WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump’s longtime bodyguard told congressional investigators this week that someone offered to send five women to Trump’s hotel room during a 2013 trip to Moscow for the annual Miss Universe pageant.
But the bodyguard, Keith Schiller, said he quickly rejected the offer, and testified that he was not aware of Trump participating in any compromising activity on the trip, according to two people familiar with his testimony.
Schiller spoke during a closed-door session with members of the House Intelligence Committee for nearly three hours Tuesday. The panel is one of several on Capitol Hill investigating Russia’s efforts to interfere with the 2016 election.
The 2013 trip is of particular interest to investigators because it provided the backdrop for one of the most salacious allegations in a dossier of opposition research compiled during the election claiming a broad conspiracy between the Trump campaign and the Russian government to aid Trump’s candidacy. One memo included in the file contained an unsubstantiated account of Trump engaging with prostitutes in a Moscow hotel room during that trip.
Schiller, who traveled frequently with Trump, told investigators that he knew of no such activity during the trip.
The offer for women came at a morning business meeting at the Ritz-Carlton in Moscow to discuss the pageant, which was being produced by a company owned by Trump. Schiller told investigators that about 15 people had been present for the meeting, including Emin Agalarov, a Russian pop star, and his father, Aras Agalarov, a business tycoon linked to the Kremlin.
As Schiller sat in the back of the room, a man unknown to him approached with the offer, he said. Schiller testified that he did not treat it seriously and quickly said no thanks, according to one of the people familiar with the testimony.
Schiller said he relayed the story to Trump when they were returning to his hotel room later that night. The men shared a laugh, he said.
Details of Schiller’s testimony were reported earlier by NBC News.
Scott Balber, a lawyer for Emin and Aras Agalarov, said the men were not aware that any such offer had been made to Schiller.
“It is the case that my clients certainly were not involved in that and certainly are not aware that it happened,” Balber said.
And for a more satirical take on the generous Russian offer to Mr Trump, check out http://www.johnnyrobish.com/in-the-news/bodyguard-says-russian-offered-send-trump-five-women