Former Trump campaign aide Sam Nunberg called the Washington Post to tell them that he was refusing to cooperate with a subpoena from the grand jury that called on him to gather up all his Trump-related emails and text messages, and bring them to court this Friday. Then Nunberg engaged on a multi-channel, multi-interview semi-coherent spree that can only be described as a digital version of OJ’s white Bronco ride.
First he called MSNBC, where a determinedly calm Katy Tur spoke with the political consultant as if he was phoning in from a ledge … which seems entirely possible. Then Nunberg called CNN. And before the political panel on that side of the dial had time to digest the contents of the first call, Nunberg was on the phone again with Jake Tapper. Over the course of this multi-hour mental disintegration, Nunberg let slip some genuinely fantastic bits of information.
For example, on CNN Nunberg claimed that the pee tape wasn’t real. It wasn’t real because, even though Nunberg said that during that Miss Universe weekend in Moscow, Emin Agalarov did try to send prostitutes up to Trump’s room, “Trump is too smart to have women come up to his room.” And Nunberg named Trump’s bodyguard Keith Schiller as the source of this information. In other words, Nunberg says that Keith Schiller admitted everything in the pee tape was real, except the pee. And the reason was that Donald Trump was “too smart.”
Nunberg also had a nugget for MSNBC, offering up his vision for how a Roger Stone-Sam Nunberg managed version of the Trump campaign would have had “Bill Clinton’s accusers” at the first debate and “Bill Clinton’s illegitimate black child” at the second.
The combined effect of Nunberg’s calls was to give the impression of a man who had utterly lost any sense of what he was saying or why his position was so far over the edge. Nunberg repeatedly seemed to be seeking advice from anchors, with statements like “Do you think I should cooperate?” and “What do you think Mueller will do?”
But the one factor that was universal across all Nunberg’s “interviews,” was that his real concern wasn’t Donald Trump, or even himself. It was that he didn’t want to turn over his emails to Roger Stone, because Mueller would “make a case against Roger.” Which certainly suggests that Sam Nunberg’s email is absolutely full of things that would land Roger Stone in jail.
Since Nunberg was invited to come in and bring his emails, it seems unlikely that he’s a target of the jury himself. But his concern for “mentor” Roger Stone, along with an equal concern for Steve Bannon, came through at every moment.
As for everyone else, Nunberg was more than happy to line up the buses and start tossing.
Carter Page?
"I think Carter Page colluded with the Russians."
Lewandowski? Hicks?
“I despise Corey, why would I communicate with him? And Hope Hicks, who was having an affair with Corey?”
How about Donald Trump?
"I think they may. I think that he may have done something during the election." …
“Trump may have well done something during the election.”
At this moment, White House officials have to be frantically whipping through the channels, wondering where Nunberg is going to turn up next. Animal Planet? Weather Channel? Because there seems little doubt that he’s anxious to keep talking, and based on the stories he’s already spilled, the longer he talks, the better.
But in the meantime, it might be worth sending over a US marshal to be sure that while he’s chatting, Nunberg isn’t shredding his hard drives. And maybe a psychiatrist to make sure he’s not slicing something else.