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'I think it would be funny if they arrested me': Former Trump campaign aide melts down on TV amid Mueller subpoena

Former top Trump aide Sam Nunberg said that he will refuse to appear before a federal grand jury investigating Russian interference in the 2016 election.

  • Former top Trump campaign aide Sam Nunberg said on Monday that he will refuse to cooperate with a subpoena to appear before a federal grand jury investigating Russian interference in the 2016 election.
  • Nunberg called the special counsel's request "absolutely ridiculous" and said he would not participate with a "witch hunt."
  • But Nunberg said he thinks President Donald Trump "may have done something during the election" that the special counsel's team could use against him.

A former top adviser to President Donald Trump said on Monday that he will refuse to appear before a federal grand jury investigating Russian interference in the 2016 election.

The adviser, Sam Nunberg, provided The Washington Post with a two-page subpoena from special counsel Robert Mueller requesting that he turn over documents, including emails and other communications, related to Trump and nine other people.

Those other individuals include former Trump adviser Roger Stone, former White House chief strategist Steve Bannon, White House communications director Hope Hicks, and former Trump campaign aide Corey Lewandowski, Nunberg said.

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Nunberg called the special counsel's request "absolutely ridiculous" and said he would not cooperate with a "witch hunt" that could harm Stone, whom he described as his "mentor."

"I'm not going to cooperate when they want me to come into a grand jury for them to insinuate that Roger Stone was colluding with Julian Assange," Nunberg told MSNBC on Monday afternoon. "Roger is my mentor. Roger is like family to me. I'm not going to do it."

Nunberg, who was fired by the Trump campaign, argued that the task of collecting all of his communications over the last couple of years with the former Trump campaign advisers was too arduous and suggested that they are irrelevant to Mueller's investigation.

"What does Bob Mueller need to see my emails when I send Roger and Steve clips and we talk about how much we hate people?" he asked. "I'm not a fan of Donald Trump ... but here, when I get a subpoena like this, Mr. Trump's right — it's a witch hunt."

He then said it would be humorous if he was arrested for refusing to comply with the law.

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"I think it would be really, really funny if they wanted to arrest me because I don't want to spend 80 hours going over emails I had with Steve Bannon and Roger Stone," he told MSNBC.

But when MSNBC host Katy Tur asked Nunberg if he thinks Mueller has any evidence of wrongdoing by Trump, Nunberg said "he may."

"I think they may," he said. "I think he may have done something during the election."

Nunberg reiterated how much he "hates" Trump during another interview on CNN on Monday afternoon, saying that the president treated him "like crap."

CNN reporter Kaitlan Collins tweeted shortly after Nunberg's interviews that West Wing officials called the interviews, which they listened to "with rapt attention," "bizarre and nuts."

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Stone told CNN on Monday afternoon that he had expected "that Mueller's team would at some point ask for any documents or emails sent or written by me." But he added that he has "no knowledge or involvement in Russian Collusion or any other inappropriate act."

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