The protest against Serbia President Alexander Person was growing in intensity and size, when an unusual guest showed in his capital in his capital this month to meet with President Trump’s oldest son Donald Trump Junior.
A prompt journey of Mr. Trump, which included a meeting with Sri Wusik to talk about American foreign aid for Serbia, came as a Trump family, and the US President’s son -in -law Jered Kushner, the first such property in Europe, was moving ahead with a plan to build a trump international hotel in Belgrad.
The hotel is built on the site of the former Ugoslavian Ministry of Egoslavian Defense Headquarters, which was bombed by NATO on the Serbian government -owned land 26 years ago. Opposition leaders in Serbia have criticized the agreement and called for ending it, increasing the possibility that the deal can be spread as a change in power.
Mr. Trump used the journey as an opportunity to express his support for Mr. Person – a visit that introduced the most obvious mixture so far in the second term of President Trump’s US foreign policy and Trump family’s financial interests.
On Wednesday, The Serbian Parliament accepted its Prime Minister’s resignation, brought the governing party down and forced Mr. Vusik to form a new government or held new parliamentary elections later this year, which created more uncertainty there.
A spokesman for Donald Trump Junior dismissed any suggestion that his visit created a conflict of interest. The spokesperson said the journey was run by a plan to interview Shri Vusic for the podcast of Mr. Trump, not to step into foreign relations issues or real estate deal.
Spokesperson Andy Surbian, Andy Surbian said, “Don host one of the world’s largest political podcasts and was strictly in his ability in Serbia as a podcast host for an interview.” “He was out of the country in less than eight hours and at any point there was no discussion with anyone related to Trump Org.”
According to two persons given information about the plan, the former campaign manager of President Trump was arranged by Brad Parskel.
Mr. Parcel also established a political, a conservative podcast and an executive of the radio broadcast company Campaign counseling firmHe had advised Mr. Wusic during his 2022 re -election campaign, but he said that he was not hired.
Mr. Vucic is now facing one of his biggest tests of almost eight years as President. In November, the protest against his administration fell on a railway station Walkway after the collapse of a solid structure, killing 15, an accident that protesters blamed the government corruption.
Last week, Mr. Trump’s visit brought a brief break in those troubles and immediately became a national news in Serbia, Mr. Wusic and his top advisors indicated it as a sign that the Trump administration supports Sri Vusic despite increasing protests in the roads of the capital.
“A cordial conversation with Donald Trump Junior, the son of US President Donald Trump and the United States about bilateral relations and current subjects that shape the global political and economic scenario,” Mr. Vucic wrote After the meeting in a social media posting.
Added to Serbia Foreign Affairs Minister Marco Zuric, Television interview After Mr. Trump’s visit that President Trump’s son’s presence “gives great speed for an excellent start to relationships with the new administration.”
Other people of the country had a different view.
Dragon Jonon, an opposition-party member of Serbia’s Parliament, said, “The son of President Trump is trying to help the person here.” “This is clearly a conflict of interests, as Vucic is trying to catch power and Trump wants to keep his real estate deal alive.”
Mr. Vucic’s government signed agreement A company founded by Mr. Kushner, with Finance Global Development in May last May. The company has planned to invest $ 500 million to build a Trump Hotel with 175 -rooms with 1,500 luxury apartments and other facilities at the site of the former Defense Ministry in Belgrade.
Eric Trump, one of the sons of President Trump, said in January, “We are thrilled to expand their appearance in Europe,” that one of President Trump’s sons said in January, when the first announcement of the inclusion of Trump International Hotel in the project was publicly announced. Eric Trump is a major family member running his real estate company.
But Donald Trump Jr. is also one Executive Vice President In the Trump organization, which operates family hotels, golf courses and other assets, and is helping to plan for the Serbian hotel project.
Two persons who were informed on the visit to Donald Trump Junior, but who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss it publicly, Mr. Trump was not paid to travel. But his aerial fare, and his girlfriend, Bettina Anderson, was covered by Mr. Parskel, who has a business partner in Serbia. Mr. Parscale refused to disclose or disclose the name of his Serbian business partner.
