Democrats cry foul as U.S. lifts sanctions on Serb nationalist, MAGA-linked firm gets huge Bosnia energy contract

October 6, 2026 / 11:00 AM EDT / CBS News

London — The involvement of a small American firm linked to associates of President Trump in an energy project in Bosnia and Herzegovina worth more than $1.5 billion has raised questions about how the White House could be using its leverage in the fragile Balkan state.

U.S. lawmakers accuse the Trump administration of lifting sanctions on Bosnian Serb separatist leader Milorad Dodik in an effort to enrich and empower allies of Mr. Trump, and of undermining longstanding U.S. foreign policy interests in the region in the process.

On Sunday, Mr. Trump was hailed by Dodik after his Serb nationalist party won one of Bosnia and Herzegovina's three presidency seats, which are split between Bosnia's Muslim, Serb and Croat ethnic groups under the country's complex power-sharing electoral system.

"If it had not been for Donald Trump's magnificent victory … we would probably be political corpses today," Dodik told supporters in a speech, in which he also thanked Russian President Vladimir Putin for his support.

AAFS Infrastructure & Energy, a company incorporated in the U.S. last year and headed by President Trump's former personal attorney Jesse Binnall and Joseph Flynn, the brother…

Original source: https://www.cbsnews.com/entertainment/