Trump adviser Boris Epshteyn arrested in 2021 after groping complaints at club, police records show

PHOENIX — Boris Epshteyn, a longtime aide to former President Donald Trump, was arrested in 2021 after he was accused of repeatedly groping two girls in an Arizona nightclub, based on police data.

Epshteyn pleaded responsible to disorderly conduct expenses in Scottsdale metropolis courtroom after prosecutors dropped expenses of tried sexual abuse, assault-touching and “harass-repeated acts.” He paid a positive and served probation, and his conviction was put aside earlier this yr.

The arrest was first reported Thursday by The Arizona Republic. Epshteyn, who’s advising Trump’s 2024 presidential marketing campaign, declined to remark when contacted by The Related Press.

A membership safety guard flagged down police early within the morning of Oct. 10, 2021, and instructed officers that ladies had complained Epshteyn touched them inappropriately, based on a police report and body-worn digital camera footage launched beneath Arizona’s public data legislation.

One lady instructed officers Epshteyn was particularly aggressive towards her 23-year-old sister.

“All night time he is been like touching me and my sister, particularly my sister,” she mentioned over loud music throughout an interview captured on the officer’s physique digital camera. “He sort of cornered her and grabbed her and like (was) simply making her tremendous uncomfortable. Touching her after we repeatedly instructed him to cease touching her.”

She mentioned membership safety instructed her they could not kick out Epshteyn as a result of he was a giant spender, although safety guards ultimately led him out of the bar to police.

“We now have a excessive tolerance of individuals being bizarre, however that was above and past,” the older sister instructed one officer.

Epshteyn denied wrongdoing however mentioned little else concerning the incident to police as he sat on a curb outdoors the bar.

“I don’t know what’s occurring. I don’t know who these girls are,” Epshteyn instructed officers.

Epshteyn was additionally charged in 2014 with assault-touching following a combat at one other Scottsdale bar, courtroom data present. He reached a plea cope with prosecutors.

A longtime Trump adviser, Epshteyn was a principal surrogate within the 2016 presidential marketing campaign, making frequent tv appearances and briefly serving as a senior White Home adviser earlier than turning into an analyst for Sinclair Broadcast Group.

He’s additionally been a predominant determine in Trump’s ongoing authorized battles, each as an adviser and a participant.

After Trump’s loss in 2020, Epshteyn labored with former New York Metropolis Mayor Rudy Giuliani — one other of Trump’s legal professionals — on efforts to overturn the election outcomes by organizing faux electors. Final yr, he was subpoenaed by the Home panel probing the Jan. 6 riot on the U.S. Capitol and testified earlier than a Georgia particular grand jury probing Trump’s efforts to overturn his 2020 election loss in that state.

It’s anticipated {that a} attainable indictment in that case might come in opposition to the previous president subsequent week.

He additionally accompanied Trump to Washington final week for his first look in federal courtroom on expenses associated to makes an attempt to overturn his 2020 election loss to Democrat Joe Biden.

Earlier this yr, Epshteyn appeared alongside the previous president as Trump was arraigned in New York on 34 felony counts as a part of a hush cash case — the primary time in U.S. historical past a former president had confronted a prison indictment.

When Timothy Parlatore stop the Trump authorized workforce in Could, he singled out technique variations with Epshteyn as amongst his causes, accusing him of “doing all the things he might to attempt to block us to stop us from doing what we might to defend the president” because it pertains to the case by which Trump is charged with improperly taking labeled paperwork from the White Home.