Trump's lawyers investigate adviser Boris Epshteyn for pushing Cabinet names in exchange for financial benefits

Before President-elect Donald Trump announced Scott Bessent as his pick to lead the Department of Treasury, the renowned hedge fund manager was the star of a very uncomfortable scene at Mar-a-Lago, Florida.

Boris Epshteyn, a lawyer and close advisor to Trump for several years, sought out Bessent to confront him face-to-face in the lobby of the president-elect's residence. The transition team is working around the clock to quickly and effectively organize and diagram the next presidential administration.

Bessent, who had not yet been named the next Treasury secretary, tried to keep walking, telling Epshteyn to walk away and not bother him, according to details reported by the Wall Street Journal. However, the top Trump adviser raised his voice and continued to pursue Bessent, generating a scene that forced Secret Service agents to intervene to calm the situation.

That event triggered Trump's transition team, led by his lawyers, to open an investigation against Boris Epshteyn on suspicions that he allegedly attempted to seek economic benefits in exchange for pushing cabinet nominees. The top aide forcefully rejected the allegations.

"These fake claims are false and defamatory and will not distract us from making America great again," Epshteyn said, in remarks picked up by the WSJ.

However, the investigation, which is not criminal in nature, is a fact. Conservative writer and Trump associate John Solomon described in a report for Just The News that Epshteyn "solicited political candidates, a defense contractor and at least one potential Cabinet nominee for lucrative consulting contracts at the same time he was being paid by the Trump campaign and advising the president-elect on legal matters, nominations and political communications."

According to Solomon, Bessent received Epshteyn's proposal but rejected it. Alarmed by the overtures from a top adviser to the president-elect, he communicated his concerns to the Trump transition team, including the vice president-elect JD Vance.

Solomon cited direct sources who questioned Epshteyn's modus operandi in his report.

For example, former Missouri Gov. Eric Greitens, a retired Navy SEAL who in the past hired Epshteyn to advise him on a failed 2022 Senate bid, was one of the whistleblowers who warned about Trump's top adviser overtures.

"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 in a statement submitted to Trump's transition office. "This created a sense of unease and pressure on my part."

According to Just the News, Trump claimed, during a short interview, that he was unaware that any member of his staff was soliciting consulting fees from people seeking jobs for his administration.

"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," the president-elect said. "But no one working for me in any capacity should be looking to make money. They should only be here to Make America Great Again."

"No one can promise any endorsement or nomination except me. I make these decisions on my own, period," Trump insisted.

According to the WSJ report, Epshteyn's latest controversy is the latest demonstration of internal conflicts within the Trump transition team, especially between former advisers to the president-elect and newer members of the team seeking an orderly transition of power.

The newspaper, citing inside sources, also outlined that some people close to Trump, including the new White House chief of staff, Susie Wiles, and Tesla CEO, Elon Musk, have been disheartened by Epshteyn's remarkable access to Trump.

The scene Epshteyn made with Bessent, along with the top aide's support for former congressman Matt Gaetz to be Trump's nominee for attorney general, a nomination that ultimately fell through, "stunned many of Trump's top aides," according to the WSJ.

Now, the top aide is under investigation and, for now, was barred from attending some transition meetings.

According to the AP, David Warrington, one of the Trump transition team's senior lawyers, reviewed the evidence against Epshteyn and recommended that Trump's aides sharply limit the senior adviser's access to the president-elect.