Amid Midterm Crunch, Trump Advisers Took Time to Help Russia-Aligned Government
What Happened: James Blair and Chris LaCivita, two of Trump’s top midterm advisers, traveled to Bosnia’s Republika Srpska to advise its government ahead of elections. The New York Times reported that each was paid hundreds of thousands of dollars through a D.C. law firm hired by the government run by Milorad Dodik’s Russia-aligned party.
Why It Matters: Two of Trump’s top midterm advisers were paid hundreds of thousands of dollars to work for Putin’s allies in Bosnia. Trump has already lifted sanctions on Dodik and his associates. What else was happening behind the scenes between Trump, his cronies and Russia?
Photo shows top Trump aide’s daughter with pro-Russia politician in Bosnia
What Happened: Katie Wiles, daughter of White House chief of staff Susie Wiles, was photographed with pro-Russian politician Željko Budimir, interior minister of the pro-Russian Republika Srpska, during her visit to Bosnia. Wiles works for a lobbying firm representing Republika Srpska. Two senior Trump political advisers also traveled to Bosnia to help Milorad Dodik’s party in local elections.
Why It Matters: Trump’s inner circle has extensive ties to Russia and its proxies. The connections to Dodik’s circle are another example of how deeply these relationships extend into Trump’s family, advisers, and cronies.
The State Department fired Paolo Zampolli on Thursday afternoon, hours after Politico printed a year of emails in which his boss ordered him to stop doing business in the Balkans. Zampolli, the modeling agent who brought Melania Knauss to New York and says he introduced her to Donald Trump, had been special envoy for global partnerships for a year and a half. At 5 p.m. a U.S. official told Politico his status “as an envoy has been terminated and he is no longer a government employee.” He is the second Trump intimate out of a diplomatic post this week. Kimberly Guilfoyle resigned as ambassador to Greece on Monday at the White House’s request.
Zampolli said he had “absolute zero surprise.” His statement called serving Trump “the greatest honor of my life” and announced the next chapter, “back to business, building relationships and closing deals.” He said Trump once asked him why he wanted to work in government “when you can close all these deals.” Trump said it himself: the deals were the point.
Christopher Landau, Marco Rubio’s deputy and Zampolli’s supervisor until July, wrote to him on Nov. 14, 2025: “I am hereby ordering you–once again–to immediately stop all work on ANY issues not directly tied to cultural diplomacy.” The next day, with 15 colleagues copied, Landau wrote that Zampolli intended to keep “undertaking unauthorized and possibly unlawful ventures in commercial and economic matters.” In February Landau emailed Serbia’s foreign minister that Zampolli “has absolutely no authority to speak for our Administration beyond the realm of cultural affairs.” Zampolli answered that his boss was the president. In June he accused Landau, on a chain with a dozen officials, of leaking the New York Times story that he had asked ICE to deport Amanda Ungaro, the mother of his son. Landau called the accusation “bizarre, defamatory” and told him to stop sending “unhinged emails.”
Zampolli ran the business through Putin’s backyard. In February he met the government of Republika Srpska, the Serb half of Bosnia that sides with Moscow, and discussed financing solar farms and dams; Srpska’s press release called him “an extremely important and influential diplomat.” He posted himself with Romania’s energy minister and working nuclear energy in Hungary. In September he went to Albania after Landau blocked a trip there, as the guest of the Bektashi Order, and spoke for its plan to carve a sovereign Sufi micro-state out of Tirana, a Vatican of its own. The U.S. Embassy arranged none of it.
Retired, living in the Scottish Borders after living most of my life in cities in England. I can now indulge my interest in all aspects of living close to nature in a wild landscape. I live on what was once the Iapetus Ocean which took millions of years to travel from the Southern Hemisphere to here in the Northern Hemisphere. That set me thinking and questioning and seeking answers.
In 1998 I co-wrote Millennium Countdown (US)/ A Business Guide to the Year 2000 (UK) see https://www.abebooks.co.uk/products/isbn/9780749427917
