Judge Napolitano: Nunberg Could Be Jailed for Refusing Grand Jury Testimony

If former Trump campaign aide Sam Nunberg does end up refusing to testify before a grand jury in special counsel Robert Mueller's investigation into Russian election meddling, he could be put in jail for as long as the grand jury remains convened, Judge Andrew Napolitano said Tuesday.

"He will be brought before a judge and the judge will say, 'Hey, Mr. Nunberg, you are a lawyer. Do I really have to explain this to you?'" Napolitano, who is Fox News' senior judicial analyst, told "Fox & Friends."

"They have the right to bring you before the grand jury. If you are not going to go we have a place can you stay."

Monday afternoon, Nunberg gave a series of interviews to MSNBC and CNN, making accusations against President Donald Trump and threatening that he would defy Mueller over his request to appear before a grand jury and surrender thousands of emails with key people involved in the Trump campaign.

He was particularly incensed at being asked to surrender communications between himself and Roger Stone, who he called his "mentor."

However, later in the evening he predicted to The Associated Press that he would "end up cooperating."

Napolitano said that actually Mueller already has Nunberg's emails, and what he was saying was that he did not want to "sit in front of a grand jury a couple of days" and explain each email.

"Why he did what he did yesterday, I don't know, unless he wanted to discredit himself," said Napolitano. "Basically, here is a guy Donald Trump hired and fired twice."

He also noted that Mueller's prosecutors and a team of FBI agents interviewed Nunberg three weeks ago, and after that, he was apparently ready to agree to testify before a grand jury.

"Yesterday, he started saying no," said Napolitano. "He was all over the place. He was on every network but here."

Meanwhile, Napolitano said he does believe Mueller's probe is ramping up.

"I believe the president remains in his crosshairs" he said. "Some of the new things we have learned have come from Rick Gates who has been a treasure trove, once he pleaded guilty and became part of Mueller's prosecutorial team."

• Schiff May Ask Nunberg to Testify for House Intel Committee
• Mueller to Call Former Trump Aide Nunberg for Interview