A former employee of Donald Trump said in an interview on Monday that some of the country’s top secrets were not secured at Mar-a-Lago after the former president took them when he left office.
Trump faces 40 criminal charges for willfully retaining classified documents and obstructing the government’s attempts to recover them. He has pleaded not guilty to all the charges.
In an interview with CNN that aired on Monday Brian Butler, a witness in the case who is listed as “Trump employee 5” in the indictment, said there are “gaps” in Mar-a-Lago’s security “where people could get in very easily.”
Asked who could access the areas of Mar-a-Lago where the documents were kept, Butler said anybody with a master key which could be requested by staff during check-in.
“I could’ve went and got a master key to all the rooms, you know, for check-ins,” he said. “I oversaw all the check-ins with the valets, all of that. So, I mean, feasibly at night anybody could.”
Trump allegedly kept classified documents at various locations at Mar-a-Lago, including a public ballroom, bathroom and a bedroom.
More than 150 social events including weddings, movie premiers and fundraisers were hosted at Mar-a-Lago between January 2021 and August 2022 when FBI agents executed a search warrant for the documents, according to the indictment.
