Left-wing political operative, Ryan Clayton, was removed from CPAC 2017 when he was caught passing out Russian flags labeled with “Trump” during President Donald Trump’s address Friday morning.
Crowd at CPAC waving these little pro-Trump flags that look exactly like the Russian flag. Staffers quickly come around to confiscate them. pic.twitter.com/YhPpkwFCNc
— Peter Hamby (@PeterHamby) February 24, 2017
#CPAC pic.twitter.com/Hb8JUxVfIm
— Ali Rogin (@AliABCNews) February 24, 2017
Security removed him once the incident was reported to conference staff and security. The Daily Mail’s David Martosko confirmed that American Conservative Union, the group that runs the annual conservative gathering, had him removed from the venue.
It is typically against Secret Service protocol to allow flags and loose objects such as the items Clayton was carrying. He may have snuck it in with the media.
Conservative journalist and provocateur, Project Veritas’ James O’Keefe, appears to be the first to identify the astroturf effort.
This was Ryan Clayton from Bob Creamer group "Americans Take Action" handing Russian flags. Ryan was forcibly removed. You edited that out. https://t.co/hKwywREjn5
— James O'Keefe (@JamesOKeefeIII) February 24, 2017
Clayton runs the leftist activist group called Americans Take Action. He also has ties to Wolf PAC, a progressive PAC started by The Young Turks’ Cenk Uygar. This is another one of Clayton’s political stunts designed to generate negative earned media for conservatives.
In December, he tried (and failed) to get republican electors to abandon Trump during the Electoral College vote. Clayton was also the campaign manager for liberal Larry Lessig’s botched presidential campaign.
Ryan Clayton, @Project_Veritas nemesis gets kicked out of @realDonaldTrump speech at #CPAC for handing out Russian flags. pic.twitter.com/0rLgeqIC3A
— James O’Keefe (@JamesOKeefeIII) February 24, 2017
