WaPo: Trump Aide Tried To Shake Down Treasury Pick

November 26, 2024 Trump Corruption, Trump cultists

The Washington Post reports:

A top adviser to President-elect Donald Trump asked potential administration nominees to give him monthly consulting fees in exchange for advocating for them to Trump, a written review by Trump’s legal team concluded.

The scathing review of Boris Epshteyn, a top lawyer to Trump who has extensive sway in the transition, was prepared by Trump’s attorneys in recent days, according to two people familiar with the report. It found that among those whom Epshteyn had unsuccessfully solicited for payment was Scott Bessent, Trump’s pick for treasury secretary.

The review recommended that Epshteyn’s employment with and proximity to Trump should be ended, warning of scandal for Trump and possibly eventual criminal charges for Epshteyn, according to one of the people with knowledge of the review.

The New York Times reports:

According to the report, one day after Bessent met with Trump for the first time in February, Epshteyn invited him to lunch at a Palm Beach hotel, where Epshteyn asked for a monthly stipend of at least $30,000 per month to promote Bessent around the club. Bessent did not agree and told an aide that Epshteyn shook him down, people familiar with the findings said.

Epshteyn later asked Bessent to invest $10 million in a three-on-three basketball league, the report concluded. Again, Bessent declined, though he believed that if he invested, Epshteyn would treat him more favorably, according to a person familiar with the report’s findings.

After the election, Bessent came to believe that Epshteyn was “knifing” him as he sought to be chosen to serve as Trump’s treasury secretary, according to the report

Epshteyn still faces fake elector charges in Arizona.


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