A former political aide to Donald Trump is going to be interviewed Thursday by Robert Mueller as part of the special counsel’s investigation of Russian meddling in the 2016 election, according to two officials.
Sam Nunberg first started working for Trump in 2011 as one of his earliest political advisers. However, he was fired in 2016 before the 2016 presidential race was in full swing.
A week before Nunberg’s interview in Washington with the special counsel, Mueller questioned President Trump’s former chief strategist Steve Bannon. Nunberg reportedly visited Bannon in the West Wing and considers him a close friend.
Nunberg’s attorney, Patrick Brackley declined to comment.
According to Reuters, Mueller’s investigation arose in part from the findings of U.S. intelligence agencies that Russia had meddled in the election and that its goals eventually included aiding Trump who won a surprise victory over Democrat Hillary Clinton. Russia denies the allegations while Trump says there was no collusion between Moscow and his campaign.
Several associates of Trump, as well as a dozen Russians, have already been charged by Mueller.
Nunberg was dismissed months into the presidential campaign as a result of a Business Insider report that showed he had written racially- charged Facebook posts in 2007. Nunberg told Business Insider he did not remember writing them and apologized.
He was later sued by Trump for breaking a confidentiality agreement. Trump sought damages of $10 million. The lawsuit was settled in August 2016 and the one-page filing in a New York court did not provide details of the terms.
Reuters also reports that Nunberg said in a court filing in the case that Trump accused him of being the source for a media report about an argument between two other Trump campaign aides, Corey Lewandowski and Hope Hicks. Nunberg still denies being the source for the media report.
A lawyer for the Trump Organization at the time deemed Nunberg’s allegations “categorically untrue.”
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