In an unhinged media spree that continued into Monday evening, former Trump campaign aide Sam Nunberg told multiple outlets that he won’t comply with the subpoena he received to appear before a federal grand jury hearing evidence surrounding Russia’s possible interference in the 2016 election.
“Let him arrest me,” Nunberg told The Washington Post on Monday of special counsel Robert Mueller, who he says has requested his appearance before the jury this Friday. Mueller, the former FBI director who is leading the investigation into possible ties between Russia and the Trump campaign, is also seeking any records Nunberg has relating to Trump and nine others involved with his administration, including emails and telephone logs, Nunberg said.
“I think it would be funny if they arrested me,” he said live on the phone with MSNBC shortly after the Post story broke.
Continuing his streak of surprising comments, Nunberg told The Associated Press later that evening that he’d likely end up cooperating with Mueller after all.
“I’m going to end up cooperating with them,” he told the outlet.
He later told MSNBC, however, that he would not appear before the jury on Friday.
Nunberg, who aided Trump early in his campaign, had previously said he won’t cooperate with handing over documents, repeatedly emphasizing the “ridiculous” amount of time it would take him to go over his emails.
“I’m not spending 80 hours going over my emails with [former Trump adviser] Roger Stone and [former White House chief strategist] Steve Bannon and producing them,” Nunberg told the Post. “Donald Trump won this election on his own. He campaigned his ass off. And there is nobody who hates him more than me.”
Nunberg was fired from the Trump campaign in 2015 after racially-charged Facebook posts he allegedly wrote came to light, though he has denied writing them.
Speaking to MSNBC, Nunberg said he doesn’t think Trump colluded with the Russians but that Mueller may have uncovered some illegal activity by the president. He did not elaborate either time as to what he thinks may have been illegal.
Nunberg said repeatedly throughout his day of interviews that he was worried Mueller was attempting to build a case against Stone, whom he considers a “mentor” and “like a father.” Stone said in a statement to HuffPost later that day that he has “no knowledge or involvement” related to any collusion with Russia.
Nunberg then took his media blitz to CNN, where he reiterated the suspicions in a phone call with host Gloria Borger. Minutes after hanging up, Nunberg got back on the air with CNN’s Jake Tapper with more bold claims.
“Carter Page was colluding with the Russians,” Nunberg said of his fellow former Trump campaign aide. He also called Page a “scumbag” and “a weird dude.”
Page responded, telling Fox News’ Sean Hannity that “there’s been a lot of people that have been quite intoxicated for over a year and a half now, so nothing new here.”
During another CNN appearance, host Erin Burnett said she smelled alcohol on Nunberg’s breath and asked if he had been drinking. He said no but elaborated that he had taken his medication, antidepressants, earlier that day.
During a subsequent press briefing, White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders downplayed any knowledge Nunberg may have.
“He hasn’t worked at the White House, so I certainly can’t speak to him or the lack of knowledge that he clearly has,” she said.
Nunberg brought the roadshow back to MSNBC later in the day, this time appearing in person. The segment, at times, resembled an intervention.
“I think your family wants you home for Thanksgiving, and I think you should testify,” MSNBC legal expert Maya Wiley told Nunberg after he maintained his position on the subpoena.
“I’m not going to jail. Do you think I’m going to jail?” he asked the room as MSNBC host Ari Melber closed out the segment.
Nunberg rounded out the day’s media flurry around midnight in an interview with New York Magazine during which he referred to Sanders as a “slob” and Trump as a “fat ass.”
“I’ve been very clear about this,” he said. “They can take down Trump! I don’t care! Take him down! Take him down!”
In a direct attack on the president’s son-in-law and adviser Jared Kushner, Nunberg said that “Trump’s falling is gonna be that Trump is loyal and won’t do anything to his stupid-ass son-in-law, who, by the way, is a thief that stole money from him.”
Nunberg also defended his performance in the Monday night television appearances.
“I think that I was just more of myself in these interviews than I’ve ever been,” he said. “That’s what I think it was.”