One thing the disgraced former President, and somehow soon to be the 47th President, loathes is when someone makes money by using his name, even though he uses other brands to cash in. Donald’s legal team is already investigating top aide Boris Epshteyn for seeking money from people to gain access to the prissydent-elect.
CNN’s Sarah Murray reported on the latest scandal with the incoming administration shitshow.
“Lawyers for Trump have been investigating whether Boris Epstein sought to gain financially from his access to Donald Trump and others in Trump’s orbit,” she said, adding that this has been confirmed by “half a dozen sources.”
Boris, of course, denies the allegations, but it doesn’t look good for him.
“In one instance, though, the investigators looking into this learned that Boris Epstein requested as much as $100,000 per month in exchange for his services in one of these instances,” she continued.
“Well, he hasn’t been offered a formal role in the administration, but, you know, one of the initial recommendations that came out of this investigation, we have learned from sources familiar with the matter, was there was a recommendation that Epstein should be removed from Donald Trump’s proximity, that he should not be paid by or employed by Trump entities,” Murray said. “And as of at least Monday afternoon, that does not seem to be the case.”
“The Trump transition is saying this was a broad review of consulting contracts around the former president and that everyone is moving together as a team,” she continued. “And, you know, Boris Epstein has been in Donald Trump’s orbit for a very long time.”
“You know, he’s rubbed people the wrong way, in part because he talks about his closest to the president-elect and also because of the access he gets to Donald Trump,” she said. “And at least right now, that doesn’t seem to be changing.”
The Washington Post reports that Epshteyn had unsuccessfully solicited payment from Scott Bessent, Trump’s pick for treasury secretary.
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. In a call set up between the two, Epshteyn said he was “Boris F—ing Epshteyn” and that Bessent should have paid for his services sooner, according to the person familiar with the legal findings. He later confronted Bessent in person at Mar-a-Lago in what witnesses believed to be an intimidating way, the legal review found, in an exchange that was viewed by multiple Trump allies.
They’re not eating the dogs. They’re not eating the cats. They’re eating each other.