Skip To Content
JEWISH. INDEPENDENT. NONPROFIT.
Fast Forward

Ex-Trump Aide Sam Nunberg Dares Robert Mueller To Jail Him In Disjointed Interviews

Former Trump campaign aide Sam Nunberg says he will not comply with orders from special counsel Robert Muller to appear in front of a federal grand jury investigating Russia’s interference in the 2016 presidential election. He also refuses to hand over any documents.

Nunberg, who was dismissed by Trump early on in the campaign, provided the Washington Post with a copy of the two-page grand jury subpoena seeking documents related to President Trump, including emails, telephone logs and “records of any kind.”

Adding that he plans to tear up the subpoena, Nunberg said, “let him arrest me. Mr. Mueller should understand I am not going in on Friday.”

Although he initially repeated his claim that there was no collusion between Trump’s team and the Russians he later told MSNBC in a rambling interview that: “(Trump) may have done something during the election. I don’t know that for sure.”

Nunberg, who also spoke twice to CNN, offered no legal or political reason for his refusal, which would likely result in his being charged with contempt. He made a point of noting that he has long since stopped supporting Trump.

“I’m not spending 80 hours going over my emails with Roger Stone and Steve Bannon and producing them,” Nunberg said. “Donald Trump won this election on his own. He campaigned his ass off. And there is nobody who hates him more than me.”

In an evening appearance on Erin Burnett’s CNN show, Nunberg denied reports that he had been drinking and rebuffed her claim that she smelled alcohol on his breath.

He blamed it all on unnamed enemies within the Trump orbit.

“What’s he at 38%?” Nunberg asked, referring to Trump’s approval rating. “He’d be at 55 if Roger (Stone) and me were in there.”

Contact Haley Cohen at [email protected]

A message from our Publisher & CEO Rachel Fishman Feddersen

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.

We’ve set a goal to raise $260,000 by December 31. That’s an ambitious goal, but one that will give us the resources we need to invest in the high quality news, opinion, analysis and cultural coverage that isn’t available anywhere else.

If you feel inspired to make an impact, now is the time to give something back. Join us as a member at your most generous level.

—  Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO

With your support, we’ll be ready for whatever 2025 brings.

Republish This Story

Please read before republishing

We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free, unless it originated with JTA, Haaretz or another publication (as indicated on the article) and as long as you follow our guidelines. You must credit the Forward, retain our pixel and preserve our canonical link in Google search.  See our full guidelines for more information, and this guide for detail about canonical URLs.

To republish, copy the HTML by clicking on the yellow button to the right; it includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to the Forward. It does not include images; to avoid copyright violations, you must add them manually, following our guidelines. Please email us at [email protected], subject line “republish,” with any questions or to let us know what stories you’re picking up.

We don't support Internet Explorer

Please use Chrome, Safari, Firefox, or Edge to view this site.