Retired Army Lt. Gen. Michael T. Flynn, who was once President Donald Trump’s national security adviser, was hired as a consultant for the Bosnian Serb republic eight years after he admitted to secretly working to benefit the Turkish government.
He joins Rod Blagojevich, the former Democratic governor of Illinois who went to prison on corruption charges, as the second person pardoned by Trump to work on behalf of the Bosnian Serb republic.
Flynn was paid $100,000 for a month of his services, which consisted of “strategic advice and counsel,” “analysis and information research” and “introductions,” according to foreign lobbying filings required by law that were posted this week on the Justice Department website.
Blagojevich and Flynn were seeking to lift Biden-era sanctions on the then-leader of the Bosnian Serb republic, Milorad Dodik, related to accusations of corruption and undermining a peace agreement that ended the Bosnian War. The Trump administration lifted the sanctions in October — but only after Dodik stepped down after a Bosnian court said he had defied a European overseer who administers the 1995 Dayton Peace Agreement.
The leadership of the Bosnian Serb republic has cultivated close ties with Russia, which has backed efforts to undermine Bosnia’s central institutions and oppose regional NATO expansion — interests that clash with traditional U.S. and Western goals of stabilizing the region and promoting democracy. The Trump administration has taken a far more skeptical view of NATO and the European Union than previous administrations.
Flynn did not reply to requests for comment Wednesday.
“He and I have been victims of weaponized prosecutors who have abused their power and criminalized things that aren’t crimes,” Blagojevich said of Flynn in a Wednesday interview with The Washington Post. “And the same thing happened and is still happening to the president of Srpska, President Dodik,” he added, using the Serbian-language name for the Bosnian Serb republic.
Blagojevich said Flynn was helpful in raising awareness of the problems in the Bosnian Serb republic through social media and providing advice about whom to talk to “to get a good result for the government of Srpska.”
“He has a very good understanding of the important people to talk to about issues concerning that part of the world,” Blagojevich said.
The Trump administration also wiped away Biden-era sanctions levied in 2023 against Dodik’s children and several business entities that officials said he used to siphon public funds “and enrich himself and his family at the expense of [his] citizens and functional governance in the country.” Now Blagojevich said he wants the Trump administration’s help to restore Dodik to power and remove the office of the overseer.
The Trump administration saw “an opportunity there to stabilize the region, which is historically a very dangerous place where wars break out, but also, you know, do a reset with regard to American policy there in Bosnia,” Blagojevich said in an interview.
The president’s norm-busting approach to clemency has brought relief to many high-profile politicians and officials convicted on corruption charges — often with fewer conditions on their freedom than recipients who apply through a traditional process, which requires applicants to show evidence of remorse and rehabilitation.
So far this term, Trump has pardoned his most prominent alliesinvolved in the effort to overturn the 2020 election results, the founderof an online drug market, former TV stars found guilty of fraud and tax evasion, and other people who have paid large sums of money to hire people who they believe have the president’s ear.
Trump pardoned Flynn in late 2020, ending one of the most closely watched prosecutions to emerge from the Russia investigation. Flynn had pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI about his contacts with Russia’s ambassador, then sought to undo that plea before the Justice Department moved to dismiss the charge.
As part of his guilty plea, Flynn told the court that he had acted as a foreign agent of the government of Turkey while working as a consultant during the 2016 presidential campaign. He admitted to falsely filing paperwork with the Justice Department indicating that he had not known whether Turkey would benefit from the work. Flynn later denied knowingly making false statements about his Turkey work.
With appropriate disclosures, Flynn is legally allowed to lobby on behalf of foreign governments. Since his pardon, Flynn has traveled the country to argue without evidence that Trump won the 2020 election and advocate on behalf of Christian nationalist ideals. Last year, he announced on the social media platform X that he would run for presidentin 2028 if former vice president Mike Pence ran for office.
In March, Trump named Flynn to the United States Military Academy Board of Visitors; a few months later, he endorsed Flynn’s book on Truth Social. Blagojevich, who received a commutation from Trump in 2020 and a full pardon in February, attended this year’s White House Christmas party, according to a social media post by Roger Stone, a longtime Trump ally who also received a presidential pardon.
The Bosnian Serb republic hired Blagojevich in March to work on a number of tasks, including lifting sanctions, according to a proposal by Blagojevich that was signed by Blagojevich and Zlatan Klokic, the republic’s minister of European integration and international cooperation.
Dodik has long been close to Russian President Vladimir Putin and has advocated breaking off the ethnic-Serb-controlled territory of Bosnia and joining it with Serbia — a move that skeptics say could reignite the Bosnian War that ended in 1995.
Dodik was president of that territory, Bosnian Serb republic, until August, when he was removed by a court for defying decisions of the international envoy who oversees the implementation of the Dayton Accords that ended the war.
Leaders of Bosnian Serbs often invoke their Christian identity to argue for independence from Muslim Bosnians — an argument that Flynn has repeatedly echoed on Telegram.
“The Globalists hate CHRISTIANS and they hate anyone who stands up for their own people in the form of populism or nationalism,” Flynn wrote on Aug. 8. “They most definitely hate #MAGA.”
Days later, Flynn began working as a consultant with the Bosnian Serb republic, according to one of the foreign lobbying filings, which were marked received by the Justice Department in October but appear to have been publicly posted this week.
In August, a firm called “Resilient Patriotic LLC” was paid $100,000 as a “consulting fee” for Flynn’s work on behalf of the republic, the disclosures show. Flynn is the manager of a similarly titled firm, “Resilient Patriot LLC,” according to corporate filings.
Flynn is a consultant for Blagojevich’s firm “RRB Strategies,” which received $625,000 from the Bosnian Serb republic in March, according to the disclosures.
Since April, the firm has placed op-eds in right-wing news outlets to raise awareness of “the problems facing” the republic. The firm also has met with Sens. Marsha Blackburn (R-Tennessee) and Bernie Moreno (R-Ohio), as well as staff at the State Department, the forms show.
“Globalists versus a popular pro-nationalist leader who believes in and respects the will of his people,” Flynn wrote on X on Aug. 18, days after he started working for the Bosnian Serbs. “Who does that remind you of? @POTUS @realDonaldTrump.”
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