Report: Trumps Security Team Was Under Strict Instructions to Hospitalize Anyone They Suspected Might Hit Him With a Piece of Pie – Vanity Fair

Pie. To many, its a delicious treat at the end of a meal that rivals the almighty cake, so versatile that a slice of pumpkin, rhubarb, or pecan could also be enjoyed for breakfast. Some prefer chocolate, others lemon meringue. Popular the world over, apple pie is specifically synonymous with America and all things patriotic. But to former president Donald Trump, a man who was once in possession of the nuclear codes? It is a dangerous, extremely menacing piece of food whose presence he will not tolerate.

Yes, just weeks after we learned that Trump believes tomatoes, pineapples, and bananas are dangerous stuff that could kill a personand that his security team has been under strict instructions to use physical force to eliminate any such threatscomes the news that the former president of the United States at one point was absolutely terrified about being struck with pie.

The Daily Beast reports that during a four-hour deposition he sat for this month, Trumps former fixer, Michael Cohen, revealed that his old boss frequently obsessed over a 1998 incident in which Bill Gates was hit with a pie while walking into a building in Belgium, and believed the same fate would befall him. For some reason that upset Mr. Trump terribly. We were all instructed that if somebody was to ever throw anything at him, that if that persondidntend up in the hospital, wed all be fired, Cohen said, noting the directive came from Trump himself. Asked to elaborate, Cohen told Daily Beast reporter Jose Pagliery, It wasnt just one time. It was an ongoing and regular thing. As he would go out to various different open venues, he would always remind [head of security] Keith [Schiller] to keep his eyes open. He never would turn around and say, If anyone throws a rock or a bottle Its always a pie. He always brought up that pie thing.

While some might wonder about the veracity of Cohens claims, and the possibility that theyre simply an attempt by an ex-employee to embarrass their former boss, its important to remember that Trump himself spoke at length, during a sworn deposition, about his deep-rooted fear of someone throwing a tomato, pineapple, or banana at him. And that the following words literally came out of his mouth: You get hit with fruit, itsno, its very violent stuff. We were on alert for that. Its worse than tomato, its other things also. But tomato, when they start doing that stuff, its very dangerous. I wanted to have people be ready because we were put on alert that they were going to do fruit. I think that they have to be aggressive in stopping that from happening. Because if that happens, you can be killed if that happens.

Cohens testimony re: Trumps fear of piesand the instruction to his security team to hospitalize anyone packing such a weapon in his vicinityis relevant because he was answering questions as a witness for a 2015 lawsuit brought by a group of activists who allege the Trump Organizations security chief, Schiller,attacked them while they were protesting outside of Trump Tower. While Trump has sworn under oath that he did not order Schiller to rough up the protesters, and that he only learned about what happened the next day, Cohen testified that that was not actually the case.

Per The Daily Beast:

During his May 9 deposition, Cohen described the scene that day. He saw protesters on his way into Trump Tower that morning, then eventually made his way into Trumps office on the 26th floor. When he informed his boss about the gathering downstairs, Trump called in Schiller.

Did you see that theres a demonstration going on? Trump asked, according to Cohen. Get rid of them.

OK, boss, Schiller allegedly said. When Schiller reappeared in his bosss office less than half an hour later, he had a large piece of a cardboard sign he had ripped out of the hand of Queens resident and demonstrator Efrain Galicia.

According to Cohen, Schiller told Trump, I took the sign. He grabbed me, so I hit him across the side of the head, to which Trump responded, Good.

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Report: Trumps Security Team Was Under Strict Instructions to Hospitalize Anyone They Suspected Might Hit Him With a Piece of Pie - Vanity Fair