Who Is Trump Adviser Boris Epshteyn, and Why Is He Clashing With Elon Musk?

President-elect Donald Trump’s longtime lawyer Boris Epshteyn has allegedly been fighting with his newer ally billionaire Elon Musk.

The tension allegedly surfaced between Epshteyn and Musk over Cabinet appointments to the new administration. The two were seen in a heated discussion at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago club, according to what sources told Axios.

Newsweek reached out to representatives for Trump, Musk and Epshteyn for comment.

Who Is Boris Epshteyn?

Russian-American Epshteyn, who was born in Moscow before moving to the U.S., met Trump through his son, Eric Trump, whom he was friends with at Georgetown University, reported Politico.

Epshteyn joined Trump’s 2016 campaign as a communications aide and would often appear on television to defend the former president. Epshteyn would later work as communications director for Trump’s inaugural committee before later joining the 2020 campaign as an adviser for coalitions.

He has remained by Trump’s side now for many years and is considered a leading figure in the President-elect’s inner circle.

In April, when Trump arrived in New York for his historic arraignment over falsifying business records charges, Epshteyn sat beside the former president in the courtroom as he pleaded not guilty to 34 charges.

Why Is Epshteyn Clashing With Elon Musk?

The fighting started over who Trump should pick for his Cabinet, Axios reported.

Sources told the site that Musk was questioning whether Epshteyn had too much influence on Trump’s selections. However, Musk was also pushing for his own favorites, recently active in Trump’s choice for Treasury Secretary.

Musk has been an ever-growing presence, with Trump’s granddaughter Kai even saying he had been promoted to “uncle status” during a family photo after the President-elect’s win.

Musk has reportedly joined the president-elect in a phone call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. The CEO of SpaceX and Tesla also spent Election Day at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago home and is reported to have a near-constant presence at the resort since the Republican’s win.

Trump has also tapped Musk, along with former Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy, to run the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) in order to “dismantle” federal bureaucracy and reduce staffing.

At one point during the dinner, a “massive blowup” and a “huge explosion” took place after Musk allegedly accused Epshteyn of leaking details about Trump’s transition plans. Epshteyn allegedly said he didn’t know what Musk was talking about.

According to Axios, the tension between the two has been brewing since before the November 5 election.

Boris Epshteyn’s Net Worth and Career History

Epshteyn is an attorney and investment banker with a stake worth between $1 million and $5 million in TGP Securities Inc, as reported by Fortune.

After graduating from law school, Epshteyn worked as a part of the Milbank, Tweed, Hadley & McCloy finance practice, specifically with bank finance, security transactions and private placement.

In 2008, Epshteyn served as the communications aide with former Senator John McCain and former Governor Sarah Palin campaign.

In 2016, he acted as a senior adviser to Trump’s campaign.

Sinclair Broadcast Group hired Epshteyn in 2017 as a senior political analyst. His segment ended in 2019.

For Trump’s 2020 reelection campaign, Epshteyn served as the strategic adviser and co-chair of the Jewish Voices for Trump Advisory Board.

Epshteyn’s Ties to January 6

Epshteyn is believed to be the sixth co-conspirator included in the latest criminal indictment against the former president.

Special Counsel Jack Smith has charged Trump with four offenses in relation to the 2020 election and January 6 federal probe—conspiracy to defraud the United States; conspiracy against rights of citizens; obstructing an official proceeding; and conspiring to obstruct an official proceeding.

Five of the co-conspirators were identifiable due to clues in the indictment, including publicly available information, quotes and dates of meetings.

The sixth alleged co-conspirator is now believed to be Epshteyn, who is said to have been a key figure in the plot to install fake electors in several key states to falsely declare Trump had beaten Joe Biden in 2020.

A December 2020 email sent from Epshteyn to Trump’s former lawyer Rudy Giuliani matches a description of one detailed in Trump’s indictment. The email sent from Epshteyn to Giuliani and Giuliani’s son, Andrew, contained the subject line, “Attorneys for Electors Memo,” reported The New York Times.

In 2022, Epshteyn, along with Giuliani, Sidney Powell and Trump’s assistant Jenna Ellis, was subpoenaed to give evidence to the House Select Committee investigating the January 6 attack.

Epshteyn was also subpoenaed as part of the federal investigation into the events leading up to the January 6 attack, and had his phone seized by the FBI as part of the inquiry.

He was indicted in April 2024 for his alleged role in the fake election allegations in Arizona.