Donald Trump has turned to less-known civil litigators as his personal lawyers, and the Trump legal team at Sullivan & Cromwell has taken unusual steps for a sitting president. Those steps include suing journalists and litigating against the government he leads, placing lawyers on both sides of some proceedings under his influence.
Trump and Boris Epshteyn
The group’s central figure is Boris Epshteyn, described as a pugnacious longtime adviser to Trump. The Washington Post report said Trump views the lawyers as a team with one crucial strength: the willingness to make arguments other lawyers might balk at.
During the 2024 transition, incoming White House counsel David Warrington recommended that the president cut ties with Epshteyn because of allegations that he tried to use his closeness to Trump to enrich himself. A lawyer who has litigated against Epshteyn said he can be at turns charming or bombastic.
Ty Cobb on Epshteyn
Ty Cobb, who represented Trump during the Russia probe in 2016, offered a sharply different assessment. He told the Post, “Boris was a nobody when I was there.”
That line matters because it captures how quickly Trump’s legal circle has changed and how much it now depends on personal loyalty. The same structure also raises a practical problem for Trump’s government cases: with Trump asserting greater control over the Justice Department than previous presidents, proceedings can put lawyers tied to him on opposing sides of the same fight.
Justice Department control
Isaac Arnsdorf and Perry Stein reported that Trump has built this arrangement after burning through a list of big-name attorneys whose advice he often rejected. Their account says the lawyers have taken unusual steps for a sitting president, including suing journalists and litigating against the government he leads.
For readers tracking Trump’s legal strategy, the key shift is not just who he hired but how the setup works. He has leaned on a smaller circle willing to press aggressive arguments, and that has made his personal legal team part of the machinery around his own administration.
