US lawmakers accused the Trump administration on September 15 of allowing personal and political connections to influence US policy in the Western Balkans, focusing on a proposed Bosnian gas pipeline, the lifting of sanctions on Bosnian Serb leader Milorad Dodik and business interests pursued by allies of President Donald Trump.

The allegations were made during a House Foreign Affairs Committee hearing on US policy in the region. State Department Deputy Assistant Secretary Daniel Lawton defended the administration's policy as focused on regional stability, energy security, countering organised crime and promoting US commercial interests, but did not directly address several of the lawmakers' allegations of conflicts of interest.

The most detailed exchange concerned Bosnia's proposed Southern Interconnection gas pipeline, which would connect the country's gas network with Croatia and reduce its reliance on Russian gas.

Democratic Representative Bill Keating of Massachusetts, the committee's ranking Democrat, said the administration had pushed for a US company to participate in the project even though the company lacked relevant experience.

"The administration says that it wants to promote stability in the Balkans, but political cronies, outside actors, and friends of the presidents are using their connections to pursue corrupt deals in the region," Keating said.

Keating cited the Democratic committee report entitled "Pay for play in the Balkans: How the Trump administration's Bosnia policy enriches the president's personal allies and short changes the American people”.

He said the US embassy in Sarajevo had raised the possibility of an American company operating the pipeline and that four days later Jesse Binnall, a Trump-connected lawyer, and Joseph Flynn, brother of former Trump national security adviser Michael Flynn, established AFS Infrastructure & Energy.

Five months later, Keating said, Bosnian legislation named AFS as the only company eligible for the project.

"I believe this occurred only because of Binnall and Flynn's personal connections to the president," Keating said.

Keating said the project could be worth around $1bn and questioned whether US government agencies had discussed financing it.

"I think it demands oversight," he said.

Lawton said the pipeline had been under discussion for about a decade and that Bosnia's Federation had decided in 2024 to proceed with legislation supporting it.

Asked whether the US government had provided funding or direct assistance to the project or company, Lawton said: "I'm not aware of any funding or direct assistance."

He added: "The choice of an American solution and the negotiations with that company was a sovereign decision of the federation.”

Lawton did not directly address Keating's allegation that the US government had helped position AFS specifically for the project.

The lawmakers also challenged the administration's decision to remove sanctions against Dodik, who had been targeted over actions Washington said threatened Bosnia's constitutional order.

Keating said the decision benefited administration-connected lobbyists and called for the sanctions to be restored.

He returned to the issue in a second round of questioning, saying people who had lobbied for Dodik's delisting had criminal records, had subsequently received pardons and included a former senior administration official and that person's lawyer. "That gives an appearance as well in terms of corruption issues," Keating said.

He then linked the sanctions issue to Jared Kushner, Trump's son-in-law, who has pursued major property developments in the region.

Keating said Kushner was pursuing billion-dollar private business interests while acting as a presidential envoy and questioned the message this sent to countries in the Balkans.

Lawton did not directly respond to the allegations concerning Kushner or the personal relationships between the administration and Dodik's lobbyists. Instead, he defended the sanctions decision on foreign-policy grounds.

"The decision to delist Dodik and the people around him was related to resolving, diffusing, the deepest political crisis in Bosnia in decades," Lawton said.

He said US diplomacy had led Dodik to step aside as president of Republika Srpska and Bosnia's legislature to withdraw most of its significant legislation challenging the country's constitutional order.

"The substantive reason for the sanctions was removed," Lawton said.

Lawton added that Washington still considered Dodik a destabilising influence.

"Dodik remains a destabilizing influence," he said.

Democratic Representative Dina Titus of Nevada separately accused the administration of pursuing "corrupt policies in the Balkans."

She cited the removal of sanctions on Dodik, a roughly $1 billion concession in Albania involving Trump allies and Kushner's property projects in Albania and Serbia. She also said Serbia's parliament had passed legislation paving the way for a Kushner-backed luxury hotel and apartment development on the site of the former Yugoslav Army headquarters in Belgrade, bombed by NATO in 1999.

The chairman cut off the exchange before Lawton gave a substantive response, leaving those allegations unanswered during the hearing.

The hearing also touched on wider corruption and organised crime concerns in the region. Republican Representative Joe Wilson of South Carolina questioned Lawton about corruption and organised crime in Albania, including allegations concerning Prime Minister Edi Rama's government and narcotics trafficking.

Lawton said Washington was working with Albania against transnational criminal organisations and described the country's Special Structure Against Corruption and Organized Crime, or SPAK, as relatively effective.

Lawton's broader description of US policy emphasised both security and commercial interests. He said one pillar was advancing "US economic and commercial interests" by encouraging private-sector growth and investment climates welcoming to American business.

That approach became the central point of tension in the hearing. Democrats portrayed the administration's efforts to expand US commercial influence as potentially intertwined with the private interests of people close to Trump. Lawton instead framed the same policy as an effort to strengthen regional stability, reduce energy dependence and create legitimate opportunities for US companies.

The hearing did not establish that a contract had ultimately been awarded to AFS or that a US official had personally received money from the pipeline project. The corruption and conflict-of-interest claims remained allegations made by lawmakers, while the administration's representative defended the underlying policy decisions but did not directly answer several of the personal-business allegations.