Two top advisers for Donald Trump got into a "physical confrontation" at Mar-a-Lago, according to the Washington Post.
Trump adviser Boris Epshteyn, who was charged in an Arizona indictment of false electors, was reportedly involved in the interaction with Howard Lutnick, Trump's pick for commerce secretary who was at the center of a stand-off that some say showed the limits of Elon Musk's influence over the former and incoming president.
The dispute began when Epshteyn was "blocked" from attending a Mar-a-Lago meeting, the report states.
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"Transition co-chair Howard Lutnick, CEO of Cantor Fitzgerald, told Epshteyn in front of others that this was not a meeting for him. 'We’re not talking legal nominees today,' Lutnick said, according to one person familiar with the exchange," the Washington Post reported on Saturday. "Epshteyn refused to budge. Using his forearm, he pushed Lutnick out of the way, according to two people familiar with the incident, which Lutnick later recounted to others. 'I’m coming in,' Epshteyn retorted, according to one of the people."
The report goes on to say a third source "described the incident more as Epshteyn simply brushing past Lutnick on his way into the meeting," but both parties declined to comment on it.
"In any other presidential transition, such a showdown and physical confrontation between two top advisers to the president-elect would be a showstopping breakdown in decorum," according to the report. "But in Trump’s freewheeling orbit, the incident was soon forgotten as his team has returned to the patterns of his first term in office — with shouting matches, expulsions from meetings and name-calling, all between the public celebrations and rocket-ship photo ops. As during Trump’s first term, competing factions have begun to run roughshod over each other, sometimes kicking up clouds of dust."
The Washington Post's inside view of the Trump transition, which was reportedly based on "more than half a dozen aides, advisers, confidants and others involved in the transition process," also describes other confrontations between Trump allies.
"Elon Musk, who has embraced the nickname 'first buddy' on his own social network X, got in a recent tense discussion at Mar-a-Lago with Epshteyn in full view of others, said people familiar with the incident," the report says. "Incoming chief of staff Susie Wiles has also had to traffic-cop meetings, asking people to leave when they’re not welcome."
These altercations are all part of a larger pattern of what has been described as "warring factions" of Trump World.
