Sam Nunberg says he would believe the president over his former attorney on knowledge of Russia meeting.
ADVERTISEMENTWASHINGTON — Former Trump adviser Sam Nunberg on Sunday said that he is more inclined to believe President Trump and Donald Trump Jr. over any assertions from Trump's former lawyer Michael Cohen about the June 2016 meeting with a Russian lawyer in Trump Tower.
"I would believe Don Jr. and the president in light of learning that Michael was taping conversations, the way Michael was conducting himself behind the scenes, and in front of all of us," Nunberg said on Sunday's "Meet The Press."
Nunberg worked for years with both Trump and Cohen and briefly served on the Trump campaign, but was fired in August 2015.
Cohen is prepared to tell special counsel Robert Mueller that Trump himself knew in advance about the controversial Trump Tower meeting involving Trump Jr. and other top campaign officials, a source told NBC News earlier this week.
For more than a year, both the president and his son have adamantly denied that Trump was aware of the meeting at the time.
"Under normal circumstances," Nunberg said, Trump would have known about a meeting like this." But Nunberg said Cohen's decision to record conversations makes him inclined to believe Trump's version of events.
"Specifically now, and in light of learning, one that Michael was taping the president, two, that he doesn't have a tape of this, I would believe the president," he said.
Nunberg added that he doesn't believe the president has obstructed Mueller's investigation into the Trump campaign and Russian attempts to interfere with the 2016 election.
"He understands now that he cannot fire Robert Mueller, he cannot fire Jeff Sessions, he cannot fire Rod Rosenstein because that would go down the Watergate model, and that is what they're going down to ultimately get his impeachment," he said.
Nunberg also criticized the varying responses from the White House when news of the Trump Tower meeting first broke last year, saying, "I had a feeling they weren't being clear and they were making a mountain out of a mole hill."