Meet the Trump administration's newest hire: a lobbyist for pro-Russian separatists

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

Pro-Russian separatists in Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) scored a major victory earlier this summer when they hired a pair of Trump campaign officials to help them lead their efforts to crack up BiH.

Now, one of these lobbyists, Mike Rubino, has decided to take his talents to an even more prestigious destination: the White House.

First flagged by Open Secrets DC’s Anna Massoglia, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) announced that Rubino would be joining HHS as a senior adviser. As a press release announced, Rubino “joins HHS from the private sector, where he worked in public policy, communications, and crisis management.”

Link to tweet

Among Rubino’s work in the private sector: stumping for BiH’s Alliance of Independent Social Democrats (SNSD). The SNSD — which is currently steering BiH’s Republika Srpska (RS), a Bosnian Serb enclave — remains one of the most notorious political entities in the Balkans. The party is currently headed by Milorad Dodik, a politico sanctioned by the U.S. in 2017 for his efforts at “actively obstructing” the Dayton Accords, which helped settle the Bosnian War in the mid-1990s. For good measure, the U.S. also sanctioned SNSD Vice President Nikola Spiric — as well as Spiric’s immediate family — earlier this month, citing his “significant” corruption.

SNSD’s primary plank over the past few years appears to be the wholesale fracturing of BiH, and the integration of the RS into Serbia proper. As Dodik said earlier this year, “Serb people have two states — Serbia and Republika Srpska — and we want to be one.” More recently, Dodik expressed the opinion that a second term for President Donald Trump would offer those pressing for Serbian expansion their best hopes of success. (Serbian officials have been discussing border changes over the past month with Kosovo as well.)

https://thehill.com/homenews/senate/407527-dem-bulls-to-say-gop-doing-everything-to-contact-kavanaugh-accuser