Overview
- Monday reporting documented that Epshteyn is a fixture in the Oval Office, often put on speakerphone during meetings and in near-constant phone contact with the president.
- Trump advisers say Epshteyn has built a close relationship with acting Attorney General Todd Blanche that gives him informal influence inside the Justice Department.
- As Trump’s senior personal counsel he has overseen an unprecedented campaign of suits against major media and tech firms that produced settlements with ABC ($16 million), CBS ($16 million plus PSAs), Meta ($25 million), Google ($22 million) and X ($10 million).
- Epshteyn was named chair of Trump Media in April and was tied by reporting to the settlement that proposed a $1.8 billion 'anti-weaponization' fund, a plan the administration later abandoned after bipartisan congressional opposition.
- His rise followed an aggressive 2024 legal strategy that won a Supreme Court presidential-immunity ruling, and he remains legally exposed by a July 2024 Arizona indictment in the fake-electors case which he pleaded not guilty to; his combined legal, political and business reach could reshape how the White House uses litigation and DOJ contacts going forward.