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Trump Bodyguard Keith Schiller Testifies Russian Offered Trump Women, Was Turned Down

Keith Schiller said he viewed the offer as a joke and turned it down, and he and Trump laughed about it.
Keith Schiller, deputy assistant to the president and director of Oval Office operations, talks to President Donald Trump on the South Lawn of the White House on June 12.
Keith Schiller, deputy assistant to the president and director of Oval Office operations, talks to President Donald Trump on the South Lawn of the White House on June 12.Olivier Douliery / Sipa USA via AP

WASHINGTON — After a business meeting before the Miss Universe Pageant in 2013, a Russian participant offered to "send five women" to Donald Trump's hotel room in Moscow, his longtime bodyguard told Congress this week, according to three sources who were present for the interview.

Two of the sources said the bodyguard, Keith Schiller, viewed the offer as a joke, and immediately responded, "We don't do that type of stuff."

The two sources said Schiller's comments came in the context of him adamantly disputing the allegations made in the Trump dossier, written by a former British intelligence operative, which describes Trump having an encounter with prostitutes at the hotel during the pageant. Schiller described his reaction to that story as being, "Oh my God, that's bull----," two sources said.

The conversation with the Russian about the five women took place after a morning meeting about the pageant in Moscow broke up, two sources said.

That night, two sources said, Schiller said he discussed the conversation with Trump as Trump was walking back to his hotel room, and Schiller said the two men laughed about it as Trump went to bed alone. Schiller testified that he stood outside Trump's hotel room for a time and then went to bed.

One source noted that Schiller testified he eventually left Trump's hotel room door and could not say for sure what happened during the remainder of the night.

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Director of Oval Office operations Keith Schiller attends a signing ceremony at the White House on June 23.Mandel Ngan / AFP-Getty Images

Two other sources said Schiller testified he was confident nothing happened.

Schiller said he and Trump were aware of the risk that hotel rooms in Moscow could be set up to capture hidden video, two sources said.

Schiller was grilled about the Moscow trip as part of four hours of testimony before the House Intelligence Committee. The questioning around the Moscow trip took a significant amount of time, the sources said. Schiller was also asked about the June 2016 meeting at Trump Tower between Donald Trump Jr. and Russians, two of the sources said. He testified that he did not recall much about that day.

In a statement, Schiller's lawyer said "the versions of Mr. Schiller’s testimony being leaked to the press are blatantly false and misleading. "

"We are appalled by the leaks that are coming from partisan insiders from the House Intelligence Committee," said Stuart Sears. "It is outrageous that the very Committee that is conducting an investigation into leaks — purportedly in the public interest — is itself leaking information and defaming cooperative witnesses like Mr. Schiller. The Chairman and Ranking Member should investigate and hold accountable whoever is responsible for leaking false and misleading versions of Mr. Schiller’s testimony. This conduct is indefensible and calls into question the credibility and motives of the Committee’s investigation."

A White House lawyer familiar with the matter said that the White House "and fair-minded people are pleased that Mr. Schiller was able to debunk yet another of the false claims in the fantasy dossier funded by the DNC and the Clinton campaign and prepared during a time its foreign author worked closely with paid Russian operatives."

A Navy veteran, Schiller worked part-time as a bodyguard for Trump while still an NYPD officer. He began working for Trump full-time after his retirement from the force in 2002 and became his director of security in 2004. He served as director of Oval Office operations in the Trump White House from January until September.