Corey Lewandowski. Photo: EPA/BEHAR ANTHONY/ POOL

A brief visit to Serbia by Donald Trump’s former campaign manager, Corey Lewandowski, has sparked accusations – which he has dismissed – that he came to Belgrade to seal a lobbying deal with Aleksandar Vucic‘s government.

The American visited Serbia on April 23 when he held a lecture at an “America Today” event organized by the East West Bridge, an NGO.

Serbian former foreign minister and opposition leader Vuk Jeremic has insisted that Lewandowski came to Serbia to seal a deal on lobbing for the Serbian government.

“He came to Serbia to agree this [deal],” Jeremic told N1 television on Tuesday, adding that he would not object to such an arrangement if it “was transparent and paid from the state budget”.

“I’m afraid that it is not going to be state that pays for the services of Lewandowski, but someone who it will not be known what they are paying for,” Jeremic added.

Jeremic first raised the issue of the alleged relations between Lewandowski and President Vucic on Twitter on April 11, when he asked Vucic whether he expected Lewandowski to visit Serbia.

Jeremic then claimed that Vucic had offered Lewandowski “to set his price to arrange a telephone meeting with President Trump”.

Day later, Vucic insisted that he had not met Lewandowski – but joked that he would like to meet Bayern Munich player Robert Lewandowski.

On the picture posted on Twitter by Jeremic, Lewandowski can seen sitting in Belgrade at the same table with two other Trump staffers, Mike Rubino and Jason Osborne.

Kori Levandovski je ipak stigao u Beograd (na ručku u Klubu Privrednik – prvi s leve strane stola). [Corey Lewandowski has, however, arrived in Belgrade (at lunch at the Business Club – first on the left side of the table.] Tu je sa dvojicom vašingtonskih lobista iz firme Turnberi – Majkom Rubinom i Džejsonom Ozbornom. [He’s there with two Washington lobbyists from the firm Turnberry – Mike Rubino and Jason Osborne.] To sve naravno nema nikakve veze sa @avucic, on za njega nikad nije čuo! ???????? pic.twitter.com/YZuWVw2e43

[All this of course has no connection at all with Vucic – he’s never heard of him!]

— Vuk Jeremić (@jeremic_vuk) April 23, 2018

Rubino and Osborne, according to Politico, are listed as lobbyists for Turnberry Solutions, a lobbying firm that started in summer 2017.

When Politico visited the headquarters of the company in Washington last November, it said that “signs of Lewandowski’s presence also abounded when a POLITICO reporter visited the house” – but underlined that Lewandowski has said he has nothing to do with Turnberry.

In a statement for the Serbian news agency Tanjug, on April 23, Lewandowski denied having any dealings with Vucic, and said he had never met him.

“I love this story very much. I did not meet this man [Vucic] in my life. In my life I did not talk to him, but if you have a million dollars to give me, I would gladly take them,” Lewandowski joked.

According to N1, Lewandowski said in Belgrade that it was a good moment to improve relations between Belgrade and Washington, adding that it is important for Serbia’s leaders to visit the United States.

On Wednesday, April 25, the Serbian pro-government tabloid Informer ran a front page him as attacking Trump’s defeated Democrat rival Hillary Clinton. It wrote: “Corey Lewandowski: Clinton leads a filthy campaign, she needs clashes and chaos in the Balkans to impose herself as the saviour of Europe. Her fingers stand behind the fabricated affair in the region”.

Trump fired Lewandowski in June 2016. According to the UK Guardian, the campaign’s spokeswoman said in a statement that “the campaign is grateful to Corey for his hard work and dedication and we wish him the best in the future”.

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