Virginia, a former moral advisor to the International Monetary Fund, said that Donald Trump Junior’s meeting with Serbian President was reminiscent of the activity by Hunter Biden, who was his father, Joseph R. Biden was an accused for taking advantage of the post of Junior, who was the vice -president of the Sankatmabhur foreign trade deals.
“It is the height of hypocrisy that he was concerned about Hunter Biden’s foreign work,” Ms. Cancet, who also worked as a morality lawyer at the Clinton White House and now works in a non -profit group called State Democracy Defender Action, which is important for Mr. Trump.
In the view of Ms. Cancet, the conflict of interest in the case of Donald Trump Junior is more pronounced.
“Don Junior, as a surrogate for his father, is using the President of the United States President to help the President of Serbia stay in the office – carrying forward the personal financial interest of the Trump family,” he said. “It is immoral. It is aggressive.”
It is not clear that the presence of Mr. Trump in Serbia has helped Mr. Wusic.
Several days after the journey, the Central Belgrade roads were blocked with over 100,000 protesters, which the organizers said one of the biggest protests in the history of the country.
The government of Mr. Person had made a deal to the Trump family last year, as President Trump was running again for the election, to achieve access to the major real-estate development site in the middle of Belgrade.
According to Serbian officials, the government is leasing the site for Mr. Kushner’s real-estate partnership for 99 years. Affinity Global Development, Kushner affiliated, in turn, has agreed to construct hotels and luxury apartments in partnership with a commercial executive of the United Arab Emirates.
Donald J. Trump, before he was elected President for the first time and when he was still running a real-estate business of the family, first considered it to build a hotel on it. Accurate site in 2013 And allies of Trump Organization Travel to Belgrade To observe PlaceThe project did not come together before Mr. Trump’s election in 2016, but Mr. Kushner revived it last year while Mr. Trump was running for office again.
The hotel project had staged a small scale protest at Belgrade before the deadly collapse of the deadly railway station canopy at the end of last year.
Opposition leaders like Sri Jonk argued that the former Defense Ministry was symbolic as it was attacked by NATO forces in 1999 when Serbia and her neighbor Montenegro were part of Eugoslavia. Opposition leaders said that it should not demand profit from American real-estate developers.
“Can you imagine an US President, any President, give the West Point as a gift to an offshore company, only to demolish it and build a hotel?” Alexander Jovanovic, a member of the Serbia Parliament, said the deal was being talked about last year, mentioning the US military academy.
“There must be a vivid imagination to imagine that time. Unfortunately, what is unimaginable in America is a tragic reality in Serbia,” he said at that time.
In addition to showing the layout of the city Belgrade by the President of Donald Trump Junior, Serbia, organized an hour -long interview with Sri Wusic which was Broadcasting in recent times On Mr. Trump’s podcast, “triggered.”
During the conversation, Mr. Trump attacked Capital in Washington by his father’s supporters comparing protests in response to the fall of the November railway station for criticism of November 6, 2021.
“It was later a weapon inserted,” Mr. Trump said during the interview,, before continuing with the principles raised by Trump colleagues related to the events in Washington, “You know, you know that 6 January turned into something, which was not possible to probably instigate a revolution.”
Mr. Trump and Mr. Person also talked about the war in Russia and Ukraine and during their first term, Mr. Vusic’s work with President Trump.
Both of them separately stated that funding from the American agency for International Development, which the Trump administration has reduced in the last two months, was used improperly in Serbia to play a role in protests by some non -profit groups in protests, although neither evidence of this charge was given.
The clear support of Mr. Wusic of the Trump family is highly appreciated, clarifying the Serbian President, saying that he believes that it is part of the reason that President Trump is very popular in Serbia.
“This was the country where Trump was enjoying the greatest popularity ever in Europe,” Mr. Wusik said. “I am not flattering him or I am not flattering you. I am saying what the people here think.”
Andrew Higgins Contribution reporting.
