Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-NY) and former President Donald Trump’s 2024 senior adviser Boris Epshteyn slammed the New York Times on Sunday for portraying Trump in a Saturday hit piece as distrustful of the New York state congresswoman, despite the fact Stefanik and Trump speak with one another multiple times a week.
The Times article, which cited two anonymous sources close to Trump, alleged the former president does not trust Stefanik, a claim Stefanik’s team and Trump’s adviser, Boris Epshteyn, told Breitbart News was totally fake news.
NEW: Elise Stefanik thought Trump was a “whack job,” as she once wrote in a message obtained by The Times. After the 2018 midterms, she considered quitting Congress. What happened next is a case study – and perhaps a cautionary tale. https://t.co/rh6K5Jp2lr
— Nick Confessore (@nickconfessore) December 31, 2022
Stefanik and Trump’s relationship has appeared to be one of the strongest alliances within the America First movement. Trump endorsed Stefanik in 2021 to replace Rep. Liz Cheney (R-WY) as GOP conference chair. “Elise Stefanik is a far superior choice, and she has my COMPLETE and TOTAL Endorsement for GOP Conference Chair,” Trump said. “Elise is a tough and smart communicator!”
Stefanik, as the third highest ranking Republican in the House, is also the highest-ranking Republican to have endorsed Trump’s 2024 campaign. “Republican voters determine who is the leader of the Republican Party and it’s very clear President Trump is the leader of the Republican party,” she told Breitbart News in November.
. @realDonaldTrump praises #NY @RepStefanik – ‘You were killing them, Elise’https://t.co/wIvyDoMW8o pic.twitter.com/EB2HjjiCgl
— Channel 3 News (@wcax) February 7, 2020
In a Breitbart News exclusive, Trump’s senior adviser Boris Epshteyn defended Stefanik from the Times‘ “baseless” smear as one of the strongest supporters of the American First moment.
“Rep. Elise Stefanik is one of President Trump’s staunchest supporters and strongest champions of the America First movement,” Epshteyn said. “I am proud to have helped Elise defeat Liz Cheney to become GOP Conference Chair as well as to have worked with her during the 2020 Presidential campaign. The baseless smears against Elise Stefanik are a great testament to her strength, impact, and standing.”
Boris Epshteyn, special assistant to President Donald Trump, walks into the West Wing of the White House, Wednesday, March 8, 2017, in Washington. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik)
Executive director for team Elise, Alex Degrasse, characterized Stefanik’s relationship with Trump as completely on solid footing and denied the allegation in the Times‘ article as simply a “lie” from “socialists and their sycophant press stenographers.”
“The middle-aged men of the mainstream media are creepily obsessed with Congresswoman Stefanik and will lie to smear her simply because she is an effective Republican and a champion of President Trump’s agenda,” Degrasse told Breitbart News. “What the lamestream media doesn’t realize is that their relentless lies and baseless smears only serve as more rocket fuel in Elise’s skyrocketing mission to help Save America from the disastrous reign of Socialists and their sycophant press stenographers.”
Former President Donald Trump speaks at Mar-a-lago on Election Day, Tuesday, November 8, 2022, in Palm Beach, Fla. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik)
Multiple sources conveyed to Breitbart News that Stefanik and Trump’s relationship is so strong that Trump publicly and privately sings her praises, a fact that directly contradicts the Times’ reporting by far-left reporter Nicholas Confessore, who used quotes from anonymous sources to attack Stefanik.
Epshteyn and Stefanik were not the only Republicans to push back against the hit piece. Mike Caputo, who served as an adviser to Trump for over 25 years and is close with Stefanik as well, told Breitbart News the Times’ story was “canard” and that Trump “admires” Stefanik for her strength and courage.
“I read that story and laughed,” Caputo said. “It’s a canard. President Trump admires people of strength, courage and resolve and I can promise you Elise has his friendship and respect while the anonymous coward who lied about their relationship does not.”
Mike Davis, founder and president of the pro-Trump Article III Project, echoed Caputo’s opinion and noted Trump “trusts” Stefanik and believes their relationship is “genuine and strong.” Davis also defended Stefanik from the Times‘ anonymously sourced “criticism and smears.”
“Elise has been a conservative warrior since we worked together in the Bush 43 White House 17 years ago. Her relationship with President Trump is genuine and strong,” he told Breitbart News. “As I’ve followed her congressional career, it is clear she has always supported Trump — and endured endless criticism and smears from the media and Democrats for her fierce loyalty to Trump.”
“Whether it was the Access Hollywood drama or two impeachment hoaxes, Elise has always and firmly held the line for Trump. It’s obvious from their very close and public partnership — for years — that Trump knows this and trusts her. Anyone claiming otherwise is trying to divide the America First movement for their own personal gain,” Davis said.
The Times has a record of false reporting. Just in December, the Times falsely claimed that Hunter Biden’s laptop was “stolen” from a laptop repair shop. Hunter’s laptop was actually abandoned at a computer repair shop where he had taken it to be repaired by Hunter. It took the Times 17 months to finally report that Hunter’s laptop was authentic after Breitbart News’s Emma-Jo Morris first reported on the laptop story in October 2020.
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Georgianna Motsinger