President Trump says everyone involved in election theft in the U.S. will be punished: Once again, all eyes are on Aleksandar Vučić

The Security and Intelligence Agency (BIA) and Aleksandar Vučić responsible for 2020 U.S. election rigging

The United States President Donald Trump during his stay in Davos at the World Economic Forum, stated that “everyone who participated in the theft of the 2020 election, in which my victory was stolen through Dominion machines, will be brought to justice.” In doing so, he effectively once again deepened the “conflict” with Serbia, because the company that controlled the voting at the time is linked to Belgrade. One IP address from Serbia was used for a campaign against Trump, and this issue is precisely the most sensitive one and perhaps the biggest obstacle in relations between Washington DC and Belgrade.

Trump arrival and speech were marked by sharp messages directed at Europe, Denmark, and certain allies within NATO. At that time, Trump unexpectedly touched on the affair of the alleged theft of the 2020 U.S. elections, with which Belgrade has been linked.

“Everyone who was involved in the theft of the 2020 election, when my victory was stolen through Dominion machines, will be brought to justice. The investigation is nearing its end,” Trump said from the podium.

Why might Serbia, or President Vučić, feel singled out by this statement? Precisely because during the 2020 U.S. presidential election, which was won by Joseph Biden, the company “Dominion Voting Systems” was engaged to count votes, and it has its European headquarters in Belgrade. At the time, Trump’s supporters linked the defeat of the then president precisely to that company, claiming that people from Serbia were behind it.

Speaking about this, political analyst Dušan Janjić told that he considers the Security and Intelligence Agency (BIA) and Aleksandar Vučić responsible for election rigging, and that after the American president’s speech, it is absolutely clear that an investigation into election manipulation is underway and that it includes Belgrade.

“So far there have been several announcements, via social media, about launching an investigation into the theft of the U.S. presidential election, and that one IP address from Serbia was used for a campaign against Trump. That has not been confirmed so far, but after yesterday’s speech by President Trump in Davos it is now clear that the investigation is underway and that it includes Belgrade. The question is how far the investigation will go and whether it will include Aleksandar Vučić, who controls everything in Serbia. That would be a very difficult situation for Vučić, because it would show that one state is conducting a cyber-criminal operation against another state, in this case against the United States for the position of president. Who will be included in criminal prosecution will be decided by the American prosecutor,” Janjić said.

Foreign policy commentator Boško Jakšić tells that the story of election rigging in the U.S. is the most sensitive issue and perhaps the biggest obstacle to genuine rapprochement and partnership between Washington DC and Belgrade.

“Trump is very vindictive, and we saw that through a series of moves that followed May last year. Vučić’s attempt to enter the donors’ dinner. After that, Vučić was not invited to the photo session of 145 world leaders who, with Trump, become the General Assembly of the United Nations. The U.S. ambassador who was supposed to represent a goodwill gesture was recalled. Tariffs were introduced on Serbia, at 35 percent, the highest in the region,” emphasize Jakšić.

Amid the flood of information that in recent months has burdened the already complex relations between Serbia and the United States, additional attention is drawn by the fact that Serbia was not invited to Trump’s “Board of Peace.”

President Trump sent invitations to leaders of around 60 countries worldwide to join this body. Some countries have already confirmed participation, others are still considering the invitation. However, Serbia is not on the list of invitees, while Kosova has already signed the “Board of Peace” Charter.

Relations between Belgrade and Washington DC have been on “shaky ground” for almost a year, with the turning point being the attempt by the Serbian president to attend a fundraising dinner of Donald Trump’s Republican National Committee, which he tried to enter under a false name.

Namely, Vučić stayed in the United States in May last year with, as presented, the intention of presenting the current situation in Serbia to the American president. However, that meeting never took place. Moreover, on that occasion the Serbian president did not meet with a single prominent Republican representative.

Shortly thereafter, information appeared in the public that Vučić, allegedly due to deteriorating health, cut short his stay in the U.S. and returned to Serbia. The media reported that he fell ill during his stay in Florida, after which he urgently left the country, which was interpreted as a withdrawal without any achieved political contacts.

However, that was only the beginning of further cooling of relations. The General Staff affair further deepened tensions when it was announced that a hotel was to be built at that location on Nemanjina Street by Affinity Partners, the investment firm of Jared Kushner, Trump’s son-in-law.

Soon after, Kushner’s company withdrew from the project to build a Trump hotel in Belgrade, after it sparked public protests and led to the filing of an indictment against Minister of Culture Nikola Selaković. Affinity Partners then announced that it was withdrawing “out of respect for the people of Serbia and Belgrade,” explaining that “significant projects should unite, not divide.”

As The New York Times wrote, the fact that the decision to withdraw was made immediately after indictments were filed against high-ranking state officials for corruption linked to the project made the entire deal too risky and compromising for Kushner’s company. Such an assessment was contrary to the explanation given by President Vučić, who shifted responsibility for the project’s failure onto citizens and the media that publicly opposed it.

In an attempt to present himself as a relevant actor at the WEF, Vučić participated in one of the panels with Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev and on that occasion boasted that no one had been in Davos as many times as he had, and that this was his 12th time.