals in October 2025.
The pipeline has drawn criticism from anti-corruption watchdogs and energy experts as well as the European Union. Transparency International Bosnia and Herzegovina warned that proposed legal amendments tied to the project “eliminates any possibility of competition” and could create a “dangerous precedent” by directly designating a private investor. A CEE Bankwatch representative said the arrangements could breach concession laws and rely on “opaque negotiations between the [Bosnian] Federation government and AAFS, raising red flags for corruption and excessive transfer of financial risks to the Federation”
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