Sam Nunberg, the campaign adviser to Donald Trump who was fired last weekend, has written an apology letter to the Rev. Al Sharpton for a 2007 Facebook post that includes a racial slur directed at the minister’s daughter.
In an apology letter, Nunberg asks Sharpton for forgiveness.
“I know you are a man of God who believes in forgiveness and redemption,” Nunberg wrote. “Even though it was eight years ago and I have no recollection of writing such thing, it was on my account and therefore I apologize. I humbly ask for your forgiveness.”
On Friday, Business Insider reported that Nunberg’s personal Facebook page included a typo-filled August 2007 post that said “meeting Rev. Sharpton, no joke – he will tell him that his daughter is N—-!”
Nunberg said Monday the post was “disgusting” and “inexcusable.”
“I am writing regarding a Facebook post that was reportedly posted to my account in 2007, more than eight years ago,” he began in his letter to Sharpton. “I have no memory of writing it and am not saying I did. The post however allegedly said a disgusting, inexcusable reference to your daughter.”
The Daily Caller left a message on Sharpton’s cell phone Monday requesting comment about Nunberg’s apology.
Sharpton has not yet responded, but told The New York Times: “Trump did the right thing and the guy did the right thing to admit he was wrong and apologize.”
On Sunday, Trump’s campaign manager, Corey Lewandowski, announced Nunberg’s firing.
“Effective immediately, low level part-time consultant, Sam Nunberg is no longer associated with the Donald J. Trump for President campaign,” he said.
In-fighting is common inside the Trump campaign and allies of Nunberg are convinced Lewandowski was actively trying to undermine the communications adviser, according to sources with knowledge of the campaign.
They point out how Lewandowski actively spread the news of Nunberg’s firing to reporters Sunday. (The New York Times wrote that Lewandowski “reached out to a New York Times reporter on Sunday to reveal the news.”)
“This was an orchestrated hit,” one campaign insider surmised to TheDC. “The campaign manager and Nunberg have clashed from the beginning.”
But in an interview Monday, Lewandowski “unequivocally” denied having any role in digging up the post on Nunberg.
“If you think I have time to go through people’s Facebook posts from 2007, you’ve clearly never run a top-tier presidential campaign,” Lewandowski said.
Lewandowski referred questions to Business Insider.
“If you’d check with the person who found the posts, who wrote the story, they will unequivocally, on the record, tell you that,” Lewandowski said.
Hunter Walker, the political editor of Business Insider who wrote the story, said Monday the campaign manager wasn’t his source.
“Corey Lewandowski had absolutely nothing to do with this story,” Walker said in an email.
But other people in Trump’s orbit aren’t convinced that Lewandowski isn’t working to take down Nunberg.
“They just fanned this story all weekend,” one said. “If you were in Trump’s employ, wouldn’t you want this story to die late on a Friday? Next thing you know, they’re pumping it out like there’s no tomorrow. It’s everywhere.”
Nunberg, who declined to comment for this story, is a colorful figure who was publicly fired in 2014 when Trump blamed him for an unflattering BuzzFeed profile.
“Sam may go down in history as the only man to whom Trump has said ‘you’re fired’ and then re-hired,” one campaign colleague remarked. “And now he goes into the books as someone fired twice by Trump.”
Describing Nunberg, the campaign colleague said: “He’s rumpled. He’s got his shirt-tail out. He’s sucking on his stupid vape cigarette. He’s a bundle of nervous energy. He’s irrepressible. He’s a bulldog. And he’s clashed with Corey.”
The colleague disputed Lewandowski’s description of Nunberg as a low-level adviser.
“Every single word that comes out of his campaign is written by Nunberg,” the source said.