Sam Nunberg
Sam Nunberg | |
|---|---|
| Born | June 21, 1981 |
| Education | McGill University (BA) Touro Law Center (JD) |
| Occupation | Political consultant |
| Political party | Republican |
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]
Early life and education
[edit | edit source]Nunberg 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 on the Upper East Side 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
[edit | edit source]While 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 was 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 campaign,[13] but was let go shortly thereafter by 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 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, 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 | edit source]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
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- 1981 births
- Living people
- 20th-century American Jews
- First Trump administration personnel
- Donald Trump 2016 presidential campaign
- People associated with the 2016 United States presidential election
- Ramaz School alumni
- McGill University alumni
- Touro Law Center alumni
- New York (state) Republicans
- 21st-century American Jews
- Roger Stone