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We're not 100% sure if the identity of "Trump Employee #5" from the Mar-a-Lago indictment was just guessed at, or if it's been 100% clear for a while. In any case, it is former staffer Brian Butler, who sat for an interview with CNN yesterday to share a few choice thoughts.
Butler, who is in cover your a** mode, said that the boxes with classified documents were in places that were not secured, where anyone could have gotten to them. He also observed that everyone on staff moved boxes around, and he shared that the moving of boxes often took place at highly incriminating times. For example, Butler recalled an incident where he and Trump assistant Walt Nauta were loading boxes into a van (for relocation to New Jersey) while FBI agents were literally in the next room, meeting with the former president.
Experiencing a sequence that is familiar to Trump employees who get their hands dirty, Butler was first pressured to help protect his boss, ideally with the assistance of a Trump-paid-for lawyer. When Butler said "No, thanks!" Team Trump turned against him. Butler says he now views his former boss "unfavorably" and that "I personally would just say I just don't believe that he should be a presidential candidate at this time. I think it's time to move on."
Anyhow, while we are not lawyers, CNN's Elie Honig is. And this was his assessment:
So, this type of witness is gold for prosecutors and there's a few reasons for that. First of all, this person has insider access. He's literally inside the room... He's there when boxes are being loaded onto the plane. And one of the challenges for prosecutors here is explaining exactly where these documents were moved, and when, and by whom. And this person can give us exactly why.
Second of all, he's a person who appears to be unbiased. He doesn't seem to have any reason to have an axe to grind with Donald Trump... He's a longtime two decades-long employee of Donald Trump and the Trump Organization. Just based on the snippet that we just saw, he does not appear to be angry or resentful towards Donald Trump.
And finally, if you look at his testimony and you look at the indictment, he appears to be well-supported, corroborated by documents, by certain text chains that are referenced in the indictment, and by testimony of some of the defendants themselves, Walt Nauta and Carlos de Oliviera. So this is really the kind of witness that you want to build around as a prosecutor.
So, it seems like Butler will be pretty valuable once this case goes to trial. Which, if Aileen Cannon has her way, should be sometime this decade. Maybe. (Z)