Former Trump campaign aide Sam Nunberg had a week that might give you whiplash just thinking about it, reports CNN.
He arrived at District Court in Washington, D.C. Friday morning and will reportedly give federal grand jury testimony for special counsel Robert Mueller’s ongoing investigation. He is the first recognizable Trump campaign affiliate to use the main entrance to enter the courthouse when arriving to that courthouse; everyone else has avoided making a public appearance. However, neither he nor his lawyer spoke to the press on their way in.
Leading up to his testimony on Friday, it wasn’t clear whether he would testify willingly. A federal subpoena requires that he testify in Mueller’s investigation, but he said in several interviews on Monday that he planned to defy that subpoena. He was quite clear about his refusal, saying, “Donald Trump caused this because he’s an idiot” and “screw that… I’m not cooperating. Arrest me. You want to arrest me? Arrest me.” The main reason he cited for planning to refuse to testify was that he thought the investigators would try to get him to impugn his mentor and controversial Trump ally Roger Stone.
“They want me to say that Roger was going around telling people he was colluding with Julian Assange,” Nunberg said Monday.
Stone seemed to predict in the 2016 election that something damaging would surface on WikiLeaks about Hillary Clinton. In 2017, the US intelligence community verified Russian intelligence gave the hacked emails to WikiLeaks, despite the fact that Assange continues to deny it.
By Tuesday, however, Nunberg’s attitude seemed to have taken a full 180. He told CNN he’d “cooperate with whatever they want.” He did maintain that he did not collude with Russia, knew nothing about the details of the WikiLeaks issues, and never talked in detail about the emails with President Trump.
Mueller’s grand jury reportedly meets on a regular basis, which could be weekly or even more frequently. As is standard, 16 to 23 individuals serve on the federal grand jury and review all evidence and case files, ask witnesses questions under oath and make the decision whether the prosecutors have enough evidence to bring a criminal case against witnesses.
Indictments have been made so far against former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort, his deputy Rick Gates and 13 Russians “who allegedly used stolen identities to influence the presidential election through social media.”