Trump Sues Former Campaign Aide for $10M
Donald Trump is seeking $10 million in damages from his former senior political advisor, Sam Nunberg, for violating a nondisclosure agreement.
In a court filing obtained by The Associated Press on Wednesday, Nunberg accuses Trump of trying to silence him “in a misguided attempt to cover up media coverage of an apparent affair” between senior campaign staffers, as reported by the New York Post.
“Mr. Trump’s actions in starting a $10 million arbitration, seeking to silence Mr. Nunberg and have the proceedings sealed, are a cautionary tale of what the American people face if Mr. Trump is elected president,” Andrew Miltenberg, Nunberg’s attorney, was quoted as saying.
Nunberg’s lawsuit argues that Trump’s arbitration claim is invalid because it was brought by an exploratory group Trump formed for his 2012 campaign, “which has nothing to do with the Trump Campaign’s activities in the 2016 presidential campaign cycle.”
“The Trump Campaign was not in existence prior to or at the time of the agreement, and Mr. Nunberg did not agree or intend that it apply to any future entity such as the Trump Campaign,” the complaint reads, according to AP.
Trump fired his Jewish political advisor last August after Business Insider revealed past racially-charged Facebook posts. Nunberg allegedly wrote racially-charged and disparaging political posts dating back to 2007, including one calling Rev. Al Sharpton’s daughter a “N—!” and President Barack Obama a “Socialist Marxist Islamo Fascist Nazi Appeaser.”
Nunberg denied he wrote the posts. “Anything that was posted under my name does not mean I posted it,” he told CNN at the time. “I would also point out that all of these things were done before Mr. Trump’s campaign, if I even did them — which I deny.”
In April, Nunberg endorsed Ted Cruz, Trump’s then chief primary opponent, for president. He told Politico that Trump’s failure to immediately disavow David Duke’s endorsement and lack of understanding on foreign policy issues were the “last straws” that convinced him not to support his former boss for president.
In the court filings, Nunberg accused the presumptive Republican nominee of attempting to “bully” him into silence after he decided to publicly support Cruz’s presidential bid.