America's Former Top Security Adviser Is Now a Paid Agent for a Putin Ally

<section>
  <h2>The Disclosure</h2>
  <p>On June 2, 2026, far-right blogger Scott McMahan posted a Foreign Agents Registration Act filing to social media that most of MAGA world apparently hadn't noticed. The FARA form, dated October 2025, showed that retired Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn — Donald Trump's first national security adviser — had registered as a foreign agent of the Republic of Srpska, the Serb-dominated entity within Bosnia and Herzegovina.<sup><a href="#s1">[1]</a></sup></p>

  <p>The compensation: <strong>$100,000 per month</strong>.<sup><a href="#s1">[1]</a></sup></p>

  <p>The Republic of Srpska is run by Milorad Dodik, a figure the United States previously sanctioned for corruption and for undermining the 1995 Dayton Peace Accords — and a man widely described as one of Vladimir Putin's key allies in the Balkans.<sup><a href="#s4">[4]</a></sup></p>

  <div>
    <div>
      <span>$100K</span>
      <span>Per month to Flynn</span>
    </div>
    <div>
      <span>$8.9M</span>
      <span>Total RS lobbying spend</span>
    </div>
    <div>
      <span>11</span>
      <span>DC firms hired</span>
    </div>
  </div>
</section>

<section>
  <h2>Who Is Milorad Dodik?</h2>
  <p>Milorad Dodik has been in and around power in Bosnia's Republika Srpska since 2006. Once a U.S.-backed moderate, he became an increasingly nationalist figure who aligned himself tightly with Moscow. The relationship is personal and strategic: Putin hosted Dodik at the Kremlin in April 2025, and the day before U.S. sanctions on him were lifted, Dodik was in Minsk embracing Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov.<sup><a href="#s4">[4]</a></sup></p>

  <p>The Obama and Biden administrations both imposed sanctions on Dodik — first for corruption, then for systematically undermining the Dayton Accords that ended the Bosnian War. Dodik's stated goal is the eventual independence of Republika Srpska from Bosnia and Herzegovina, a position the international community views as a direct threat to peace in the Western Balkans.<sup><a href="#s5">[5]</a></sup></p>

  <h3>Sanctions Lifted, October 2025</h3>
  <p>In late October 2025, the Trump administration removed Dodik and 47 associates and entities from the U.S. sanctions list.<sup><a href="#s5">[5]</a></sup> The decision came after a months-long lobbying campaign by Trump allies who recast Dodik as a defender of "Christian values" in a country with a large Muslim population. Among those who pushed for the sanctions' removal: Laura Loomer, Rudy Giuliani, and Michael Flynn himself.<sup><a href="#s4">[4]</a></sup></p>

  <p>Foreign policy analysts called it a gift to the Kremlin. As Just Security noted, the move effectively handed Europe's most fragile post-war state to Russian influence without extracting any concessions from Dodik on democratic governance or territorial integrity.<sup><a href="#s6">[6]</a></sup></p>
</section>

<section>
  <h2>The $8.9 Million Lobbying Machine</h2>
  <p>Flynn wasn't operating alone. An investigation by the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP), published May 24, 2026, analyzed U.S. FARA filings and found that the Republic of Srpska paid at least <strong>$8.9 million to 11 Washington lobbying firms</strong> throughout 2025 and 2026.<sup><a href="#s3">[3]</a></sup></p>

  <p>The campaign had explicit objectives. A contract filed with FARA in March 2025 between Republika Srpska and the Montreal-based firm Dickens and Madson Canada Inc. — owned by Ari Ben-Menashe — stated goals that included:<sup><a href="#s3">[3]</a></sup></p>

  <ul>
    <li>Lifting U.S. sanctions on Milorad Dodik</li>
    <li>Removing Christian Schmidt as the international High Representative in Bosnia</li>
    <li>Building support for eventual independence of Republika Srpska from Bosnia</li>
  </ul>

  <p>Two of those three objectives have now been achieved. Sanctions were lifted in October 2025. Christian Schmidt resigned from the Office of the High Representative in May 2026, citing "personal reasons" — though Dodik mocked him on social media after the announcement.<sup><a href="#s3">[3]</a></sup></p>

  <div>
    <div>Other Lobbyists Named in FARA Filings</div>
    <p><strong>Rod Blagojevich</strong> — the former Illinois governor whom Trump pardoned after his corruption conviction — also appears in Republika Srpska's FARA filings.<sup><a href="#s3">[3]</a></sup></p>
    <p><strong>Jonathan Moore</strong> — a former U.S. ambassador who headed the OSCE mission in Bosnia from 2014 to 2017 — signed a FARA contract in February 2026 at $30,000 per month to "facilitate the messaging" of Republika Srpska's key political leaders.<sup><a href="#s3">[3]</a></sup></p>
    <p><strong>Donald Trump Jr.</strong> spoke at a Banja Luka business conference alongside Dodik in April 2026.<sup><a href="#s3">[3]</a></sup></p>
  </div>
</section>

<section>
  <h2>Flynn's Long History With Foreign Money</h2>
  <p>This is not Flynn's first encounter with FARA. His relationship with foreign lobbying money is arguably what ended his original tenure in the Trump administration.</p>

