--- title: Sam Nunberg: Russia Probe Is Not a 'Witch Hunt' description: Former Donald Trump campaign aide Sam Nunberg told ABC News Robert Mueller's investigation is not a "witch hunt" and there's "a lot there." canonical: https://time.com/5194406/sam-nunberg-mueller-investigaton/ author: Jamie Ducharme article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2018-03-10T17:36:12.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-04T07:53:33.480Z article:section: Politics og:title: Sam Nunberg: Russia Probe Is Not a 'Witch Hunt' og:description: 'There's a lot there' og:url: https://time.com/5194406/sam-nunberg-mueller-investigaton/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt5db4f0f3f2f4c576/69892a694ee2629a5a31127b/sam-nunberg.jpeg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 5000 og:image:height: 2813 og:image:alt: Former Trump Campaign Aide Sam Nunberg Appears For Mueller's Grand Jury og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Sam Nunberg: Russia Probe Is Not a 'Witch Hunt' twitter:description: 'There's a lot there' twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt5db4f0f3f2f4c576/69892a694ee2629a5a31127b/sam-nunberg.jpeg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Former Trump Aide Sam Nunberg: Russia Probe Is Not a 'Witch Hunt' > Sponsored content. 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Brief is TIME's Washington newsletter, written by senior correspondent Philip Elliott. It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, three times a week. It reaches 85,000 subscribers with a 37.0% open rate as of August 2026. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters. ## Video: Former Trump Campaign Aide Now Says He'll Likely Cooperate With the Russia Probe [Watch (HLS stream): Former Trump Campaign Aide Now Says He'll Likely Cooperate With the Russia Probe](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/bv6T6ErY.m3u8) (0:38)  _Published 2018-03-06. A former Trump campaign aide spent much of Monday promising to defy a subpoena from special counsel Robert Mueller, even throwing down the challenge to “arrest me,” then backed off his defiance by saying he would probably cooperate in the end._  by [Jamie Ducharme](https://time.com/author/jamie-ducharme/)  ## Jamie Ducharme Ducharme is a contributor to TIME. Mar 10, 2018 5:36 PM UTC  Sam Nunberg exits federal court in Washington, D.C., on Friday, March 9. Sam Nunberg exits federal court in Washington, D.C., on Friday, March 9. Bloomberg—Bloomberg via Getty Images  by [Jamie Ducharme](https://time.com/author/jamie-ducharme/)  ## Jamie Ducharme Ducharme is a contributor to TIME. Mar 10, 2018 5:36 PM UTC Days after a [string of bizarre media appearances](http://time.com/5186737/sam-nunberg-testify-subpoena-arrest-trump-mueller-russia-probe/), former Donald Trump campaign aide Sam Nunberg [told ABC News](http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/trump-aide-speaks-mueller-russia-probe-witch-hunt/story?id=53650541) that Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into possible collusion between the campaign and Russia is not a “witch hunt.” “No, I don’t think it’s a witch hunt. There’s a lot ‘there’ there, and that’s the sad truth,” Nunberg told ABC, before adding, “I don’t believe it leads to the president.” Nunberg maintained during the interview that he had never personally worked with anyone who was “unethical,” including his boss and mentor, former campaign aide Roger Stone, who has denied any wrongdoing. Nonetheless, Nunberg said he is “very worried” about Stone. Nunberg also said he believes Russian President Vladimir Putin is “really taking advantage of the president.” Nunberg, who was fired from the campaign in August 2015, testified before a grand jury for more than five hours on Friday, answering questions, he said, on topics including whether he heard Russian spoken in the office, and why Trump supported Putin in Syria. The testimony came after he [threatened to ignore his subpoena](http://time.com/5187885/stephen-colbert-sam-nunberg-cable-new-takeover/) during several media interviews. When speaking with ABC News, however, [Nunberg struck a different tone](http://time.com/5187176/sam-nunberg-trump-robert-mueller/). “People say I had a meltdown on TV. I melted TV down that day,” he said. “I wanted to show what this independent counsel, this independent investigation, does to people like me. I was going to always comply with arriving today. I’m an attorney, that’s the first thing, and this is my duty as an American to do this, whether I like it or not.” ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/5194406/sam-nunberg-mueller-investigaton/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/5194406/sam-nunberg-mueller-investigaton/"},"headline":"Former Trump Aide Sam Nunberg: Russia Probe Is Not a 'Witch Hunt'","datePublished":"2018-03-10T17:36:12.000Z","dateModified":"2026-08-04T07:53:33.480Z","description":"'There's a lot there'","url":"https://time.com/5194406/sam-nunberg-mueller-investigaton/","keywords":["Russia Investigation","onetime"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt5db4f0f3f2f4c576/69892a694ee2629a5a31127b/sam-nunberg.jpeg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Jamie Ducharme","jobTitle":"Ducharme is a contributor to TIME.","url":"https://time.com/author/jamie-ducharme/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt5db4f0f3f2f4c576/69892a694ee2629a5a31127b/sam-nunberg.jpeg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Former Trump Campaign Aide Sam Nunberg Appears For Mueller's Grand Jury","caption":"Former Trump Campaign Aide Sam Nunberg Appears For Mueller's Grand Jury","creditText":"Bloomberg—Bloomberg via Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/russia-investigation/","name":"Russia Investigation"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/5194406/sam-nunberg-mueller-investigaton/","name":"Former Trump Aide Sam Nunberg: Russia Probe Is Not a 'Witch Hunt'"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"Former Trump Campaign Aide Now Says He'll Likely Cooperate With the Russia Probe","description":"A former Trump campaign aide spent much of Monday promising to defy a subpoena from special counsel Robert Mueller, even throwing down the challenge to “arrest me,” then backed off his defiance by saying he would probably cooperate in the end.","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/bv6T6ErY/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2018-03-06T03:52:22.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/bv6T6ErY.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/5194406/sam-nunberg-mueller-investigaton/","duration":"PT38S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/5194406/sam-nunberg-mueller-investigaton/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```