Jake tapper and we start today with Breaking News and a cnn exclusive for the first time the man and only previously known as Employee Number five. In the Trump Federal classified documents case, is publicly going on the record about what he saw Behind The Scenes at maralago and how he ended up handling boxes of classified documents without even knowing it or having the clearance to do so trump Employee Number five is a man named brian butler he has worked at maralago for 20 years. He wasnt just any regular employee. We should note he handled the car service at trumps florida resort. Often directly making sure that donald trump and all of his belongings were moved from place to place, meaning he saw moments and movements and heard conversations that are now part of special counsel jack smiths indictment of Donald Trumps cnns Kaitlan Collins, Katelyn Polantz, our breaking the story for us and joining us now, Kaitlan Collins, it start with you, so you sat down with butler earlier today. What did he tell you . Yeah. Jake brian butler may not be a household name, but he is someone who is a central figure in the maralago classified documents case because he worked for donald trump for the last 20 years since he was 19 years old. And now he finds himself at the center of jack smiths indictment of the former president in the classified documents case. And is privy to key parts of that testimony that we read through in those indictments, he provided a lot of that testimony to the special counsels team about key moments that now will likely potentially go on trial as soon as this summer in this case, one of those jake that youre about to listen to, it moment that we spoke about where main butler told us about how he was on this day in june 2022, not knowing what exactly he was doing, but he was asked to help load boxes. Banker boxes, on to trumps plane at an airport in palm beach, florida as the former president was set to go to new jersey now what he did not realize that the time that was happening, then was trumps team, his legal team was meeting with members of the fbi at maralago after they had just performed a search of that storage room looking for classified documents, which we now know based on the indictment. Of course, that Evan Corcoran trumps attorney, who was looking through those documents walt nauta and others had moved many boxes out of that room. Now, brian butler, who is known and reference six times as trump Employee Number five in the superseding indictment was asked to help walt nauta, who is trumps body man, turned codefendant, load those documents onto the plane. Heres what he told us about that moment and then what happened is walt left before me and he never goes directly to the plane. Hes either in the motorcade when he goes there with the boss, which the former president. And i remember telling him he left the club with i didnt know what he had in his vehicle, but he waited for me nearby business. And i told him i would tell him when i was leaving maralago. So i left maralago. I texted him, hey, im on my way. He followed me. He pulled out and got behind me. We got to the airport. I ended up loading all the luggage i had and he had a bunch of foxxs. You noticed that he had thought they were the boxes that were in the indictment, the white bankers boxes. Thats what i remember loading. And did you have any time any idea at the time that there was potentially Us National Security secrets in his box and no clue no i had no clue. I mean, we were just taking them out of the escalate piling them up. I remember they were all stacked on top of each other and then were lifting them up to the pilots. How many boxes was it . They. Asked me in the interview and i believe it was i tend to 15 is what i remember. I know the investigators, correct . And when you look back on that, now, what i had no clue until probably the end of june, theres a few Different Things that happen that kind of opened my eyes to you know, somethings going on here so you get that unusual request. Did you ever think to yourself why were there so many boxes at maralago . For me. Im just thinking out of the former president and he has a lot of stuff he likes to lug around with them. I never wouldve thought it was anything like what we see testify jake it is just a remarkable moment. Kaitlan collins and ive been reporting on this story along with the rest of our team, but reporting on this story for, for so long in this moment it is so remarkable to hear from someone who has not spoken publicly before, but clearly just by his proximity and his longstanding time hi, guys at the former president s club was able to provide such valuable information to investigators about what was happening here while heal, he himself, jake was still piecing this all together Behind The ScenesKatelyn Polantz, mother quit his job at maralago in about a yearandahalf ago in late 2022. Y come forward to share his story now he says that he just wants to tell the truth. Jake, that was one of them messages that came across loud and clear from brian butler when he was speaking to Kaitlan Collins earlier today, one of the things that makes him so unique in this situation as a witness is that not only this witness not only is he trump employee five in that indictment, but he also is someone who is using a different layer to represent him in this case, hes refused to take any possible boiler that the trump team could provide him and used somewhat he knew separately as his way of setting him apart. And now his reflection upon this, a pad in the past last year, the fbi approached him in his driveway about a year ago, just this day, he saying that trump is dividing the nation. Its divided relationships. Hes had with others and just now hes putting the Puzzle Pieces together here. And Kaitlan Collins, did mr. Butlers say he felt any pressure at all from trump or maralago or anyone affiliated with the former president to not cooperate with special counsel jack smiths team it maybe not have been may not was explicit. Is that j but what he felt pressure on was the attorney and the reason this is so critical eggs, theres a very clear divide when you look at this case of who has an attorney that is being paid by trump world and who is paying for their own and the divergent paths that they have taken on this misley, carlos de oliveira, who was his very close friend that kaitlan mentioned there. He has an attorney who is being paid for by trumps world. He is someone who was indicted in that superseding indictment. And i should note that these two have not spoken since then he was indicted in that for lying to federal investigators about what he knew and what he saw brian butler on the other hand, said that