Keith Richards Once Threatened to Pull a Knife on Trump

Donald Trump tried telling The Rolling Stones that you can't always get what you want — which nearly resulted in Keith Richards getting Trump under the thumb of a knife.

To celebrate the legendary Stones' guitarist's 80th birthday on Monday, a wild story about Richards and the future leader of the free world has been making the rounds.

It goes a little something like this.

Back in 1989, the Stones were looking for a venue for a live pay-per-view concert event, but were struggling to find a willing partner.

So, former Live Nation chairman Michael Cohl, who was working with the band on the endeavor, made the bold suggestion of linking up with Trump and his property in Atlantic City.

"I opened my big mouth in the meeting with the Rolling Stones where they go, 'This is all great, but we’re not going to be affiliated with Donald Trump. At all. Screw you,'" Cohl recalled at a 2015 Pollstar Live! event (via the Los Angeles Times). "And I go, 'I will control Donald Trump! Don’t you worry!'"

Cohl convinced the Stones everything would go smoothly, but that was quickly proven wrong on the night of the big show.

"I run to the press room in the next building and what do you think is happening?" Cohl said. "There’s Donald Trump giving a press conference, in our room!"

Cohl attempted to get Trump to stop, but to no avail — which led to a very tense meeting with the band.

"They call me back, at which point Keith pulls out his knife and slams it on the table and says, 'What the hell do I have you for? Do I have to go over there and fire him myself? One of us is leaving the building – either him, or us,'" Cohl remembered. "I said, 'No. I’ll go do it. Don’t you worry.'"

Cohl enlisted the help of the Stones' head of security Jim Callahan who sent "40 of the crew with tire irons and hockey sticks and screwdrivers" to get Trump to stand down.

As Cohl recalled, "And that was the night I fired Donald Trump.”

The story was confirmed in a 2018 interview Richards granted to the BBC, in which he detailed, "I got out my trusty blade, stuck it in the table and said, 'You have to get rid of this man!'"

"Now America has to get rid of him," Richards continued. "Don't say I didn't warn you!"