In a series of interviews with the Washington Post, MSNBC and CNN, Nunberg repeatedly threatened to defy special counsel Robert Mueller's grand jury. | Andrew Harnik/AP Photo Nunberg signals he might cooperate with Mueller after all

Sam Nunberg may end up sitting down with special counsel Robert Mueller’s grand jury after all.

After a half-day of threatening to defy a summons to appear Friday for under-oath questions in the Russia probe, the former Donald Trump presidential campaign adviser said he was reconsidering.


“I’m going to end up cooperating with them,” Nunberg told The Associated Press late Monday. He gave a similar explanation to The Atlantic.

Nunberg has not responded to requests for comment since an interview with POLITICO early Monday afternoon, when he did not mention his intention to defy the grand jury. A spokesman for Mueller declined to comment.

The shift toward cooperation capped a whirlwind few hours for Nunberg, who was fired by Trump less than three months after the launch of his presidential campaign due to racially offensive Facebook posts.

In a series of interviews with The Washington Post, MSNBC and CNN, Nunberg repeatedly threatened to defy the Mueller grand jury, saying he didn’t want to answer questions that would incriminate his political mentor and longtime Trump adviser Roger Stone.

Nunberg also questioned whether he’d face any legal repercussions for failing to appear before a grand jury, a move that legal experts said would expose him to civil charges for contempt and also arrest.

“If Mueller wants to send me to jail, that is a joke,” Nunberg told MSNBC on Monday. “I’ll make a bigger spectacle than I am on your TV right now.”

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As Nunberg’s day progressed, he appeared to show signs that his defiance was waning. While he ignored what he said was a 3 p.m. deadline Monday to comply with a subpoena seeking documents about his communications with Trump and nine other people, he told CNN he’d consider giving investigators his email username and password to let them sift through his inbox.

“I have no problem with giving the emails,” he said Monday night on CNN. In that interview, he also said he was willing to provide his testimony to the grand jury. “I want it to be fair,” he said.

Over the course of his day talking with reporters, Nunberg outed himself as the source of a Mueller subpoena whose details surfaced in media reports over the weekend. He also disobeyed requests from Mueller’s investigators to avoid publicly discussing the five-plus hour interview he gave to the special counsel’s office in Washington last month.

Appearing Tuesday on the Fox Business Network, reporter Charles Gasparino said he’d spoken with Nunberg, who was now “fully cooperating” with Mueller. Gasparino also said Nunberg was planning to enter substance abuse treatment after his grand jury testimony Friday.

“There’s something, and drinking I believe is a big part of it, and that’s what happened yesterday,” Gasparino said. “That’s where the story actually goes from here.”

Nunberg was asked Monday night by CNN host Erin Burnett whether he’d been drinking or using drugs during his interviews. “Talking to you, I have smelled alcohol on your breath,” the anchor said.

“I haven’t had a drink,” Nunberg replied.

“Anything else?” she asked.

“No, no besides my meds," he responded. "Anti-depressants. Is that okay?”

While Trump aides struggled Tuesday to address Nunberg’s actions, law enforcement experts warned he was on dangerous terrain. Joyce Vance, a former Obama-appointed U.S. attorney in northern Alabama, said Mueller has plenty of resources he could use to bring in Nunberg if he didn’t cooperate.

“Our system is a rule-of-law system, where no man is above the law,” Vance said. “That means we don't let potential witnesses decide who they will and won't testify about, based on whether they think someone is guilty or a mentor/friend they want to protect.”

“If Mueller's grand jury wants to hear Mr. Nunberg's testimony, they've got plenty of tools at their disposal to ensure they hear it," Vance said.

