Report: Trump Plans To Take Private Security Team With Him To White House

Security follow Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump after he spoke during a campaign rally, Tuesday, Sept. 6, 2016, in Greenville, N.C. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)
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In a remarkable break from precedent, Donald Trump plans to bring members of his longtime private security team with him to the White House, according to a Politico report out Monday.

Most presidential candidates drop any outside security after they’re granted Secret Service protection, as Trump was in November 2015. However, Trump spent over $1 million on private security contractors over the last 13 months, according to Politico.

The private security team has stood watch at every stop of the President-elect’s “thank you tour” through the cities that earned him the White House. That team is headed by Keith Schiller, a retired New York City cop who was hired as Trump’s personal bodyguard in 1999 and promoted to head of security for the Trump Organization in 2004.

Schiller and his men were fixtures at Trump’s campaign events, where they were tasked with waiting in the wings as Trump addressed supporters before forcibly removing protesters. Three lawsuits have been filed against Trump, his campaign or the private security detail by protesters who allege racial profiling or undue force by the individuals who removed them from the venues.

Several Trump associates told Politico that the President-elect plans to make Schiller a personal White House aide who would act as a “full-time physical gatekeeper.”

Trump spokeswoman Hope Hicks declined to answer the site’s questions about who is paying the private security officials, their relationship with the Secret Service and what role they are expected to play after Trump’s inauguration.

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