The largest media spectacle on Monday, by far, was former Trump campaign aide Sam Nunberg’s rapid meltdown as he furiously jumped from cable news show to cable news show to taunt Special Counsel Robert Mueller for issuing him a subpoena. And in the midst of his whirlwind afternoon and evening, concerns from his friends began to surface questioning his mental state. It all came to a head on CNN’s OutFront where host Erin Burnett admitted that she could smell alcohol on his breath.
“So Sam, I have to ask you one other thing … And it's an awkward question to ask.,” Burnett prefaced to Nunberg’s excitement. “We talked earlier about what people in the White House were saying about you. Talking about whether you were drinking or on drugs or whatever had happened today. Talking to you, I have smelled alcohol on your breath.”
Nunberg denied the charge but Burnett gave him another opportunity to answer. “Because it is the talk out there. Again, I know it's awkward. Let me give you the question so you can categorically answer that. Have you had a drink today,” she asked again.
As Nunberg continued to push back on claims that he had been drinking or taking illicit drugs, he did admit that he was on anti-depressants. “Is that okay,” he asked Burnett. She went on the defensive, possibly not wanting to seem like she was judging him. “I mean; I’m not -- I'm just trying to understand what happened today,” she said as her guest began to again smear the White House.
Burnett’s admission that she had smelled alcohol on Nunberg’s breath gave credence to a Daily Beast article published in the midst of his cable news barnstorm that raised serious questions about his sobriety.
“‘What The F*ck?’ former Trump aide Sam Nunberg’s Mueller meltdown leaves friends petrified,” The Beast headline read as they quoted friends and associates worried about him. According to the article, Nunberg spent the morning calling friends to tell them he would not comply with Mueller’s subpoena. “Three Nunberg friends said they walked away from those conversations fearful that he was ‘drinking again’ and was about to embark on a personal tailspin,” The Beast reported.
“One associate urged Nunberg, a witness in Mueller’s probe, not to do anything stupid and to go to his parents’ house immediately. According to this source, Nunberg promptly hung up,” The Beast wrote. “Minutes later, the former Trump campaign aide was on MSNBC via phone, starting a mid-Monday media blitz that would include several different shows on CNN and MSNBC.”
If it’s true that Nunberg wasn’t in a stable state of mind when CNN and MSNBC allowed him on the air (both in person and over the phone), then it raises additional serious ethical questions about how those outlets are run since they took advantage of an unbalanced man. The spectacle was also a major highlight on all three network evening news broadcasts. Not only did was he taunting Mueller to arrest him, he was also pushing conspiracies that Mueller had a possible case against Trump for collusion. It’s the liberal media’s favorite topic and possible motivation.
Transcript below, click expand to read:
CNN
Erin Burnett OutFront
March 5, 2018
7:40:27 PM Eastern(…)
ERIN BURNETT: So Sam, I have to ask you one other thing.
SAM NUNBERG: Yes, ma’am!
BURNETT: And it's an awkward question to ask. But, I’ve interviewed you before, you're sitting very close to me. We talked earlier about what people in the White House were saying about you. Talking about whether you were drinking or on drugs or whatever had happened today. Talking to you, I have smelled alcohol on your breath.
NUNBERG: Well, I have not had a drink.
BURNETT: You haven't had a drink. So, that’s not true?
NUNBERG: No.
BURNETT: So, I – I-- Because it is the talk out there. Again, I know it's awkward. Let me give you the question so you can categorically answer that. Have you had a drink today?
NUNBERG: My answer is no, I have not.
BURNETT: Anything else?
NUNBERG: No.
BURNETT: No?
NUNBERG: No. Besides my meds.
BURNETT: Okay.
NUNBERG: Anti-depressants. Is that okay?
BURNETT: I mean; I’m not -- I'm just trying to understand what happened today.
NUNBERG: Well, look. Well, look. They can say whatever they want. I don’t really care. Once again, they’re pathetic.
(…)
