Donald Trump has turned his President Trump Personal Legal Counsel toward a smaller group of lesser-known civil litigators, elevating lawyers willing to make arguments other attorneys might avoid. The arrangement gives them unusual leverage for a sitting president because proceedings that should be adversarial can place lawyers answerable to Trump on both sides.
That setup has real consequences in the Justice Department, where Trump has asserted greater control than previous presidents. It also reaches journalists, because the lawyers in his personal orbit have sued journalists and litigated against the government he leads.
Boris Epshteyn and Trump
Boris Epshteyn sits at the center of that group. He is a pugnacious longtime adviser to Trump, described as the person with the direct relationship with the client, and his role has made him the bridge between Trump and the lawyers acting for him.
During the 2024 transition, incoming White House counsel David Warrington recommended that Trump cut ties with Epshteyn. That advice did not remove him from Trump’s orbit, and Epshteyn remained the central figure among the personal attorneys.
Ty Cobb on Epshteyn
Ty Cobb, who represented Trump during the Russia probe in 2016, later became a vehement critic of Trump. Asked about Epshteyn, Cobb said, “Boris was a nobody when I was there.”
Trump’s current personal attorneys range in experience, temperament and politics, but they share a willingness to pursue aggressive arguments. That has put them in cases where the same presidency that directs the Justice Department can also be the source of the defense strategy.
Trump in Ankara
Trump was in Ankara, Turkey, on July 8, 2026, while this legal structure remained in place. The open issue is which specific lawsuits and government cases are moving through those overlapping roles, and how far those conflicts have already gone.
