Longtime Trump employee: Mar-a-Lago culture would have led many to commit crimes

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla.— A longtime employee of Donald Trump, who testified before a grand jury in the case involving the former president’s handling of classified documents, described a culture of loyalty around Trump that drives people toward extreme lengths to protect him. 

Brian Butler, who is referred to in the classified documents indictment as “Trump Employee 5,” delivered bombshell testimony last year to federal prosecutors, who used the information to charge Trump later. Butler, a central witness in the case, is one of several Trump employees who could play major roles at trial.

In an interview with NBC News in Palm Beach, Butler recalled his time testifying before a grand jury last year after having met with special counsel Jack Smith in Washington, D.C.

There were “about 20” jurors, he said, including one who appeared to be sleeping. “I could see their eyes shut,” he said.

The interview with jurors took place in a “dark room, kind of like an old room,” he said. “It was like being in a closet.” 

None of the jurors asked questions, he said. But one topic of interest was what actions he took on June 3, 2022, when Walt Nauta, who was Trump’s valet and continued to work for him after he left the White House, asked him to load boxes containing documents onto Trump’s plane in Florida, Butler said in a segment that aired on MSNBC after the NBC News interview.

“So we talked about, you know, June 3, obviously, the moving of boxes, luggage, to the plane. I talked about, you know, the conversations with Carlos [De Oliveira], you know, over June until July, August — all the way up until just prior to his indictment,” Butler told MSNBC’s Ari Melber in an interview that aired Wednesday.

De Oliveira, who was a property manager at Mar-a-Lago, is a co-defendant along with Nauta.

“I mean, we were in constant contact. We were friends. We talked about a couple of meetings, I mean, some phone calls that I received, asking about him, but I mean, I…