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Daughter of Trump chief of staff works at firm lobbying for Republika Srpska
The daughter of White House chief of staff Susie Wiles works at a lobbying firm under contract to represent Republika Srpska, and a verified photograph shows her posing with the entity’s interior minister during an August visit, according to reporting by the Financial Times and CBS News.
Katie Wiles is a partner at Continental Strategy, which signed a $35,000-a-month contract in February 2026 to lobby for the Serb-led entity within Bosnia and Herzegovina, federal filings show. The firm told reporters she travelled to Republika Srpska in mid-August for two days on behalf of a separate U.S. client conducting a feasibility study, for which she has provided strategic communications support for more than two years. It stated she has not spoken with any U.S. government official about Republika Srpska. Alex Garcia, another partner and former Trump campaign deputy political director, is the firm’s registered foreign agent for the entity and has arranged meetings with administration officials, including a recent one between Susie Wiles and Željka Cvijanović, a close Dodik ally and member of Bosnia’s presidency. A White House official said Susie Wiles does not discuss work matters with her daughters and that Garcia, not Katie Wiles, arranged the Cvijanović meeting.
CBS News verified an image, originally shared from Katie Wiles’s Instagram story and later circulated by activist Evi Kokalari, showing her at the RIS shooting range in northern Republika Srpska holding a rifle beside Interior Minister Željko Budimir, a Dodik ally. The caption read “mostly work + some serious fun!” Satellite imagery, prior posts from the range, and the sun’s position confirmed the location and summer timing. Continental Strategy said no other firm employee was present for the October 4 elections in the entity, which Dodik’s SNSD party retained, and that Garcia alone has interacted with the U.S. government on its behalf under Foreign Agents Registration Act rules.
The disclosures arrive amid wider scrutiny of Trump-linked figures and Republika Srpska. The New York Times reported that Republican strategists James Blair and Chris LaCivita traveled to the entity last week to assist Dodik’s party; President Trump subsequently described them as outside consultants and said he would terminate anyone with a conflict. Semafor reported that Continental Strategy helped facilitate aspects of related travel and meetings. Republika Srpska has sharply increased U.S. lobbying outlays since Trump’s return to office, hiring multiple Republican-linked firms – including Continental Strategy, Zell & Associates, and others – and spending amounts comparable to the prior three years combined, according to Balkan Insight and FARA analyses. Contracts have sought improved ties with Washington, investment access, and support against the Office of the High Representative.
In October 2025 the Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control removed sanctions on Milorad Dodik, his children, Željka Cvijanović, dozens of associates, and linked businesses. The State Department cited recent steps by the Republika Srpska National Assembly – repealing laws previously ruled unconstitutional and revoking resolutions Western embassies had called anti-Dayton – as contributing to stability and enabling partnership based on shared interests. Dodik, sanctioned since 2017 for obstructing the Dayton framework and further targeted in 2022, thanked Trump for correcting what he called an injustice by prior administrations. He had been convicted by a Bosnian court in August 2025 of defying the High Representative and Constitutional Court and barred from office, though he continued political activity and appealed. Opposition figures in the entity, including from the SDS and other parties, called the sequence a betrayal that traded property and constitutional positions for personal relief, according to contemporaneous reporting.
Dodik’s SNSD has maintained close relations with Moscow while courting the current U.S. administration. Lobbying efforts predating the Continental contract involved figures such as Rod Blagojevich, Rudy Giuliani, and Michael Flynn. The entity’s stated objectives in some filings have included greater autonomy and challenges to the High Representative’s authority. The White House and Continental Strategy have maintained that the relevant contacts and the Wiles visit were properly separated and disclosed where required.
Sanctions gone: Dodik hails Trump, Republika Srpska opposition cries treason
Caption: CBS published a photo of White House COS Susie Wiles’ lobbyist daughter posing with the Interior Minister of the pro-Russian authoritarian government of Republika Srpska Željko Budimir at a shooting range in mid-August 2026, originally captioned “mostly work + some serious fun.”
