WASHINGTON - President Donald Trump's longtime director of security told House investigators this week that a foreigner offered to send five women to Trump's hotel room during his business trip to Moscow in November 2013.
Keith Schiller told the House Intelligence Committee on Tuesday (Nov 7) that he rejected the offer from the man, who appeared to be Russian or Ukranian, according to two people familiar with the discussion. He quickly dismissed what appeared to be a suggestion of procuring prostitutes for Trump, they said.
"No, man, we're not interested in that," Schiller told the man, the sources said.
The offer came at the end of a late-morning planning meeting that Schiller attended when he accompanied Trump to Moscow for the annual Miss Universe pageant, which was produced by a company that Trump owned.
The 2013 trip was at the epicentre of one of the most salacious claims in a now-famous research dossier financed by Democrats during the 2016 presidential campaign. The document alleged that Trump consorted with prostitutes during his time in Moscow - a claim the president has vehemently denied.
Schiller, Trump's longtime bodyguard who frequently accompanied him on trips, told congressional investigators that he saw no compromising, illicit or illegal behaviour by Trump while in Moscow, according to the people.
The offer to send women to Trump's room came after Schiller said he attended a meeting in Moscow with about 15 people to discuss details of the pageant. Among those in attendance were Russian pop star Emin Agalarov and his father Aras Agalarov, a business magnate with close ties to the government of President Vladimir Putin, according to the people familiar with his interview.
As the meeting broke up, Schiller said a man he did not know approached him and asked if he would like five women to visit Trump at his hotel room later that night, he told investigators.
Schiller told the committee that he joked about the offer with Trump later that evening as they headed back to their hotel, the people said."Can you believe one of these guys wanted to send some women up to your room?" Schiller recalled saying.
An attorney for the Agalarovs said they had no knowledge of the offer to Schiller."Categorically, neither one of them has any knowledge of that happening," said Scott Balber, a lawyer for Emin and Aras Agalarov. "They didn't do it, they didn't hear it, and they have no reason to believe it's true."
NBC News first reported that the House Intelligence Committee asked Schiller for details about the episode.
Schiller's long and close relationship with Trump makes him a potentially valuable witness to investigators examining Russia's meddling in the 2016 election. The former director of security at the Trump Organisation joined Trump at the White House, serving as director of Oval Office Operations until September.
In his House interview, Schiller said he travelled as many as five and six days a week with Trump when the businessman ran the Trump Organisation, adding that he could not remember the precise details of all their trips.
Schiller told investigators that he and Trump stayed at a luxury hotel during their 2013 Moscow trip, although he said he could not recall its name. He said he was not certain if he stayed on the same floor as Trump, although he acknowledged that they usually had adjoining rooms.
