'Trump employee 5' says classified documents case isn't a 'witch hunt': Latest – The Independent

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged inPlease refresh your browser to be logged in
All the latest news from former president’s 2024 campaign and mounting legal troubles
Find your bookmarks in your Independent Premium section, under my profile
Trump says 2024 election will be ‘single most important day in history of our country’
The man known as “Trump employee five” has broken his silence about his involvement in moving boxes of classified documents at Mar-a-Lago.
Brian Butler is described as “Trump Employee 5” in the classified documents indictment against Donald Trump but is not facing charges in the case.
Mr Butler told CNN that he unknowingly helped Mr Trump’s co-defendant Walt Nauta move boxes containing classified information to the former president’s plane on the very same day in June 2022 that Mr Trump was meeting with DOJ investigators about returning the documents.
He also said that he does not think Mr Trump should be reelected president in November and poured cold water on the former president’s claims that the case is a “witch hunt”.
The interview comes as Mr Trump’s attorneys made their latest bid to delay or toss one of his other criminal cases, calling on the judge overseeing his New York case to take the trial off the calendar until the US Supreme Court decides whether the former president can claim “immunity” from prosecution in a separate case.
They will hear Mr Trump’s arguments on his “immunity” defence on 25 April.
Donald Trump won another slate of Republican state primary victories on Tuesday which appeared to push him over the threshold of delegates needed to secure the GOP presidential nomination.
The former presient won four victories in Georgia, Mississippi, Hawaii and Washington Tuesday evening, four states which combined have enough delegates to the Republican convention in Milwaukee to put Mr Trump’s total over the 1,215 needed to win the primary — a majority of the overall total.
His path towards the nomination became obstacle-free with the departure of Nikki Haley from the race last week, following her final disappointing showing on Super Tuesday. Despite campaigning in states including Virginia, Massachusetts, Utah and Texas, the former governor and UN ambassador won just a single state among the more than a dozen in play last week — Vermont, coincidentally the state representing the smallest prize of the evening.
John Bowden reports.
Former president and Biden both now have enough delegates to secure their respective party nominations after sweeping another round of states on Tuesday
Alex Woodward reports:
After losing a last-ditch attempt to delay, Donald Trump has posted a $91.6m bond to appeal a jury’s multi-million dollar verdict for his defamatory statements about E Jean Carroll.
Attorneys for the former president notified the judge overseeing the case on Friday that he has filed his expected appeal with a federal appeals court in New York, and requested that US District Judge Lewis Kaplan pause the judgment against him as the litigation continues.
Mr Trump was required to put up 110 per cent of the $83.3m judgment to pause collections while the appeal plays out.
Read more…
Trump-allied Chubb Corporation underwrote nearly $92m bond to pause the ruling
Gustaf Kilander reports:
Donald Trump has finalised his takeover of the Republican National Committee as the campaign organisation elected former North Carolina GOP chair and RNC general counsel Michael Whatley as its new chair following the departure of Ronna McDaniel.
Mr Trump’s daughter-in-law, Lara Trump, was elected vice-chair of the RNC, cementing the Trump family’s control of how Republican campaign cash gets spent.
Members of the RNC met in Houston, Texas to appoint Mr Whatley and Ms Trump to the top posts.
Continue reading…
Maureen Reagan, the daughter of President Ronald Reagan, was the last family member of a president to serve as co-chair of the RNC back in the 1980s
Donald Trump promised a play-by-play fact-check response to President Joe Biden’s State of the Union, teeing up something of a virtual debate between the two men seeking their re-elections.
The former president planned to “correct, in rapid response, any and all inaccurate statements” from Mr Biden, particularly anything about the US-Mexico border and what Mr Trump called the “weaponization” of federal law enforcement “to go after his Political Opponent, ME,” he announced on his Truth Social this week,
Mr Trump’s account – between ads for his “signature trading card”, “mugshot coins”, Truth Social-branded sweatpants and a sponsored posts from an anti-vaccine “JesusMAGA” account with 80 followers – fired off dozens of posts, insults and memes throughout his rival’s remarks. Most of them were false.
Alex Woodward reports:
The former president used his Truth Social to ‘correct’ his successor. The Independent corrected his corrections
Brian Butler, a former Mar-a-Lago employee who has publicly identified himself as a witness in the classified documents case against Donald Trump, recounted how he unknowingly helped load boxes of those documents onto the former president’s plane on CNN’s The Source with Kaitlin Collins.
Mr Butler, a valet and manager at Mar-a-Lago, said that in June 2022 he and Walt Nauta, another former employee who is also a co-defendant in the case, loaded approximately 10 to 15 white banker’s boxes from a car to Mr Trump’s plane.
“I mean, we were just taking them out of the Escalade, piling them up. I remember they were all stacked on top of each other. And then we’re lifting them up to the pilot,” Mr Butler said.
Ariana Baio has the details:
‘Trump Employee 5’ has come forward with his side of the story before the trial in the classified documents case begins
Graig Graziosi reports:
Donald Trump displayed his usual level of class on Saturday when he began a rally in Rome, Georgia, by mocking Joe Biden’ stutter.
Mr Trump has previously impersonated Mr Biden by exaggerating his life-long stutter, usually to suggest that the president is incompetent.
“I’m gonna bring the country together,” Mr Trump said, mocking the president by stammering over the words “together”. “I’m gonna bring it together.”
Mr Trump was predictably maligned on social media for his cruelty.
Read on…
Mr Trump also called the press ‘criminals’ and immigrants ‘monsters’
Despite recently posting a $91.6 million bond to appeal the case where he was found liable for sexual abuse and defamation, former president Donald Trump continues to defame writer E Jean Carroll.
During a rally in Georgia on Saturday, Mr Trump attacked Ms Carroll, her lawyers and the judge who oversaw the case – claiming the lawsuit was politically motivated and funded by “Democratic operatives”.
“I just posted a $91 million bond on a fake story. Totally made up story,” Mr Trump said. “Based on false accusations made about me by a woman that I knew nothing about, didn’t know, never heard of it. I know nothing about her.”
Ariana Baio reports:
Former president asserted, again, that Carroll is “not a believeable person”
Judge Lewis Kaplan has approved Donald Trump’s $91.63m bond in the E Jean Carroll defamation case, staying the damages verdict pending the former president’s appeal.
Read the full order here…
Here’s our earlier reporting on the bond:
Trump-allied Chubb Corporation underwrote nearly $92m bond to pause the ruling
Despite their strained relationship, Georgia Governor Brian Kemp said he voted for Donald Trump today in the state’s presidential primary.
“Well I’ve said I’m gonna support the nominee,” he told reporters in Atlanta.
The US will send $300m of weapons to Ukraine even as $10bn is needed to restore the stockpiles of weapons it has sent to Kyiv to aid them in its fight against the years-long Russian invasion.
The Pentagon located some cost savings in its contracts to find the funds for the weapons package while Congress has so far failed to pass further aid.
Senior defence officials made the revelation on Tuesday. It’s the first weapons package announced since late last year when the Pentagon said it was out of funding to send more weapons to the wartorn country.
Gustaf Kilander reports:
Defence officials say they’re waiting for Congress to pass supplemental aid bill to cover $10bn funding gap
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Former president reportedly wanted to offload his social network last year
Zuffa LLC via Getty Images
Want to bookmark your favourite articles and stories to read or reference later? Start your Independent Premium subscription today.
Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged inPlease refresh your browser to be logged in
Log in
New to The Independent?
Or if you would prefer:
Want an ad-free experience?

source