Brian Butler, a former Mar-a-Lago employee and key witness in the classified documents case against former President Donald Trump, spoke publicly for the first time in an exclusive interview with CNN on Monday. Butler, who is referenced as "Trump Employee 5" in the indictment brought by special counsel Jack Smith, stated that he does not believe the criminal case against Trump is a "witch hunt," as the former president has claimed.
Butler, who was employed at Mar-a-Lago for 20 years, unknowingly helped Trump's personal aide, Walt Nauta, deliver boxes of classified information from Mar-a-Lago to the former president's plane in June 2022. This incident occurred on the same day that Trump and his attorney were meeting with the Justice Department at Mar-a-Lago about the classified documents.
"I left Mar-a-Lago. I texted him, 'Hey, I'm on my way.' He followed me. He pulled out and got behind me. We got to the airport. I ended up loading all the luggage I had - and he had a bunch of boxes," Butler said of Nauta. "They were the boxes that were in the indictment, the white bankers boxes. That's what I remember loading."
Butler's testimony informed crucial portions of last year's criminal obstruction charges against Trump and his two co-defendants, Nauta and Carlos De Oliveira, a property manager at Mar-a-Lago who had been Butler's closest friend until recently. All three have pleaded not guilty.
Butler decided to sit down with CNN exclusively in West Palm Beach on Monday out of a wish to tell the truth and share what he knows to those who may doubt the facts of the case. "I think the American people have the right to know the facts, that this is not a witch hunt," he said.
The longtime valet, who has known Trump since 2002, recounted detailed conversations with the former president, his family, and guests at Mar-a-Lago. Butler's time as a chauffeur to countless visitors and Trump family members provided deep insight into the inner workings of Trump's orbit.
However, the MAGA approach to politics in recent years, the intensifying FBI investigation, and Trump's apparently cavalier attitude toward national security soured Butler on staying at his Mar-a-Lago job after Trump's presidency. He quit in November 2022, watching his friends and former co-workers' lives become disrupted because of the developing criminal case.
Butler also shed light on potentially critical instances related to the disclosure of classified information. He told investigators that Australian billionaire Anthony Pratt repeated classified submarine secrets following a conversation with Trump in spring 2021, which Butler found shocking given that Trump would share such information with a foreign citizen who paid excessive sums for access to Mar-a-Lago.
In addition to the movement of the boxes, Butler witnessed the scene where Trump allegedly attempted to keep De Oliveira in his fold. Despite their close-knit friendship, Butler and De Oliveira took two very different approaches to the FBI. De Oliveira has been charged with lying to federal investigators, while Butler has resisted repeated inquiries from De Oliveira nudging him to use an attorney found and paid for by Trump.
Butler's relationship with De Oliveira changed around the time De Oliveira became a target of the criminal investigation last year. The two men no longer speak, and Butler has seen De Oliveira from afar in their neighborhood and in news clips as his friend comes and goes from a federal courtroom.
"Nobody should have to go through that. And for him (Trump) to get up there all the time and say the things he says about this being a witch hunt and everything. ... He just can't take responsibility for anything," Butler told CNN.
As the classified documents case against Trump and his co-defendants progresses, Butler's insider perspective and willingness to speak out provide a compelling counterpoint to the former president's claims of a "witch hunt." The former Mar-a-Lago employee's testimony may prove crucial in shedding light on the events surrounding the alleged mishandling of classified documents and the relationships between the key players involved.
