For several hours on the afternoon of July 20, two diplomatic security agents stood watch outside the office of Gavin Wax, a 33-year-old chief of staff at the State Department’s Washington headquarters, under orders to ensure he did not leave early.
At 5 p.m., Wax was summoned to a meeting with human resources and informed that he was being placed on administrative leave. Officials told him it would be his final day at the State Department.
Until that moment, Wax’s fierce devotion to President Donald Trump had helped him survive repeated controversies and rise through the ranks at Foggy Bottom.
This time, it appeared, his protection had worn thin.
But by the next Monday, Wax was back behind his desk, still overseeing the public diplomacy office, with his position seemingly untouched.
Wax had made what one source described as a ‘Hail Mary’ phone call to Boris Epshteyn, Trump’s personal senior counselor, to save himself, the Daily Mail can exclusively reveal.
Epshteyn allegedly took the issue to the president, and Wax’s dismissal was undone within the week, five senior Trump administration sources familiar with the matter said.
The decision to place Wax on leave had been approved by the White House Office of Presidential Personnel and senior State Department officials, at the behest of Deputy Secretary of State Chris Landau. The White House’s office liaison at State coordinated the plan.
Gavin Wax (right) saved his job at the State Department with a ‘Hail Mary’ call to one of Donald Trump’s most trusted advisors, the Daily Mail can reveal
Boris Epshteyn (pictured) allegedly took Wax’s case to the president, and the dismissal was undone within the week, five senior Trump administration sources familiar with the matter said
The reversal infuriated Marco Rubio. He has since made clear that Wax cannot stay in his department, three senior sources familiar with his reaction have said
They were all overruled inside a week by a single adviser who holds no post at the department and whose authority rests entirely on his proximity to the president.
Five sources familiar with the matter said the reversal guts the credibility of the department’s staff and sends a message that anyone with the president’s ear is untouchable.
‘It signals to everyone else in the department that if you have the ear of someone close to the president, you are untouchable no matter what you do,’ one State Department source told the Daily Mail.
The reversal allegedly infuriated Marco Rubio. He has since made clear that Wax cannot stay in his department, three senior sources familiar with his reaction told the Daily Mail.
‘This is false and never happened,’ State Department spokesperson Dylan Johnson said when asked for comment.
The final straw was reportedly over Serbia.
On Friday, July 17, Wax hosted a lunch in the eighth-floor executive dining room for Serbian right-wing politicians seen as pro-Kremlin, after being advised not to by career officials at the State Department.
The department’s Europe bureau was allegedly furious, and Landau’s office asked whether the guests could be barred from the building.
Wax had also been telling the Serbs that Landau had signed off on the meetings, a White House insider said, and when Landau learned his name was being used, it sent him into a fury.
A source close to Wax said his most direct line to Trump runs through Natalie Harp, the blonde 35-year-old aide who is rarely more than a few feet from the president
Wax’s removal had been approved by the White House Office of Presidential Personnel and senior State Department officials, at the behest of Deputy Secretary of State Chris Landau
Wax’s boss, Under Secretary Sarah Rogers, allegedly objected to Wax’s dismissal
Three days later, Wax’s boss, Under Secretary Sarah Rogers, received word from HR at noon that her chief of staff would be gone by the end of the day.
She allegedly objected and was told she had no say. Wax is now on paternity leave after the birth of his second child.
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When he returns, he will follow Rogers to the US Agency for Global Media once the Senate confirms her to lead it. Inside the administration the move is being sold as a promotion.
Sources say it is the opposite: Rubio and other senior officials are putting their foot down to get him out of the building.
‘Gavin Wax will be an incredible addition to the United States Agency for Global Media and will continue to successfully execute President Trump’s America First policies,’ a White House official told the Daily Mail.
The White House did not respond to a request for comment on whether Wax would keep his State Department role after moving to the US Agency for Global Media.
The episode caps a year in which Wax has become the most divisive political appointee in the department, accused of leaking in last fall’s Young Republican group chat scandal.
In a complaint the Daily Mail revealed in July, Wax was accused of shoving and threatening an aide to Greenland envoy Jeff Landry in a Truman Building elevator. The department’s Office of Special Investigations reviewed the complaint. It is unclear if the investigation remains ongoing.
Senior State Department officials overseeing Diplomatic Security coordinated the plan for his departure with PPO and senior department officials, sources said.
Wax, with his wife Chelsea in New York, is on paternity leave
Wax’s obsessive loyalty to Trump had allowed him to weather a series of scandals
Putting agents outside his office struck some colleagues as excessive. Wax had figured out what the 5pm meeting was, and nobody wanted him leaving early or making an excuse about why he could not attend, sources say.
A State Department spokesperson denied that Diplomatic Security agents were placed outside Wax’s office.
Landau also allegedly soured on Wax over his relationships with the presidential special envoys, according to multiple sources.
Senior officials had wanted him gone for months but held back under a White House rule that political appointees are not fired, only promoted up and out.
He and Epshteyn go back years in New York. When Trump gave a speech at the New York Young Republican Club’s gala in December 2023 and thanked ‘your president Gavin Wax’ from the stage, Epshteyn was in the room.
A year later Epshteyn attended the same gala, with Steve Bannon as the keynote speaker. Wax name-drops him constantly, a White House insider said.
Epshteyn is not Wax’s only route to the president. A source close to Wax said his most direct line runs through Natalie Harp, the blonde 35-year-old aide who is rarely more than a few feet from Trump.
Wax allegedly keeps a close texting relationship that produces personal notes from Trump and has helped him ride out one controversy after another.
Despite their ties, there’s no indication that Harp had any role in saving Wax’s job.
Rubio and other senior officials are putting their foot down to get him out of the building
Wax took over the club in 2019 and made it the first Young Republicans chapter to endorse Trump’s 2024 campaign.
Last October, after Politico published thousands of racist and anti-Semitic messages from Young Republican leaders’ group chats, a Small Business Administration official, Michael Bartels, swore in an affidavit that Wax had demanded his private chat log and threatened him.
That month, the Daily Mail reported that senior White House officials had questioned Wax over texts that appeared to show him passing names and phone numbers to the Politico reporter.
Wax denied leaking at the time and faced no consequences.
The White House, Epshteyn, Wax, Rogers and the State Department have been contacted by the Daily Mail for comment.