Former Trump campaign aide Sam Nunberg said that he would cooperate with a subpoena from special counsel Robert Mueller after insisting that he would not comply with the order.
“I’m going to end up cooperating with them,” he told The Associated Press.
Nunberg’s apparent capitulation came after he spent most of Monday declaring in a series of media interviews that he would defy the subpoena from Mueller, who is investigating Russian election interference and possible collusion between the Trump campaign and Moscow.
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Nunberg questioned repeatedly in interviews why he should have to comply with the subpoena and made a number of unverified claims, including that former Trump campaign adviser Carter Page conspired with the Russians during the 2016 presidential race.
He also suggested in an interview with MSNBC that President Trump himself “may have done something during the election,” but acknowledged that he wasn’t certain.
If Nunberg were to refuse to comply with the subpoena, he could be held in contempt, a charge that carries a range of possible repercussions, such as a fine or possibly jail time.
Even the possibility of jail time did not seem to phase Nunberg, who said on MSNBC on Monday that he thought it would be “funny” if he was arrested for his refusal to comply with the subpoena.
The White House brushed off Nunberg’s suggestions of collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia on Monday, underscoring the fact that he has never worked in the White House and has no inside knowledge of the matter.
“He hasn’t worked at the White House, so I certainly can’t speak to him or the lack of knowledge that he clearly has,” White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said at a press briefing.
Updated at 7:22 a.m.