December 20,2024

Wyden, Durbin, Brown Investigate Trump Advisor Boris Epshteyn’s Cash for Cabinet Appointment Scheme

New letters from committee chairs seek information and records of payments to longtime Trump advisor Boris Epshteyn as part of his scheme to sell influence over cabinet appointments and endorsements

Washington, D.C. – Senate Finance Committee Chair Ron Wyden, D-Ore., Majority Whip and Judiciary Committee Chair Dick Durbin, D-Ill., and Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs Committee Chair Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, wrote today to longtime Trump advisor Boris Epshteyn and the Trump-Vance transition organization seeking information and records pertaining to Epshteyn’s widely-reported scheme to sell his influence over Trump cabinet appointments and political endorsements. 

“The Senate has a constitutional duty to provide advice and consent on the President-elect’s intended nominees, and fulfilling these duties requires full and robust information to ensure that the transition process has not been influenced by inappropriate payments for political favors,” the senators wrote. “This pattern of allegations, which was reportedly the subject of an internal investigation by the Trump transition team, raises serious concerns about the integrity of the transition process and whether and to what extent it has been influenced by inappropriate payments for political favors.”

The letter to Epshteyn, available here, asks the following: 

  1. Did you ever solicit or receive payments from any person or entity in exchange for using your influence to promote candidates for office or for presidential nominations from President-elect Trump?

  2. A summary of any payments made by any presumptive or potential nominee for a presidential appointment to you or your agents or associates, or any entity owned or controlled by Epshteyn or his agents or associates. 

The letter to the Trump-Vance transition, available here, asks for the following: 

  1. A summary of any payments made by any presumptive or potential nominee for a presidential appointment to Mr. Epshteyn, his agent or associate, or any entity owned or controlled by Epshteyn or his agents or associates. 

  2. Any documents produced by the transition team’s reported investigation into payments made to Mr. Epshteyn, including, but not limited to, any final reports or memoranda, or documents produced or collected to support any such investigation. 

 

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