CNN's Kaitlin Collins got an exclusive interview with Brian Butler, the Mar-A-Lago employee who was the source for important information for Jack Smith's indictment: Via CNN:
So much information, I hardly know where to begin. But it was revealed that Brian Butler (aka Employee 5 in the Mar-A-Lago indictments) was the source for this story about Trump sharing classified information with an Australian billionaire:
At one point in his interviews, Butler says he told investigators that Australian billionaire Anthony Pratt repeated classified submarine secrets following a conversation with Trump in spring 2021.
Pratt met with Trump and heard from the former president about US and Russian submarines at their meeting, then relayed that information to his chief of staff while in the backseat of Butler’s car. Butler later told investigators he was shocked that Trump would share such information with a foreign citizen who paid excessive sums for access to Mar-a-Lago.
Butler says he believes the relationship was indicative of how a club member sought access to Trump once he became president.
He also provided information about other employees were looking into how to delete surveillance tapes:
Butler also was a witness in the room to several conversations that allegedly capture how Trump was positioning his closest aide Nauta, De Oliveira and others to thwart federal authorities.
De Oliveira told Butler, for instance, about Nauta traveling to Palm Beach in late June 2022, at a time when Nauta and De Oliveira were allegedly interested in deleting surveillance tapes of a storage room where the boxes had been kept at the club, according to the indictment.
Butler recalls that De Oliveira told him Nauta would be visiting. Then a day later, De Oliveira warned Butler that Nauta’s visit should be kept secret. De Oliveira told Butler that Nauta was interested in learning about how surveillance footage from the club would be saved – another oddity to Butler, he says.
So he's pinning down the issue of Trump's intent to deceive the feds.
And he also provided Smith's investigation with information about how white boxes of documents named in the indictment were secretly moved to Trump's Bedminster property the same day Trump was meeting with federal investigators.
Butler says now he believes Trump hasn’t just divided the country. He has also divided people’s communities, including his own two-decade relationship with his best friend De Oliveira.
“I felt like it was a total no-win situation for me. I mean, they’re asking me questions about one of my best friends. I’m being honest. But I also have a bad feeling that what I’m saying is getting him into trouble,” Butler told CNN. “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.”
Nothing shady here, folks.
