Boris Epshteyn was born in 1982 in Moscow when it was part of the Soviet Union. He comes from a Russian Jewish family. In 1993, he moved to the United States with his family as a refugee. They settled in Plainsboro Township, New Jersey. He finished high school in New Jersey in 2000. He earned a bachelor’s degree in 2004. Later, he studied law at Georgetown University Law Center and completed his law degree in 2007.
After Senator Frank R Lautenberg died in 2013, Epshteyn publicly thanked him for supporting a law that helped religious minorities, including Russian Jews like his own family, move to the US. Earlier in his career, in 2008, he briefly worked as a communications aide for John McCain’s presidential campaign. In the 2012 elections, he sometimes appeared on TV as a Republican political commentator.
He got in touch with Trump mainly due to his friendship with his son, Eric Trump. They both studied at Georgetown University. After Trump left office in 2021, Epshteyn helped plan and guide Trump’s legal strategy when Trump faced multiple criminal and civil cases, especially after the January 6 Capitol attack and the investigations related to the 2020 election. Epshteyn was charged in Arizona in connection with allegations that allies of Trump tried to overturn the 2020 US presidential election results. He has denied the allegations and has pleaded not guilty.
Some reports allege that Epshteyn asked some people connected to Trump for money in exchange for supporting them for government jobs. One example mentioned is Scott Bessent, who was Trump’s nominee for Treasury Secretary, according to PBS News. Bessent reportedly tried for months to get the job, but Epshteyn allegedly opposed him because he did not agree to pay Epshteyn a large fee or “retainer”.
A longtime Trump loyalist has become one of the president’s most influential advisers, combining legal strategy, political access and personal reassurance.
Boris Epshteyn has emerged as one of the most powerful figures around Donald Trump, operating largely away from public view while maintaining unusually close access to the president.
According to Axios, Epshteyn has become such a constant presence in Trump’s White House that he is sometimes involved in Oval Office discussions without everyone in the room realising he is on the line. Trump is said to frequently place him on speakerphone during meetings, underlining the extent to which the lawyer has become embedded in the president’s daily routine.
His influence rests not only on what he hears, but on the fact that Trump listens to him. The president has reportedly joked that Epshteyn is “like my psychiatrist”, a reference to the frequency of their conversations and the encouragement he provides. One adviser quoted by Axios offered a less flattering assessment, describing him as someone who mainly acts as a cheerleader for Trump.
As Trump’s senior personal lawyer, Epshteyn has helped drive an unusually aggressive legal strategy against media organisations and technology companies. Axios reports that Trump has secured settlements or victories involving companies including ABC, CBS, Meta, Google and X, while other cases against major outlets and organisations remain active.
Epshteyn’s role expanded sharply during the 2024 election campaign, when Trump was facing several criminal and civil cases. He helped assemble the legal team and shape a high-risk approach built on constant challenges, pressure on multiple fronts and a refusal to concede ground in court or in the political arena.
Steve Bannon, the former Trump White House strategist and prominent MAGA figure, told Axios that Epshteyn “delivered” at a moment when Trump’s future appeared to be balanced between a return to power and the possibility of prison. Another regular White House visitor described him as the person who “solves problems” for the president.
His reach now extends beyond Trump’s legal battles. In April, Epshteyn was named chair of Trump Media, while people close to the president believe he also has influence inside the Justice Department through his relationship with Todd Blanche.
Axios says Epshteyn visits the Oval Office about once a week and remains in constant phone contact with Trump. Although some within the president’s orbit are wary of his role, his position appears secure, largely because of his loyalty and his direct line to Trump.
His connection to Trump began around a decade ago, when the then-presidential candidate noticed him defending him on television. After Trump’s break with Michael Cohen, Epshteyn gradually moved into the space left behind in the president’s close legal and political circle.
Today, Axios portrays him as one of the people with the greatest access to Trump: part lawyer, part political fixer and part personal confidant, whose power comes from staying close to the president when many others are kept at a distance.
Back in 2024:
Trump lawyer no longer representing ex-president’s aide after clients became ‘adversarial’
A key member of Donald Trump’s legal defense team has reportedly dropped one of the former president’s associates, Boris Epshteyn, as a client as it became clear that the two were considered adversarial to each other due to a recent Arizona criminal indictment.
Hugo Lowell, political investigations reporter for The Guardian, reported after Epshteyn was indicted in Arizona that “Trump lawyer Todd Blanche may soon have to choose whether loyalty is [with] Trump or Boris Epshteyn — clients who are now likely adversarial to each other.”
Lowell noted that, while “Trump is charged [with] 2020 election subversion in DC and Georgia,” Epshteyn has been “charged [with] 2020 election subversion in Arizona
Retired, living in the Scottish Borders after living most of my life in cities in England. I can now indulge my interest in all aspects of living close to nature in a wild landscape. I live on what was once the Iapetus Ocean which took millions of years to travel from the Southern Hemisphere to here in the Northern Hemisphere. That set me thinking and questioning and seeking answers.
In 1998 I co-wrote Millennium Countdown (US)/ A Business Guide to the Year 2000 (UK) see https://www.abebooks.co.uk/products/isbn/9780749427917
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