Judge Aileen Cannon (inset left) (U.S. Senate via AP), Brian Butler, “Trump Employee 5,” appears on CNN on March 11, 2024 (CNN/screengrab)
The government witness previously known only as “Trump Employee 5,” a longtime Mar-a-Lago staffer who has known the former president since 2002, went on CNN Tuesday and revealed himself to be Brian Butler because, he said, the judge in the case appears inclined to out witnesses anyway.
Recall that ABC’s Katherine Faulders was in U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon’s courtroom on March 1 as special counsel Jack Smith repeated his argument that Cannon made a “clear error” when she ruled Smith had not, under a heightened First Amendment standard, “set forth a sufficient factual or legal basis warranting deviation from the strong presumption in favor of public access to the records at issue.” Faulders said Smith appeared to be “visibly shocked” that the judge appeared to be leaning towards naming dozens of government witnesses, even in the face of potential threats to witness safety or a possible appeal from the Special Counsel’s Office.
At one point Judge Cannon asked the special counsel when they would be willing to publish the witness list. Jack Smith looked visibly shocked by the prospect of that list becoming public. Harbach said now is not the time for witness identities to be public https://t.co/IOgl4E7eW2
— Katherine Faulders (@KFaulders) March 1, 2024
It seems Smith was not alone in his shock.
“It’s been almost a year since FBI agents showed up at my house when my wife was at home. And you know, over the course of the last year, emotionally, it’s been a roller coaster. A couple of weeks ago, Judge Cannon says she’s going to release the names of the witnesses,” Brian Butler, the now former Mar-a-Lago employee, told CNN’s Kaitlan Collins, framing Cannon’s eventual decision on the issue as a fait accompli. “You go from highs and lows in this.”
Trump Employee 5 added that he preferred to speak out publicly in advance of any government witness naming rather than simply waiting for the judge to rule against the special counsel, as doing nothing would open Butler up to people dismissing him as “crazy.”
“And instead of just waiting for it to just come out, I think it’s better that I get to at least say what happened, than it coming out in the news, people calling me crazy,” Butler added. “I’d rather just get it out there, and the hope is, at least I can move on with my life and get over this.”
Collins: Why are you speaking out publicly with your story now?
Butler: It’s been a roller coaster, a couple of weeks ago with Judge Cannon says she’s going to release the names of the witnesses… pic.twitter.com/dClLpbNNYK
— Acyn (@Acyn) March 12, 2024
Trump Employee 5’s role in the prosecution was referenced from the get-go in the July 2023 superseding indictment against Trump, valet Walt Nauta, and Mar-a-Lago property manager Carlos De Oliveira. While Butler told CNN that De Oliveira had been one of his “best friends,” he also said the two don’t talk anymore. According to the indictment, De Oliveira, on June 25, 2022, told Butler that Nauta was en route from Bedminster, N.J., to Mar-a-Lago but asked the witness not to tell anyone about the “secret” trip pertaining to camera footage.
“DE OLIVEIRA also told Trump Employee 5 that NAUTA wanted DE OLIVEIRA to talk to Trump Employee 4 to see how long camera footage was stored,” the indictment continued. “Shortly after arriving in Palm Beach on the evening of June 25, NAUTA went to The Mar-a-Lago Club and met with DE OLIVEIRA at 5:46 p.m. At The Mar-a-Lago Club, NAUTA and DE OLIVEIRA went to the security guard booth where surveillance video is displayed on monitors, walked with a flashlight through the tunnel where the Storage Room was located, and observed and pointed out surveillance cameras.”
Two days later, De Oliveira allegedly told another employee — “Trump Employee 4” — that “the boss” wanted the video footage server deleted.
Later in the indictment, when the documents discussed the FBI’s August 2022 search of Mar-a-Lago, Trump Employee 5 was referenced again.
“Just over two weeks after the FBI discovered classified documents in the Storage Room and TRUMP’s office, on August 26, 2022, NAUTA called Trump Employee 5 and said words to the effect of ‘someone just wants to make sure Carlos is good,”” the indictment detailed. “In response, Trump Employee 5 told NAUTA that DE OLIVEIRA was loyal and that DE OLIVEIRA would not do anything to affect his relationship with TRUMP.”
“That same day, at NAUTA’s request, Trump Employee 5 confirmed in a Signal chat group with NAUTA and the PAC Representative that DE OLIVEIRA was loyal,” the documents said. “That same day, TRUMP called DE OLIVEIRA and told DE OLIVEIRA that TRUMP would get DE OLIVEIRA an attorney.”
On CNN, Butler claimed to remember Trump co-defendant Nauta recruiting him in early June 2022 to help load boxes of documents headed for New Jersey. The witness described that as an atypical request, particularly coming from Nauta, someone not usually tasked with handling luggage.
“They were the boxes that were in the indictment, the white bankers boxes. That’s what I remember loading,” said Butler, claiming he only realized they were the classified documents at issue with the benefit of hindsight.
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