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Activists tricked Trump supporters into waving Russian flags at CPAC

"There is a weird connection between this guy in the Oval Office and the people in Russia", say the members of American's Take Action

Niamh McIntyre
Saturday 25 February 2017 14:15 GMT
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Activist poses with Russian flags which were distributed to Trump at the Conservative Political Action Conference
Activist poses with Russian flags which were distributed to Trump at the Conservative Political Action Conference (Youtube/ Americans Take Action)

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Activists who distributed hundreds of Russian flags to Donald Trump's supporters during a conference speech on Friday have said they wanted to use the stunt to point out that Americans "should not have foreign powers picking [their] president”.

Jason Charter and Ryan Clayton said they had nearly 1000 custom-made Russian flags printed with the President’s name, which they handed out to Mr Trump's supporters during his speech to the Conservative Political Action Conference.

The flags were subsequently confiscated by CPAC staff, but not before pictures of audience members waving Russian flags went prank went viral on social media.

Mr Charter told Talking Points Memo that the prank went better than expected because no one in the crowd at CPAC recognised the Russian Federation’s flag.

He added that they were members of the protest group Americans Take Action.

"I asked people if they wanted a Trump flag and they took it," he said. "Many Trump supporters were proudly waving their Russian Trump flag."

Mr Charter was eventually removed by security after shouting "fascist" during the President’s speech.

Mr Trump told supporters in his CPAC speech that his administration would “ keep radical Islamic terrorists the hell out of our country", and promised to get Americans “off of welfare and back to work”.

The President also restated his opposition to the “fake news” media, who he called “the enemy of the people.”

Mr Carter of Americans Take Action with flags outside the Conservative Political Action Conference (Facebook/Jason Carter)
Mr Carter of Americans Take Action with flags outside the Conservative Political Action Conference (Facebook/Jason Carter) (Facebook/Jason Charter)

The activists said they wanted to use the practical joke to make a serious point about the links between the Trump administration and President Putin.

Americans Take Action are calling for a Congressional investigation into the extent of Russian interference in the US election.

The group's website describes the group as “a network of populists who believe that the American government should represent we the people once again.”

They are calling on members of Congress to impeach the President.

Screengrab from Americans Take Action wesbite, calling on Congress to impeach President Trump
Screengrab from Americans Take Action wesbite, calling on Congress to impeach President Trump (Americans Take Action)

"Most Americans feel like something is wrong here," Mr Charter said. "They feel it in their gut. There is a weird connection between this guy in the Oval Office and the people in Russia."

The activists are now selling the “Traitor Trump Flags” they distributed at the conference online.

In a Facebook post, Mr Charter said all profits from the flags would be used to “fund the Resistance”.

The White House has not commented on the incident.

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