Fresh of his latest feud with outgoing Senator Bob Corker, Donald Trump was headed toward a GOP policy lunch in the Senate when a protester threw Russian flags at Trump as he was walking in the Capitol building, while shouting "Trump is treason" as the president walked by.
"Why are you talking about tax cuts when you should be talking about treason?" the man shouted as caught on social media videos.
Random guy threw Russian flags at Trump and shouted “Trump is treason” pic.twitter.com/stVfDOtMAB
— aída chávez (@aidachavez_) October 24, 2017
“That’s a very unusual breach of decorum for us to experience here,” MSNBC’s Kasie Hunt said.
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Andrea Mitchell confirmed, “the president was walking down the corridor right off the Senate floor on the second floor of the Capitol, one of the most secure places in Washington. We saw something we’ve never seen here before.”
According to Intercept journalist Aida Chavez, the protester was Ryan Clayton, the same activist who tricked CPAC attendees into waving Russian flags during Trump's speech.
This was Ryan Clayton, same activist who tricked CPAC attendees into waving Russian flags during Trump's speech https://t.co/HayMsmVCVs
— Ryan Grim (@ryangrim) October 24, 2017
It was not clear how Clayton was able to make it into the press area–he would need valid press credentials in order to get past Capitol security. Reporters noted that Clayton was also spotted with the press gaggle earlier this morning when Senator Bob Corker was being interviewed about president Donald Trump.
This same protester was caught standing behind @SenBobCorker during one of his media scrums this morning: pic.twitter.com/d5ev9aR4sI
— Frank Thorp V (@frankthorp) October 24, 2017
Capitol police took hold of Clayton after he began yelling and escorted him away from the press gaggle. Clayton was previously kicked out of the 2017 Conservative Political Action Conference after he distributed Russian flags to attendees.
As reported earlier, Trump is having lunch with Senate Republicans on Capitol Hill, where some were busy stocking up on popcorn...
Republican Sen. Thom Tillis is literally bringing popcorn to the Senate GOP lunch meeting. Same pic.twitter.com/Yr8a2XhACA
— Haley Byrd (@byrdinator) October 24, 2017
... in hopes of observing a screamfest between Trump and Corker finding party unity and getting enough votes to pass his tax reform. While republicans are in broad agreement about the need to pass tax reform, they are still divided over the specifics, as they begin a debate over legislation.