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WASHINGTON — New York police detective Keith Schiller was at the Manhattan prosecutor’s office for a meeting one day more than 18 years ago when he spotted a local celebrity: Marla Maples, Donald Trump’s second wife, who was there to discuss an alleged theft by a former employee.

A guy sat down next to him and was introduced as Maples’ bodyguard.

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“I looked at him, totally not impressed by his stature, physical stature,” Schiller recalled in a 2015 videotaped interview about how he came to work as a security officer for Trump. “. . .A light goes off. I said: ‘Bodyguard, I can do this’. . . I’m no stranger to putting my hands on people.”

Now with Trump in the White House, Schiller sits at a desk just steps away 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 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.