Keith Schiller is one of President Trump's top aides and closest confidants, a rare individual that Trump believes he can trust completely. Of course, Trump used to do much more than trust Schiller with his presidential secrets — he trusted the man with his life.
That is because Schiller used to be Trump's bodyguard, The Washington Post reports. A former New York police detective, Schiller got his job when he noticed, 18 years ago, that a man who seemed too scrawny to be a bodyguard was tasked with protecting Trump's then-wife Marla Maples. "A light goes off," Schiller recalled. "I said: 'Bodyguard, I can do this' … I'm no stranger to putting my hands on people." He got in touch with Trump and a short time later, he was installed as official protection.
Today, Schiller's task is a slightly different one:
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
… [In] the White House, Schiller sits at a desk just steps from the president as director of Oval Office Operations. He serves as one of Trump's most trusted aides — as well as a key player in this week's controversial firing of FBI Director James B. Comey.On Tuesday, the president personally dispatched Schiller to FBI headquarters to deliver a letter informing Comey he was "terminated" — a moment that was recorded and broadcast by CNN. Trump chose Schiller for the task over a more junior staffer, one White House official said. [The Washington Post]
"Keith Schiller is not just some bodyguard," said Trump's former political adviser, Michael Caputo. "Nobody knows the score among the advisers better than Keith Schiller."
-
Strava vs. Garmin: the row splitting the running communityUnder The Radar The legal dispute between the two titans of exercise tech is like ‘Mom and Dad fighting’
-
Bad Bunny: Why MAGA is incensedFeature The NFL announced Latino artist Bad Bunny as the Super Bowl halftime headliner, sparking MAGA outrage
-
Supreme Court: Judging 20 years of RobertsFeature Two decades after promising to “call balls and strikes,” Chief Justice John Roberts faces scrutiny for reshaping American democracy
-
News organizations reject Pentagon restrictionsSpeed Read The proposed policy is Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s latest move to limit press access at the Pentagon
-
Trump declares end to Gaza war, ‘dawn’ of new MideastSpeed Read Hamas freed the final 20 living Israeli hostages and Israel released thousands of Palestinian detainees
-
Trump DOJ indicts New York AG Letitia JamesSpeed Read New York Attorney General Letitia James was indicted as Trump’s Justice Department pursues charges against his political opponents
-
Judge blocks Trump’s Guard deployment in ChicagoSpeed Read The president is temporarily blocked from federalizing the Illinois National Guard or deploying any Guard units in the state
-
Trump urges jail for Illinois, Chicago leadersSpeed Read The Texas National Guard begin operations in the Chicago area
-
Bondi stonewalls on Epstein, Comey in Senate face-offSpeed Read Attorney General Pam Bondi denied charges of using the Justice Department in service of Trump’s personal vendettas
-
Court allows Trump’s Texas troops to head to ChicagoSpeed Read Trump is ‘using our service members as pawns in his illegal effort to militarize our nation’s cities,’ said Gov. J.B. Pritzker
-
Judge bars Trump’s National Guard moves in OregonSpeed Read In an emergency hearing, a federal judge blocked President Donald Trump from sending National Guard troops into Portland
