Trump Still Hasn't Fired The Guy Who's Selling Political Appointments

It's going to be a long four years.

Let me see if I’ve got this straight. Boris Epshteyn, one of Trump’s top transition officials and, before that, a key Trump adviser, shook down Scott Bessent in February, demanding that Bessent pay him a monthly retainer of $30,000 to $40,000 to promote him for the job. Bessent told Epshteyn no. Later, after Election Day, word got back to Bessent that Epshteyn was talking shit about him, so on November 14 Bessent phoned Epshteyn to tell him to stop. Epshteyn told Bessent it was “too late” for Bessent to get the job, and growled something to the effect that nobody messes with “Boris Fucking Epshteyn.”

According to a pro-MAGA news outlet called Just the News, Bessent, who despite refusing to pay this bribe is now the nominee, told J.D. Vance and the Trump transition team about the shakedown. The matter was brought, by Bessent or somebody else, to Susie Wiles, who will be chief of staff in the Trump White House. We know that from two anonymous sources who told CNN. “It is unclear,” reported CNN Monday, “whether the allegations have been presented to Trump directly.” “Allegations” is plural because former Missouri Governor Eric Greitens also reported being shaken down.

CNN’s uncertainty that Trump was informed of this activity strikes me as awfully polite. Just the News reported Monday that Trump was told about Epshteyn’s shakedowns and ordered an internal investigation. But Just the News also quoted Trump saying, even after the investigation was completed, that he was unaware of the matter. Trump is not a truthful person, and when a pro-MAGA news outlet indicates through juxtaposition that it caught Trump in a lie, I’m inclined to believe it caught Trump in a lie.

The investigation, conducted by a lawyer named David Warrington, concluded that the allegations were true. Unbelievably, Trump didn’t respond to this news by firing Epshteyn. On Monday the investigation’s findings leaked to Just the News (under the hilariously understated headline, “Inquiry into Trump lawyer’s consulting push risks undercutting signature ‘drain the swamp’ pledge.” Ya think?). Other news outlets confirmed the story. Now we know Trump knows all about this. He still hasn’t fired Epshteyn.

In his statement to Just the News, Trump didn’t seem upset by this news he purportedly hadn’t heard before. “I suppose every President has people around them who try to make money off them on the outside,” he said. “It’s a shame but it happens.” That’s ridiculous. Every president does not have high-ranking aides running a pay-for-play operation under his nose. This sort of blatant old-school corruption is much more typical of politics at the state and local level, and even there it’s far from routine. In the universe as I understand it, the second an allegation like this surfaces from a credible source like Bessent, the perp is called into the boss’s office and shown the door. Possibly dismissal might await confirmation by an investigator, and at the very worst dismissal might come after news leaked to the press. None of these things has happened.

Welcome to the first full-fledged scandal of Trump II.

In my latest New Republic piece I argue that Trump, although certainly an authoritarian, was a weak president before and will likely be a weaker one this time. But that isn’t the good news, it’s the bad news. Trump is easy prey for all sorts of seedy characters, of whom Epshteyn is apparently one. Even a strong corrupt president would have cut Epshteyn loose by now. You can read my piece here.