Donald Trump Advisers Worry Over Legal Team Civil War: “It’s All Coming to a Head”

At a moment of maximum legal jeopardy for Donald Trump, his legal team has descended into all-out civil war. Three attorneys resigned in recent months; others reportedly refused to take Trump as a client. The former president pleaded not guilty to federal charges Tuesday in a Miami courthouse without a lawyer who specializes in national security cases. As Trump faces damning allegations of hoarding secrets on everything from nuclear capabilities to attack plans, with charges that could carry a sentence of up to 400 years in prison, his advisers worry that the dysfunction poses an existential threat to his freedom. “It’s all coming to a head,” a veteran of the 2020 campaign told me. 

In recent days, I spoke with five current and former Trump advisers about the Lord of the Flies–like chaos engulfing Trump’s defense team. The problem, these advisers say, is that Trump turned over his entire defense strategy to Boris Epshteyn, a Russian-born investment banker and lawyer with no criminal defense experience. Epshteyn’s detractors complain that Epshteyn guards access to Trump and treats dissent from lawyers as a sign of disloyalty. (Epshteyn did not respond to a request for comment.) 

Epshteyn’s rapid ascent in Trumpworld is part of Trump’s long history of empowering outsiders who demonstrate unflinching loyalty. “Boris filled a void in the postpresidency. There was no [Steve] Bannon around. No Corey [Lewandowski]. No Roger [Stone],” said former Trump adviser Sam Nunberg. The 2020 campaign veteran said Trump likes Epshteyn because he embraces the let-Trump-be-Trump philosophy. “He’s one of those operators who encourage Trump’s worst instincts,” they said.

One major point of contention for Trump advisers is that Epshteyn recommended attorney Evan Corcoran to represent Trump. Corcoran’s notes about Trump’s alleged efforts to obstruct the FBI investigation into the classified documents stashed at Mar-a-Lago formed the foundation of special counsel Jack Smith’s indictment.  

Epshteyn entered Trumpworld in 2016 after a career in finance and a stint doing communications on John McCain’s 2008 campaign. According to a 2016 campaign staffer, Eric Trump, who had gone to Georgetown with Epshteyn, helped get him hired at the GOP convention in Cleveland. “Eric came up to me and said, ‘There’s this weird guy I know from college. He’s been to my wedding and he wants to get involved,’” the staffer recalled. “Trump took a look at Boris and said, ‘Don’t put that guy on TV.’ So Boris was the guy we only put on TV when we needed someone to say stupid things.” 

After working briefly in the Trump White House, Epshteyn later became the chief political analyst for the right-wing Sinclair Broadcast Group. After Trump lost the 2020 election, Epshteyn became a fixture around Mar-a-Lago.

Trump’s previous campaigns have been riven by infighting. The difference this time is that the stakes are so much higher. The 37-count federal indictment against Trump follows his being charged in April with 34 felony counts stemming from the hush money payment to Stormy Daniels. There remain ongoing investigations into Trump’s attempt to overturn the 2020 election, with more criminal charges possible in the coming months. 

Lately, it’s been hard to tell who is representing Trump. After news of the indictment broke Thursday, attorney Jim Trusty appeared on CNN defending the former president. The next morning, Trusty and another attorney, John Rowley, announced that they were no longer representing Trump, who announced that he’d be “represented by Todd Blanche, Esq., and a firm to be named later.” Blanche and attorney Chris Kise appeared with Trump at Tuesday’s arraignment.

Feuding operatives might make you lose an election. But feuding lawyers could lead you to prison. Trump himself seems to grasp the danger. He’s been searching to find a vicious lawyer in the mold of his mentor Roy Cohn.   

This story has been updated.