Sam Nunberg (born June 21, 1981) is an American public affairs consultant based in Manhattan.[1] He was a political advisor to Donald Trump's 2016 presidential campaign. In March 2018, Nunberg was subpoenaed by a grand jury for testimony and documents relating to the Special Counsel's Russia investigation.[2]
Sam Nunberg | |
|---|---|
| Born | June 21, 1981 |
| Education | McGill University (BA) Touro Law Center (JD) |
| Occupation | Political consultant |
| Political party | Republican |
Early life and education
editNunberg was born to a Jewish family; his mother was a corporate attorney at Wachtell, Lipton and his father was a real estate attorney who worked with Trump attorney Gerald Schrager.[3] He attended the Ramaz School an independent co-educational Modern Orthodox Jewish prep school in the Upper East Side neighborhood of Manhattan.[3] He graduated from McGill University in 2004 with a BA in history, with a senior thesis titled '"Re-Analyzing the Historiography of the Effects of Dollar Diplomacy". While at McGill, he competed globally with the McGill Debating Union.[4] He attended Touro Law Center on Long Island, New York, from 2007 to 2009, graduating in 2009, and was admitted to the New York state bar in 2013.[5]
Career
editWhile volunteering for the Mitt Romney 2008 presidential campaign, Nunberg met and was recruited by attorney Jay Sekulow to volunteer at the American Center for Law & Justice in an attempt to stop the construction of the Park51 mosque.[6] While volunteering there he met political operative Roger Stone, whom he has described as his mentor and "surrogate father".[7][8][9]
Nunberg began working for Trump, as a political and public affairs consultant, in 2011,[10] after Trump decided not to run for president in 2012.[1] Nunberg assisted in the writing of Trump's 2011 speech at the Conservative Political Action Conference.[11]
In February 2014 Nunberg was fired by Trump after he arranged a BuzzFeed interview that ended up being highly critical of Trump; the headline was "36 Hours on The Fake Campaign Trail with Donald Trump."[4][12] Nunberg was rehired in April 2014 and was Trump's first full time hire for the Donald Trump for President 2016 Campaign; he was let go in December for undisclosed reasons. In February 2015 he was once again rehired by Trump, as a communications adviser for the Trump campaign,[13] but was let go, shortly thereafter, by then-campaign manager Corey Lewandowski.[1]
Nunberg was rehired for a fourth time by the campaign in April 2015;[1] between then and the beginning of July he was paid $85,139 (~$107,010 in 2023) by the campaign.[14] Nunberg, along with Stone, helped prepare Trump for the first Republican debate, on August 6, 2015.[15] Nunberg left the campaign in August, 2015 after continued tensions with Lewandowski. In March 2016 Nunberg endorsed Senator Ted Cruz for president, saying that Trump "does not have a coherent political ideology."[4]
In July 2016 Trump sued Nunberg for $10 million (~$12.4 million in 2023), accusing Nunberg of violating a confidentiality agreement by leaking information to the New York Post.[16] In a legal response, Nunberg said that Trump might have illegally funneled corporate money into the campaign.[17] Trump and Nunberg settled their legal dispute in August 2016.[17][18]
March 2018 subpoena and media appearances
edit
On March 5, 2018, Nunberg spoke to multiple cable news outlets and newspaper reporters without the knowledge of his attorney. He said he had been subpoenaed by a grand jury to testify and provide documents relating to Robert Mueller's Russia investigation, including all his email exchanges with Donald Trump, Roger Stone, and eight other people.[19] He insisted he did not intend to comply with the subpoena, saying "Let him (Mueller) arrest me!"[5][19][20] He also had in-person interviews with CNN's Jake Tapper and Erin Burnett[21] and MSNBC's Katy Tur and Ari Melber.[5][22] He later backtracked, saying that he would cooperate fully with the subpoena, while expressing frustration at the large amount of documentation requested.[2] On March 9, 2018 Nunberg testified before a federal grand jury for more than six hours, saying it was his, "duty as an American, whether I like it or not."[23]
Regarding the Mueller investigation, when asked whether he believed that the special counsel may have something on Trump, Nunberg said, "I think they may." He added: "I think that he may have done something during the election. But I don't know that for sure."[24] He also said "I have no knowledge or involvement in Russian collusion or any other inappropriate act" and that: "Donald Trump won this election on his own. He campaigned his ass off. And there is nobody who hates him more than me."[25]
Regarding Trump's former foreign-policy advisor Carter Page, Nunberg said that he believed that Page did collude with the Russians."[26]
References
edit- ^ a b c d Cortellessa, Eric (September 28, 2017). "Jewish aide who helped launch Trump's campaign sees him dropping early positions". The Times of Israel. Retrieved March 6, 2018.
- ^ a b Diamond, Jeremy (March 6, 2018). "Former Trump campaign aide backtracks on Mueller: 'I'm going to cooperate'". CNN. Retrieved March 6, 2018.
- ^ a b Freedlander, David (March 23, 2018). "Sam Nunberg Is Still Talking. Crazy man or chess master? 4 hours with Donald Trump's wildest adviser". Politico. Retrieved November 5, 2018.
- ^ a b c Dunn, Andrew (March 5, 2018). "Who is Sam Nunberg?". CNN. Retrieved March 5, 2018.
