Republican strategist, lawyer and long-time Donald Trump ally Boris Epshteyn had floated his name for the tough job of brokering peace between Russia and Ukraine, the NYT has reported citing sources.
A Russian-American, Epshteyn was born in Moscow in 1982 and lived there as a child, a fact seized upon by Western and Ukrainian media concerned over his possible appointment to the peacemaker job, which Trump has reportedly heard out but has yet to agree to.
Epshteyn served as a senior advisor to the Trump campaign in 2016, and briefly, as an assistant communications director for the Trump White House until March 2017.
He’s also been one of Trump’s top legal advisors, helping to build the case against the certification of Joe Biden’s election victory in 2020, and coordinating Trump’s legal defense strategy in the criminal “witch-hunt” cases brought forward from 2023 on aimed at blocking the business mogul’s return to the White House.
Among the obstacles to Epshteyn's appointment are his purported lack of diplomatic experience and the case opened against him in Arizona over the 2020 election interference. Epshteyn has also been scrutinized during the Russiagate probes swirling around Trump after 2016, coming up clean in investigations by the House Intelligence Committee and the Justice Department.
Epshteyn had reportedly previously expressed hopes to remain an outside advisor to Trump, but has now become a “significant gatekeeper” in his transition team, reportedly helping to finalize GOP lawyer William McGinley’s return to the White House as Trump’s counsel, and advocating for Congressman Matt Gaetz’s nomination for attorney general.