Trump-linked figures lead talks on $200m European pipeline contract

Leading members of Donald Trump’s campaign to overturn the 2020 presidential election are seeking a huge European pipeline contract, the latest figures from the US president’s circle to mix business and geopolitics.

Jesse Binnall, a lawyer who worked on legal actions advancing Trump’s baseless claim that the vote was stolen from him, and Joe Flynn, who also sought to undermine Joe Biden’s victory, have been in Bosnia this week to discuss the project.

Designed to curb the Balkans’ reliance on gas from Russia, the Southern Gas Interconnection pipeline would cost about $200m (£149m) to build.

Binnall told the Guardian the company he and Flynn were representing, AAFS Infrastructure and Energy, had not yet been awarded the $200m contract. Meetings with Bosnian ministers “were exploratory as we assess the potential project”, he said.

“The Southern Interconnection is an important project with the potential to strengthen Bosnia and Herzegovina’s energy security and reduce regional dependence on Russian gas, and AAFS is excited about the opportunity to explore how American private capital and expertise might contribute,” said Binnall.

While much of the rest of Europe has weaned itself off Russian gas after the full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, Bosnia imports almost all its supplies from Vladimir Putin’s regime. The 146-mile Southern Gas Interconnection pipeline would connect Bosnia to a liquefied natural gas terminal on Croatia’s Adriatic coast. It would allow Bosnia to import its energy from the US and elsewhere, lessening Moscow’s leverage.

Jesse Binnall was an attorney for the Trump campaign when it attempted to push baseless claims of voter fraud over the 2020 presidential election. Photograph: Greg Nash/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock

After Trump took office last year, the Bosnian authorities agreed that US companies would build and run the pipeline.

AAFS Infrastructure and Energy has no apparent track record in the industry. Corporate records indicate it was formed two months ago in Wyoming.

Its website displays an eagle, the symbol of American might. Although it does not name any of the company’s staff, it says they have “decades of combined experience across energy, infrastructure, finance, and international project development”.

Flynn and Binnall were in Sarajevo this week meeting Bosnia’s leaders “to discuss how American capital and resources can develop and operate the Southern Interconnection gas pipeline”, according to an X post by the US embassy, whose diplomats have been supporting the company.

Asked whether his and Flynn’s links to Trump created a conflict of interest, Binnall said the embassy’s support was “consistent with its mission to support American businesses operating abroad”. He added: “AAFS is a private company pursuing opportunities through standard diplomatic and commercial channels.”

Flynn (left) and Binnall (right) with US chargé d’affaires John Ginkel (centre) in Sarajevo, in a picture posted on X by the US embassy. Photograph: X

A Virginia lawyer who enjoys diving with sharks, Binnall helped run Trump’s efforts to discredit the 2020 US election. After Trump lost to Biden, Binnall pushed his false claims of electoral malfeasance in court filings and congressional testimony. He also defended Trump in cases related to his supporters’ assault on Capitol Hill.

Flynn’s brother, Michael Flynn, served as national security adviser to Trump during his first term. In 2017 he was convicted of lying to the FBI about his dealings with Russia. Trump pardoned him in 2020.

The brothers now seem to be on opposite sides of the US struggle against Russia for influence in the Balkans.

While Joe Flynn seeks a contract for a pipeline to curb demand for Russian energy, Michael Flynn has recently taken up the cause of Milorad Dodik, the militant leader of the autonomous region of Bosnia called the Serb Republic. Dodik is one of Putin’s noisiest allies in Europe.

Flynn also took part in the campaign to overturn the 2020 election result. Photograph: Marco Bello/Reuters

Dodik’s lobbyists style him as a defender of Christian values. In October, Trump lifted sanctions imposed by the US on Dodik in 2022 for “significant corruption” and “divisive ethno-nationalistic rhetoric”.

Trump’s own family has also been active lately in the former Yugoslavia.

As part of their global moneymaking drive, Donald Jr and Eric, Trump’s elder sons and the custodians of the family business, collaborated with his son-in-law, Jared Kushner, on a plan for a $500m Trump Tower Belgrade. Serbian protesters, along with a prosecutor’s investigation into suspected illegal support for the project by members of the authoritarian regime, thwarted that idea.

In a social media post, Bosnia’s foreign ministry said a meeting between the minister, Binnall and Flynn “reaffirmed the shared commitment to deepening cooperation, fostering investment and expediting the implementation of these vital infrastructure projects”.