Figure in Arizona's fake electors case holds big White House role

Boris Epshteyn, an adviser and personal lawyer to Trump, was accused of working with Arizona Republicans and other Trump allies to try to thwart President Joe Biden's 2020 election victory.

Epshteyn has been at the center of big decisions by the administration, reportedly helping to negotiate the $1.776 billion "anti-weaponization" fund and aiding an Indian billionaire's legal defense before the Justice Department dropped a case against him. He is also connected to Todd Blanche, Trump's newly confirmed U.S. attorney general.

Some on Capitol Hill blamed Epshteyn as an obstacle to Blanche's confirmation, as the "anti-weaponization" fund became a flashpoint during negotiations, though the president's team denied those reports.

Epshteyn was accused of advising the Republicans who sent paperwork to Washington, D.C., falsely claiming Trump had carried Arizona in 2020.

Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes, a Democrat, dropped charges against the defendants in June after a series of courtroom losses left her high-profile case back at square one. She has said she will bring charges again, but the delays and looming Nov. 3 election have made it uncertain if the case will continue.

Epshteyn made local headlines after The Arizona Republic revealed details about a 2021 incident in which a woman told police that he inappropriately touched her and another woman at Bottled Blonde nightclub in Scottsdale.

And he worked for the late former Sen. John McCain, R-Arizona, during McCain's 2008 presidential run.

Here's what to know about Epshteyn.

Why the anti-weaponization fund is controversial

The so-called anti-weaponization fund would have paid allies of Trump who say they were unfairly prosecuted during the Biden and Obama administrations. Trump had specifically called out those charged in attacks on the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, as deserving compensation.

The fund was created as part of a settlement to resolve a $10 billion lawsuit Trump filed against the IRS, accusing the agency of mishandling his tax records.

The proposal drew almost immediate blowback from Senate Republicans and eventually held up Blanche's confirmation. Sens. John Cornyn, R-Texas, and Thom Tillis, R-North Carolina, stalled a committee vote on the nomination over questions about the fund.

As the negotiations dragged on, the Associated Press reported that some were blaming Epshteyn as an obstacle to reaching an agreement: Tillis publicly attributed the delay to an "incompetent personal advisor" to Trump. Trump's communications director denied the AP's report. Epshteyn declined to comment on the negotiations.

The two senators issued a joint statement on Aug. 3, saying Blanche's promise to rescind the fund and place guardrails on the payouts was enough to win their support. Though the deal appeared to leave large loopholes that made it unclear how exactly it would be enforced.

Blanche was confirmed in the early hours of Aug. 8.

Epshteyn's connections with Todd Blanche

Epshteyn has a longtime connection to Blanche, the new U.S. attorney general.

The two men were brought together by lawsuits against Trump and have since become core members of the president's team.

The two men served on Trump's legal team when he faced felony charges related to a 2016 hush-money payment to the adult film actress Stormy Daniels.

Epshteyn has influence within the Justice Department, in part because of his closeness with Blanche, Axios has reported.

He reportedly helped defend the businessman Gautam Adani before Blanche dropped the criminal fraud and bribery charges against the Indian billionaire, according to the Wall Street Journal. Epshteyn has denied having any relationship with Adani.

Standing has seen ups and downs

Epshteyn's association with the Trump family stemmed from a friendship between himself and Eric Trump while they both attended Georgetown University. Epshteyn was at Eric Trump's 2014 wedding and once tweeted that he was proud to call Eric Trump a friend.

He worked on the committee organizing Trump's inauguration in January 2017 and became an assistant to the president and a communications director once Trump took office. He advised the president's reelection campaign in 2020.

He went on to help run the legal teams that defended Trump from an onslaught of civil and criminal allegations before the 2024 reelection campaign, successfully delaying several legal battles and preserving Trump's bid for president.

Epshteyn's standing within Trump's inner circle diminished after the president's victory in late 2024, after reports that he had asked job-seekers for money in exchange for advancing their chances of a position in the next Trump White House. He denied the allegations and called them "fake."

He was back in the president's good graces not long after, developing a reputation in the White House as a key adviser and legal counsel.

Arrested in Old Town Scottsdale

Epshteyn previously made headlines in Arizona when he was accused of groping women at a bar in Old Town Scottsdale.

A woman told police that Epshteyn repeatedly touched her and her sister at the Bottled Blonde nightclub early in the morning of Oct. 10, 2021.

“All night he’s been touching me and my sister, especially my sister. He kind of cornered her and grabbed her and is just making her super uncomfortable,” a 27-year-old woman told police in body camera footage obtained by The Arizona Republic.

Epshteyn was charged with “assault touching,” “attempted sexual abuse,” “harassment-repeated acts” and “disorderly conduct-disruptive behavior or fighting.”

The first three charges were dismissed, but Epshteyn pleaded guilty in Scottsdale City Court to disorderly conduct and served probation. The conviction was set aside by the court in January 2023.

The 2021 arrest was his second in seven years in Scottsdale. In 2014, he was charged with “assault - touched to injure” in a fight at another nearby club, Dierks Bentley's Whiskey Row.

Worked for McCain's 2008 presidential campaign

A Jewish immigrant from Russia, Epshteyn began his career in Republican politics as a member of McCain's presidential campaign staff in 2008.

Epshteyn was on McCain's communications team, coordinating inquiries from the national press corps and serving on a rapid response team focused on McCain's vice-presidential pick, then-Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin. McCain and Palin lost to the Democratic ticket of Barack Obama and Joe Biden.

He wrote about the importance of truth in the United States after the six-term Arizona Republican's death in 2018.

"John McCain’s life, and later death are a reminder of a truth that we all should remember: love for one’s country and selfless sacrifice for the good of the American people are a universal language," he wrote in an opinion column.