  <div>
    <div>
      <div>Nov 2016</div>
      <div>Flynn accepts position as National Security Adviser. He is simultaneously running the Flynn Intel Group, which is doing paid lobbying work for a Turkish businessman linked to the Erdogan government — work that would later be valued at $530,000.<sup><a href="#s8">[8]</a></sup></div>
    </div>
    <div>
      <div>Jan 4, 2017</div>
      <div>Flynn informs transition team counsel Don McGahn that he is under federal investigation for secret lobbying work done for Turkey during the campaign.<sup><a href="#s8">[8]</a></sup></div>
    </div>
    <div>
      <div>Jan 22, 2017</div>
      <div>Flynn is sworn in as National Security Adviser.</div>
    </div>
    <div>
      <div>Feb 13, 2017</div>
      <div>Flynn resigns after 24 days — the shortest tenure in the office's 63-year history — after misleading Vice President Pence about his conversations with Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak.<sup><a href="#s8">[8]</a></sup></div>
    </div>
    <div>
      <div>Mar 2017</div>
      <div>Flynn retroactively registers as a foreign agent for Turkey, acknowledging his 2016 lobbying may have benefited the Turkish government.<sup><a href="#s8">[8]</a></sup></div>
    </div>
    <div>
      <div>Dec 2017</div>
      <div>Flynn pleads guilty to making false statements to the FBI about his communications with Kislyak. He admits he also lied in his March 2017 FARA filings about the extent of Turkish government involvement.<sup><a href="#s7">[7]</a></sup></div>
    </div>
    <div>
      <div>Nov 25, 2020</div>
      <div>Trump grants Flynn a full presidential pardon.<sup><a href="#s7">[7]</a></sup></div>
    </div>
    <div>
      <div>Oct 2025</div>
      <div>Flynn registers under FARA as a foreign agent for the Republic of Srpska at $100,000/month.<sup><a href="#s1">[1]</a></sup></div>
    </div>
  </div>

  <p>Flynn's business partner at the Flynn Intel Group, Bijan Rafiekian, was convicted by a jury of conspiring to act as an undisclosed agent of Turkey and violating FARA. The conviction was overturned by a judge in 2019 but reinstated by the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals in 2021.<sup><a href="#s9">[9]</a></sup></p>
</section>

<section>
  <h2>The Ethics Pledge Problem</h2>
  <p>When Trump took office in January 2017, he signed Executive Order 13770, which required all executive branch appointees to sign two pledges: a five-year ban on lobbying their former agencies, and a <strong>lifetime ban on lobbying for foreign governments</strong> — specifically, any activity that would require registration under FARA.<sup><a href="#s10">[10]</a></sup></p>

  <p>Flynn signed that pledge. Then he broke it — or more precisely, Trump created the escape hatch. On his final day in office, January 20, 2021, Trump revoked Executive Order 13770 entirely, releasing all his former officials from their commitments.<sup><a href="#s10">[10]</a></sup></p>

  <div>
    <div>The Legal Fine Print</div>
    <p>The revocation means Flynn is likely in the clear legally — the lifetime foreign lobbying ban he signed was an executive order, not a statute, and the revoking president was the same one who issued it. But the <em>spirit</em> of the pledge is another matter, and it's what Sebastian Gorka seized on.</p>
    <p>Notably, Trump has <strong>not issued a new ethics executive order</strong> for his second term. He rescinded Biden's version on Day One but did not replace it.<sup><a href="#s11">[11]</a></sup></p>
  </div>
</section>

<section>
  <h2>The MAGA Revolt</h2>
  <p>The reaction from Trump's own base was swift and hostile. The criticism came not from Democrats or mainstream media, but from inside the house.</p>

  <blockquote>
    "When I joined the first Trump Administration, I was asked to sign two documents. In one I promised to not work as a lobbyist for a decade. In the second, I promised to never work for another government."
    <cite>— Sebastian Gorka, Senior Director for Counterterrorism, NSC</cite>
  </blockquote>

  <p>Gorka — who currently serves on Trump's National Security Council — didn't name Flynn, but the target was unmistakable. The implication: Flynn signed the same documents and is now in violation of their spirit, even if the letter was erased by Trump's own revocation.<sup><a href="#s1">[1]</a></sup></p>

  <p>Right-wing personality Phillip Buchanan (known online as "Catturd") responded to the $100,000 figure with a single stunned reaction: "$100,000 per month?"<sup><a href="#s2">[2]</a></sup></p>

  <p>The backlash is notable because it's coming from people who defended Flynn through his FBI investigation, his guilty plea, and his pardon. The line that finally triggered them wasn't the lying to federal agents — it was the paycheck from a Putin-aligned Balkan statelet.</p>
</section>

<section>
  <h2>So What?</h2>

  <h3>This Isn't Just About Flynn</h3>
  <p>Flynn is one name in an $8.9 million influence operation that appears to have achieved its primary objectives. U.S. sanctions on Dodik: lifted. The international overseer of Bosnia's peace accords: resigned. The broader question isn't whether Flynn broke the law — he filed the FARA registration, which is more than he did the first time around with Turkey. The question is what Republika Srpska got for its money.</p>

  <h3>The FARA Filing Is the Quiet Part Out Loud</h3>
  <p>Filing under FARA is technically the legal, compliant thing to do. But it also creates a public record showing that a former U.S. national security adviser — someone with ongoing access to intelligence networks, political relationships, and institutional knowledge about how American foreign policy is made — is being compensated by a foreign government entity with interests that are, at minimum, in tension with stated U.S. policy goals in the Balkans.</p>

  <h3>The Pattern</h3>
  <p>Flynn was paid by Turkey while serving as a campaign adviser in 2016 and failed to register. He retroactively registered, then admitted he lied in the registration. He was pardoned. Now he's being paid by a Putin-allied Bosnian Serb entity — but this time he filed the paperwork. The mechanism is legal. The pattern is not subtle.</p>

  <p>As the New Republic's Edith Olmsted concluded with characteristic dryness: "If MAGA is upset that Flynn is working on behalf of a Russian ally, just wait until they realize all the ways Trump has stuck his neck out for Putin — and he's doing it for free."<sup><a href="#s1">[1]</a></sup></p>
</section>