A former Trump campaign aide arrived Friday at the federal courthouse in Washington for a scheduled grand jury appearance days after he defiantly insisted in a series of news interviews that he intended to defy a subpoena in special counsel Robert Mueller’s Russia investigation.
Sam Nunberg did not respond to reporters’ questions as he entered court shortly after 9 a.m.
Nunberg on Monday had balked at complying with a subpoena that sought his appearance before a grand jury as well as correspondence with multiple other campaign officials.
He’s here: Sam Nunberg, left, arrives at the U.S. District Courthouse to appear before a grand jury – despite his insistence earlier in the week he would defy Robert Mueller’s probe
Defiant – and drunk: Sam Nunberg said he would seek therapy after his round of media appearances on Monday which included CNN’s Erin Burnett telling him she could smell alcohol. He denied it but a friend, Charles Gasparino of Fox Business Network, said drink had fueled his series of interviews
Sam Nunberg was seen leaving CNN’s New York studios after a marathon day of interviews Monday in which he said he would not cooperate with Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s probe
But later that night, Nunberg told The Associated Press that he had relented and would wind up complying after all. He said he had worked for hours to produce the thousands of emails and other communications requested by Mueller, who is investigating whether the Trump campaign improperly coordinated with Russia during the 2016 presidential election.
‘I thought it was a teachable moment,’ he said of his 24 hours in the limelight.
So far, 19 people and three companies have been charged in Mueller’s investigation. Among them are Trump’s former campaign chairman and the former White House national security adviser. Five people have pleaded guilty.
Nunberg said Wednesday that he had turned over everything to Mueller after his wild media blitz earlier this week when he insisted he would not cooperate with the Russia probe and even threw down the challenge to ‘arrest me’.
‘I’m not holding anything back,’ Nunberg said in an interview with WABC Radio on Wednesday.
‘[Complying with the subpoena] was much easier to do than I initially thought.’
Nunberg said he had given Mueller’s investigators copies of requested communications, including texts and emails with 10 campaign associates.
He said he met the Wednesday night deadline imposed by the subpoena.
‘I’m not going to take the fifth on anything, because I don’t need to take the fifth on anything,’ Nunberg said.
‘I’m not going to give them the excuse to throw me into jail because I won’t respond to a question… I’m going to answer every single question.’
Nunberg also insisted he wasn’t drunk during a series of car crash interviews when he threatened to defy the subpoena.
It comes after he revealed he was considering alcohol abuse treatment after attacking everyone from Mueller to the president himself on Monday night.
‘I’m a little worried about me,’ Nunberg told the New York Daily News, before promising to reveal more ‘next week’.
Nunberg said on Wednesday that he had given Mueller’s investigators copies of requested communications, including texts and emails with 10 campaign associates
One of the most eyebrow raising interviews of Sam Nunberg’s (left) media blitz happened on the CNN show Erin Burnett (right) Out Front on Monday
NOT DRUNK: When CNN’s Erin Burnett (right) confronted Sam Nunberg (left) and said she could smell alcohol on his breath, the former Trump aide said he hadn’t had a drink on Monday
‘I got carried away,’ he said. ‘I’m trying to just get this over with.’
‘I made my point, I got my venting out. Let me just give them what they want because there’s nothing there anyway.’
Nunberg repeatedly complained during the interviews that he had been asked to comb through emails to top campaign officials for Mueller’s probe.
‘They wanted every email I had with Roger Stone and with Steve Bannon,’ he said, referencing longtime informal adviser Stone and Trump’s former chief White House strategist.
‘Why should I hand them e-mails from November 1, 2015?’ Nunberg added, revealing the timeline Mueller imposed.
‘I’m not going to cooperate when they want me to have – when they want me to come in to a grand jury, for them to insinuate that Roger Stone was colluding with Julian Assange. Roger is my mentor. Roger is like family to me. I’m not going to do it.’
Nunberg’s defiance could have led to contempt of court charges or jail time, but the former aide said multiple times that he doubted he would ever be sent to prison.
But now, Nunberg said he will ‘tell the truth’ when he appears before Mueller’s grand jury on Friday.
Fox Business Network’s Charlie Gasparino confirmed Trump’s former aide will cooperate with Mueller and then ‘seek treatment for what ails him’.
Gasparino, who described Nunberg as a ‘friend’, said he believes ‘drinking…is a big part of it and that’s what happened [Monday]’.
The news will come as little surprise to many who had been following Nunberg’s outbursts, which even prompted CNN’s Erin Burnett to tell the aide on live television that she could smell alcohol on his breath.
Nunberg denied that he had been drinking and, even after admitting he may seek treatment, has still not confirmed whether he was drunk during the interviews.
But the former communications adviser seemed to hint that he has been troubled since getting fired from Trump’s campaign in August 2015 for racially-charged Facebook posts.
‘I was very close to Donald Trump,’ Nunberg told New York Daily News.
‘I was heavily invested in that campaign. I wasn’t very good after getting fired.’