Few Come to the Defense of Trump Aide Boris Epshteyn, Facing Internal Investigation for Alleged Influence Peddling

Few conservatives are publicly rallying to the defense of one of President Trump’s own senior advisors, Boris Epshteyn, who is now facing an internal investigation for his alleged attempts to make money off of the president-elect’s would-be appointees. The report on his alleged conduct is due to be finalized on Friday. Mr. Epshteyn — a 42-year-old lawyer and child immigrant from the old Soviet Union — started his career as a low-level communications aide on Senator McCain’s 2008 campaign, and eventually made his way to the highest echelons of the 2016, 2020, and 2024 Trump campaigns. He was a central figure in Trump’s criminal defenses over the course of 2023 and 2024. According to the New York Times, Mr. Epshteyn is now facing an internal review for allegedly asking for money from those who were seeking either contacts with or high-level jobs from Trump himself. Mr. Epshteyn used his position as a senior aide to try to get wealthy individuals to sign on to lucrative contracts in exchange for those contacts with the president-elect, according to the Times.In a message to the New York Sun, Mr. Epshteyn described the accusations as “false and defamatory” and said they “will not distract us from Making America Great Again.”Many conservatives were mum on the allegations against Mr. Epshteyn — which he vociferously denied in a statement to the Times — after it was reported on Monday night. Even Trump’s own son, Eric Trump, went on Fox News to say that, if the allegations against Mr. Epshteyn are true, he would likely be fired. “I’ve known Boris for years and I’ve never known him to be anything but a good human being, so, that said, my father’s been incredibly clear: You do not do that under any circumstance,” Mr. Trump told Fox News on Monday. “I certainly hope the reporting’s false, and I can also tell you, if it’s true, the person will probably no longer be around.”Mr. Epshteyn spent much of the 2024 campaign shoulder-to-shoulder with Trump, and has been a reliable ally of the “America First” movement from within the campaign. Shortly after the election, Steve Bannon hosted Mr. Epshteyn on his podcast without mentioning the allegations. Mr. Bannon praised him effusively, describing him as “the architect” the 2024 victory. “You were the guy on the tarmac when Air Force One took President Trump back to Mar-a-Lago on the 20th of January, 2021,” Mr. Bannon said. “You’re the architect. Tell me what this day means to you.”Other America Firsters with ties to the Trump campaign have also come out in defense of the longtime aide. The president of the New York Young Republican Club, Gavin Wax, wrote on X on Monday that Mr. Epshteyn was the victim of a smear campaign by those who are not as loyal to Trump. “[Mr. Epshteyn] has been an effective wartime consigliere for President Trump and those on the inside know he has consistently put the President’s interests first. No wonder he is now under fire,” Mr. Wax wrote. According to a report from Just the News about the investigation into him — which has now been completed — Mr. Epshteyn allegedly tried to get Scott Bessent — the billionaire hedge fund manager who was recently tapped by Trump to be the treasury secretary nominee — to sign a consulting contract for an unknown sum of money. Mr. Epshteyn allegedly told him that if the contract was not signed, then Mr. Bessent would not be considered for any positions in the new Trump administration, and he would not likely get much facetime with the president-elect. When Mr. Bessent declined to sign such an agreement, he reported the interaction to the transition team, which then launched their probe into Mr. Epshteyn. In an interview with Just the News, Trump said that the only agenda of his aides should be to make America great again — not to make money off of the president-elect’s name or prospect of cabinet appointments. “I suppose every President has people around them who try to make money off them on the outside. It’s a shame but it happens,” Trump said. “But no one working for me in any capacity should be looking to make money.”

Few Come to the Defense of Trump Aide Boris Epshteyn, Facing Internal Investigation for Alleged Influence Peddling

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