he faced repeated requests and attempts to try to keep him in that trump fold when it came to having a trump attorney itself. And so i think that is a critical distinction here, jake, as weve seen, how people who leave this orbit and what happens to them. And one thing that i think is really important is this is just a regular person who who was working at maralago for 20 years by happenstance of what he saw, what he witnessed, and what he was asked to do. He has become a witness in this investigation and had fbi investigators approach him and seek him out. And now he has spoken to them on multiple occasions, as he told me today during this remarkable sit down found that Kaitlyn Polantz and i have with him, he said that, yes, he is willing to testify if this goes to trial this summer. All right. Kaitlan collins and Katelyn Polantz. Thanks so much and look for much more on this exclusive interview from Kaitlan Collins in just a few hours on her show. The source thats tonight at nine eastern here on cnn. I want to bring in cnn senior legal analyst former federal prosecutor elie honig to discuss elie, how important is this news . How important is brian butlers testimony for the special counsels Team Building a case against trump and his codefendants. And was there any significant and what you heard him say, just them . Yeah, jake so this type of witness is gold for prosecutors and theres a few reasons for that. First of all, this person has insider access. He is literally inside the room as kaitlan just laid out. Hes 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 i whom in this person can give us exactly why second of all, hes a person who appears to be unbiased. He doesnt seem to have any reason to have an ax to grind with donald trump as kaitlan said, hes 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. Finally, if you look at his testimony and you look at the indictment, he appears to be well 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 whats the basic worth of his testimony . He can establish the boxes came in. He was not told that they were valuable, had important State Secrets in them and he just treated them like anything else. And they were stored in common areas and not stored with any potential security . Yeah. I think thats part of it. I think its also very damning in particular to walt nauta and mr. De olivera, who are both defendants in this case because theyre directing him what to do with the boxes. And if you look at the indictment, jake, this guy, mr. Whose referenced in the indictment as employee five, hes in the middle of others thanks to hes a witness primarily, but for example, when it comes time to try to check out the Surveillance Video, remember part of this case is that at one point trump and the other defendants were trying to figure out what do we have on the Surveillance Video . Can we delete it . He overhears and hes part of conversations about that as well. So i think hes a multifaceted witness for prosecutors and butler describes multiple times was offered attorneys paid for by trump or the trump organization. He says he was repeatedly told he could always go back and work for trump as well as offered things such as free golf tickets. Could any of that be seen as attempts of Witness Tampering . So there is no independent charge of Witness Tampering in the indictment however, that could still be very valuable information for prosecutors to use because the pattern is unmistakable. Weve seen it again and again in this case, in other Trump Investigations that he and his organizations offer to pick up the legal bills that they sort of dangle other potential rewards for people if they stay loyal. Now its hard to connect that directly in a way where it can charge and weve not seen a charge here, but you can absolutely use that as a prosecutor to say, look, this is their motive. Theyre trying to keep people in the fold. Theyre trying to keep people from flipping against them. Elie honig, thanks so much also this afternoon, donald trump is trying to claim president ial immunity in a different case. Plus his attempt to delay proceedings. All this is brand new. Were back with that story next vegas. Story of simcity. Sunday at ten on cnn you were always so dedicated we worked hard to build up the shop, save for college and our retirement. But we got thanks to our advisor and vanguard. Now i see who all that hard work was for. It was always for you seeing you carry on our legacy see im so proud at vanguard, youre more than just an investor. Youre an Owner Setting up the future for the ones you love. Thats the value of ownership high. Weve both got a big birthday coming up, so we have a lot of questions about medicare plans. Weve got a lot of answers. How can i help . Well, for starters do you include Hearing Benefits . How about a plan with dental vision and Hearing Benefits sure. 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Today, Attorneys For Trump filed a motion asking a New York State Supreme Court court judge to delay the start of the case until the us Supreme Court finishes reviewing his claim of president ial immunity in the federal election subversion case. Lets bring in a special guest, barbara mcquade, a former us attorney and author of a New York Times bestseller called attack from within. How disinformation is sabotaging america barbara, thanks so much for joining us. Trumps delay strategy does appear to be working for him of the four criminal cases against trump, which you see as the biggest threat. And do you think that one that you think is the biggest threat . We will hear before the election. Well, jake, i think the biggest threat really is the federal election interference case. Thats the one that really goes to the heart of his efforts to steal an election yet opposite of what he alleged to be true and his big lie. I dont know whether it will go to trial before the election. I think there is a 25 chance if i were to put a number on it and that all depends on how quickly the Supreme Court makes its decision. This one, the alvin bragg case, i think its an interesting strategy in an effort clearly to delay things, to say we need to hear from the Supreme Court first before this case can be decided because of president ial immunity. But i think alvin bragg has a countermove here, which is only a very thin slice of this case, involves acts occurring while donald trump was president. So if he were to simply remove that evidence from the case, he could indeed go forward on march 25th. What is your reaction to what cnns Kaitlan Collins and Katelyn Polantz just reported a few minutes ago from brian butler, former maralago employee previously known as Employee Number five, and the Trump