According to a Guardian investigation, Vučić summoned officials to a meeting at his presidential offices about the project, which has culminated in a landmark indictment of senior figures from his regime on charges of abuse of public office.
The criminal case is believed to be the first to result from the Trumps' global moneymaking campaign, which critics have described as a 'pay to play' arrangement in which everything from sanctions relief to cutting-edge chips is available to those who enrich the first family and their associates.
The alleged scheme concerned the protected status of a historic building in the Serbian capital. Vučić, a nationalist former propaganda chief under Slobodan Milošević, hosted the US president's son Donald Trump Jr and son-in-law Jared Kushner in Belgrade as they developed plans for a $500m hotel and residential tower.
After abuse of power charges were brought last December, Kushner's company announced the project would not proceed 'at this time'. Vučić threatened reprisals, calling the prosecutors 'corrupt gangs' who had 'fabricated cases'.
The revelations come days before an election scheduled for 25 October, in which Vučić will seek to extend his 12 years in power in the face of a mass protest movement spurred by government corruption.