Trump transition aide Boris Epshteyn sparking internal strife over appointments

President-elect Donald Trump’s transition team is grappling with internal strife over the alleged  conduct of a senior and longtime adviser, Boris Epshteyn, who has been accused by at least one Republican politician of trying to profit personally from his ability to influence Trump’s Cabinet picks.

Former Missouri Gov. Eric Greitens submitted a sworn declaration to the transition team alleging that “Mr. Epshteyn’s overall tone and behavior gave me the impression of an implicit expectation to engage in business dealings with him before he would advocate for or suggest my appointment to the President.”

“This created a sense of unease and pressure on my part,” said the declaration, which was first obtained by the online publication Just the News and shared with CBS News. Greitens and his attorney, Timothy Parlatore, authenticated the one-page document to CBS News. 

Parlatore confirmed to CBS News that the declaration was submitted in connection with an internal investigation that is being conducted by David Warrington, who served as general counsel to the Trump campaign. According to Parlatore, Warrington interviewed Greitens about his interaction with Epshteyn late last week and then asked Greitens to submit the declaration. Warrington has not responded to a request for comment.

“It was important to me to protect the president because I was concerned about the ethics of what was happening,” Greitens told CBS News. “Very specifically, I was concerned that there was an offer to advance a nomination in return for financial payments.”

Epshteyn told CBS News he is “honored to work for President Trump and with his team.”

“These fake claims are false and defamatory and will not distract us from Making America Great Again,” Epshteyn said in his statement.

The Trump transition team confirmed it had conducted a review and now intended to move on from the issue, as first reported by CNN. “As is standard practice, a broad review of the campaign’s consulting agreements has been conducted and completed, including as to Boris, among others,” said transition spokesman Steven Cheung. “We are now moving ahead together as a team to help President Trump Make America Great Again.”

Epshteyn has been a near-constant figure by Trump’s side in recent years, buoying him on air and helping to coordinate his multiple legal teams behind closed doors. Those teams have had unquestionable success, impeding Trump’s two federal criminal cases before they could get to trial, and stymying a state case against Trump in Georgia. Trump was convicted in the one case that went to trial, in New York, but recently the sentencing in that case was postponed indefinitely. On Monday, special counsel Jack Smith asked a federal district court to dismiss the charges against Trump stemming from an alleged scheme to subvert the transfer of power after the 2020 election, and he also sought to end his bid to revive the case against Trump arising from his alleged mishandling of sensitive government documents.

A native of Russia who emigrated to New Jersey with his family when he was 11, Epshteyn was brought into the Trump sphere by Georgetown University classmate Eric Trump. He started as a low-level staffer during Trump’s first run for office and was able to parlay that into a junior position on the White House communications team. Two months later he abruptly resigned over circumstances that remain unclear, but by then he had managed to win over Trump as his loyal confidant and fixer.

Epshteyn supporters praise his ability to execute orders and resolve problems, which they attribute to a frenetic energy, his bulldog personality and a cunning understanding of the political dynamics of Trump’s advisers. Epshteyn has become so close to Trump that the president-elect jokingly refers to Epshteyn as “my psychiatrist,” The New York Times first noted. According to multiple sources, Epshteyn’s access to Trump is at times only rivaled by family members. 

In the weeks since Trump won his second term as president, Epshteyn has been a mainstay in discussions about filling out the Cabinet. The New York Times reported Epshteyn played a critical role in recommending former Florida Rep. Matt Gaetz to serve as attorney general, a bid that ultimately failed to win favor and was withdrawn.

The status of Epshteyn’s consulting business while assisting in the transition is unclear. But prior to the 2024 election, the business appeared to be robust. A review of publicly available records indicate his firm has been paid more than $1 million from Trump’s campaigns and aligned PACs since 2020, and another $1.2 million by other campaigns. 

While there is nothing new about political consultants — on both sides of the aisle — using their connections, interviews with about two dozen advisers, lawyers and allies of Trump reveal Epshteyn’s political consulting work has bred both praise and resentment. 

CBS News spoke with more than half a dozen Republican candidates who have engaged with Epshteyn. Many described his pitch, offering an array of services, including “strategic advice” on messaging and boosting a candidate’s social media presence. But nearly everyone interviewed said his access to Trump had allure.

Ahead in the polls as his Republican Senate primary approached in 2022, Don Bolduc wanted to make sure Trump didn’t play spoiler by endorsing one of his New Hampshire rivals.  Bolduc said he turned to Epshteyn “to run interference inside the Trump circle.” 

A service like that doesn’t come cheap. “I thought $100,000 was a lot of money for what we were asking, but that’s what was paid,” said Bolduc, who added “no guarantee” was given by Epshteyn that Trump wouldn’t endorse a rival. 

Bolduc won his primary after Trump stayed neutral. He told CBS News that while it appeared to him that he got what he paid for, the experience left him feeling disillusioned with the transactional side of elections. After the campaign ended in general election defeat, Bolduc said he chose to leave politics for good.  

“There’s nothing honorable about politics,” said Bolduc, a retired Army brigadier general. After his failed Senate race, Bolduc enrolled in a police academy and became a rookie small-town cop at age 60.

After publication, Rick Wiley, a senior adviser on Bolduc’s campaign, told CBS News that Epshteyn “was retained by General Bolduc’s campaign for strategic media consulting with conservative media outlets, and he delivered.”

Wiley listed three shows that Bolduc appeared on and said they enabled “his campaign to reach supporters and voters throughout New Hampshire and across the country.”

Among those who hired Epshteyn for his campaign services in the past was Greitens, who served as Missouri governor during a portion of the first Trump term. In the weeks since Trump won reelection, Greitens said he contacted Epshteyn for assistance to be considered for an appointment as U.S. Navy secretary.

“During the conversation, despite the absence of an explicit offer, Mr. Epshteyn’s comments and demeanor suggested that he might entertain offering a position in the administration in exchange for financial consideration, but such an offer would happen in a subsequent discussion,” Greitens wrote. “He stated that there would be ‘time for that later’ and that it was ‘not time for that yet.'”

“Mr. Epshteyn’s overall tone and behavior gave me the impression of an implicit expectation to engage in business dealings with him before he would advocate for or suggest my appointment to the President,” Greitens wrote. “This created a sense of unease and pressure on my part.”