- ^ a b c Mak, Tim (March 5, 2018). "Ex-Trump Aide Sam Nunberg Now Says He Is Likely To Cooperate With Mueller Subpoena". NPR. Retrieved March 6, 2018.
- ^ Samuelsohn, Darren (March 5, 2018). "Ex-Trump aide defies Mueller, risks jail". Politico. Retrieved November 5, 2018.
Nunberg also has ties to one of Trump's personal attorneys, Jay Sekulow, who he credits with helping him get his start in campaign politics. Nunberg was working as a volunteer for Mitt Romney's 2008 presidential campaign when he first met Sekulow, who also is the chief counsel of the non-profit American Center for Law & Justice. Sekulow recruited Nunberg to work unpaid in ACLJ's New York office to help stop the construction of a mosque near the World Trade Center site.
- ^ Holmes, Jack (March 6, 2018). "Explaining Sam Nunberg's Bonkers Trump-Russia Interviews". Esquire. Retrieved March 8, 2018.
[Nunberg] continually signaled his intent to protect Stone, whom he characterized at one point as something like a "surrogate father."
- ^ "Sam Nunberg says he thinks Mueller is really focused on Trump's business". The Week. March 5, 2018. Retrieved March 8, 2018.
Throughout the interview, Nunberg, who was fired from President Trump's campaign in 2015, called Stone "a mentor" and "like a surrogate father" to him, and said he refuses to go in front of a grand jury "for them to set up a case against Roger, whatever case it is."
- ^ Gettys, Travis (March 6, 2018). "MSNBC's Morning Joe thinks Nunberg's TV meltdown is a 'smokescreen': 'Trump and Roger Stone would be proud'". The Raw Story. Retrieved March 8, 2018.
Scarborough suspected, however, that Nunberg's bizarre, and possibly alcohol-fueled, outburst was part of a setup to protect his political mentor and "surrogate father," Republican dirty trickster Roger Stone, and his old boss.
- ^ Costa, Robert (March 6, 2018). "The Beatles had Pete Best. Donald Trump had Sam Nunberg". The Washington Post. ISSN 0190-8286. Retrieved March 11, 2018.
- ^ Goldiner, Dave; Boxer, Jeffrey (March 6, 2018). "8 Things To Know About Once And (Maybe) Future Trump Aide Sam Nunberg". The Forward. Retrieved March 10, 2018.
- ^ Diamond, Jeremy (July 31, 2015). "Trump campaign fires staffer over Facebook posts". CNN. Retrieved March 6, 2018.
- ^ Costa, Robert (February 25, 2015). "Trump says he is serious about 2016 bid, is hiring staff and delaying TV gig". The Washington Post. ISSN 0190-8286. Retrieved March 6, 2018.
- ^ Walker, Hunter (July 31, 2015). "Sam Nunberg has a history of provocative and racial Facebook posts". Business Insider. Retrieved March 6, 2018.
- ^ Haberman, Maggie (September 14, 2015). "Today in Politics: Donald Trump Hopes Second Debate Goes Just Like the First". The New York Times. Retrieved March 5, 2018.
- ^ Lee, M. J.; Diamond, Jeremy (July 13, 2016). "Trump sues former campaign aide". CNN. Retrieved March 6, 2018.
- ^ a b Wilkie, Christina; Date, S. V. (July 13, 2016). "Ex-Staffer Alleges Trump Misused Funds, Set Up Fake Company". Huffington Post. Retrieved March 5, 2018.
- ^ Diamond, Jeremy [@JDiamond1] (August 11, 2016). "Trump's general counsel Alan Garten confirms: @realDonaldTrump & @NunbergSam have "amicably" settled $10 million lawsuit Trump filed in July" (Tweet). Retrieved March 6, 2018 – via Twitter.
- ^ a b Tillett, Emily (March 5, 2018). "Ex-Trump aide Sam Nunberg unloads on Mueller, refuses to comply with subpoena". CBS News. Retrieved March 6, 2018.
- ^ Collins, Kaitlan; Liptak, Kevin (March 6, 2018). "Bewildered White House staff watch Sam Nunberg's interviews". CNN. Retrieved March 6, 2018.
- ^ Watkins, Eli (March 5, 2018). "Former Trump aide says he's refusing Mueller subpoena: 'Screw that'". CNN. Retrieved March 6, 2018.
- ^ Calderone, Michael (March 6, 2018). "The Sam Nunberg Show — Pitaro to lead ESPN — Ex-WSJ reporter's ordeal — New NYT politics editor". Politico. Retrieved March 6, 2018.
- ^ Griffiths, Brent D. (March 10, 2018). "Nunberg on grand jury testimony: 'Duty as an American, whether I like it or not'". Politico. Retrieved November 5, 2018.
- ^ Lee, Yen Nee; Calia, Mike; Breuninger, Kevin (March 5, 2018). "Former Trump aide on Mueller probe: 'I think they may' have something on Trump". CNBC. Retrieved March 5, 2018.
- ^ Pappas, Alex (March 5, 2018). "'Let him arrest me': Trump ex-campaign aide Nunberg says he will refuse Mueller's subpoena". Fox News. Retrieved March 5, 2018.
- ^ Solis, Marie (March 5, 2018). "Sam Nunberg was subpoenaed by the Mueller team—then he went off the rails on live TV". Newsweek. Retrieved March 11, 2018.