President Donald Trump’s chief of staff, Boris Epshteyn, found himself at the center of an ouster campaign Monday over accusations that he solicited monthly consulting fees from administration candidates in exchange for lobbying the president. As a result, internal conflicts spilled into public view. Select.
The maelstrom that has engulfed Epshteyn comes just 20 days after Trump won the election and is reminiscent of the knife fights of the first Trump presidency, when hostile aides took every opportunity to eliminate their rivals. It suggested that culture was returning.
Over the weekend, Trump 2024 campaign general counsel David Warrington summarized the main conclusions of the investigation into Epshteyn, stating that Epshteyn has received tens of thousands of nominations from potential candidates, including Scott Bessent, who has been tapped to be Treasury secretary. It was announced that the request for dollars turned out to be unsuccessful.
According to the book, the day after Trump first met Bessent in February, Epshtein invited him to lunch at a Palm Beach hotel, where he was paid 30,000 yen a month to promote his name on Mar. It is said that he demanded compensation of more than US dollars. -Lago in case Trump wins the election.
Bessent refused and complained to aides that Epshtein had tried to shake him down. Later, when Mr. Epshtein asked Mr. Bessent to invest $10 million in a 3×3 basketball league, he declined, but if Mr. Epshtein took him up on the offer, he would probably give him better access. I told the people involved.
According to two people briefed on the findings, the investigation into Mr. Epshteyn, who has been an advisor to President Trump for many years and has exercised great influence over the president regarding Cabinet appointments and posts in key ministries and agencies, said that Mr. It was also concluded that his employment and contact with Mr. Trump should be terminated.
But Mr. Epstein remained part of Mr. Trump’s inner circle as of Monday night, and Mr. Trump was elated by the news that the special counsel had moved to dismiss two federal criminal cases against him. This was seen as a victory for Mr. Efstein.
Epshtein was the first person Trump called when prosecutors dropped the case against him, according to two Trump associates at the time. This was around the time that CNN first reported on the existence of a review of Epshteyn’s consulting plans.
After successfully pushing Bill McGinley to become White House Counsel over Warrington, who was also in the race, Epshteyn’s allies cast the review as an attempt by Warrington to decapitate Epshteyn. Rejected, Epshteyn went on the offensive for the rest of the day. for the role.
Epshteyn’s supporters later said the review was a political coup, capitalizing on Epshteyn’s role in pushing former Rep. Matt Gaetz to win the attorney general nomination on the weight of sexual misconduct allegations. I drew it.
Epshteyn denied the charges. “I am honored to work with President Trump and his team,” he said in a statement. “These false claims are false and defamatory, and will not distract us from Making America Great Again.”
If the failure to nominate Gates was seen as an opportunity to oust Epshteyn, even partially, it was a miscalculation, since the original idea for Gates to lead the Justice Department came from Trump himself. According to a person with direct knowledge of the matter, that conversation may have occurred.
One Trump adviser who is uninterested in Epshteyn speculated Monday night that the allegations may have weakened his influence. But another Trump adviser suggested that Epshteyn may have come out stronger. “Mr. Trump is not impressed with the pile-on because that’s what all the prosecutors did to him,” the adviser said.
Mr. Epshteyn’s support for Mr. Trump has remained constant over the years, surprising those new to Mr. Trump’s orbit. Elon Musk, the world’s richest man, and former Fox News host Tucker Carlson both told colleagues they couldn’t understand why President Trump had so much confidence in Epshteyn.
Trump’s confidence has grown over the past two years in large part because Trump has seen him as a key reason he avoided legal danger during his 2024 campaign, according to several aides and people familiar with the matter.
Mr. Epshteyn formed and oversaw Trump’s defense team in criminal investigations and several criminal cases, including when President Trump found it nearly impossible to find a competent lawyer to represent him. President Trump is said to have said, “Boris was always right,” regarding Epstein’s legal strategy.
As a result, Mr. Trump took Mr. Epshtein’s policy and personnel proposals seriously, even when he was ridiculed by other members of the Trump campaign. They were all Trump’s personal lawyers hired by Epshteyn when he nominated them for top Justice Department leadership positions.
