A screaming protester lobbed several small Russian flags at President Donald Trump on Tuesday as he walked into a lunch with Senate Republicans inside the U.S. Capitol.
Trump was entering the lunch when a man who was standing with the media, posing as a journalist, tossed the flags at Trump and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky.
Trump didn’t flinch as the flags headed his way, reacting only by giving a thumbs up.
The man who flung the flags screamed, “Trump is treason.”
“This president has conspired with agents of the Russian government,” he yelled as he was subdued by security officials. “We should be talking about treason in Congress, not about tax cuts!”
Trump didn’t appear to be in any danger at any moment, but the incident nevertheless appeared to be a security breach.
The general public is allowed inside the U.S. Capitol Complex for tours and appointments, but all entrants, including journalists, must go through a metal detector. Members of the press carry photo identification that allows them to traverse the halls of the building, but journalists obtain those credential badges only after undergoing a screening.
The protester was heard on camera identifying himself to Secret Service agents as “Ryan Clayton from Americans Take Action.”
The group identifies itself on its website as “a network of populists who believe that the American government should represent we the people once again, that the economy should work for all of us, and that the internet should remain free and open for generations to come.”
The White House and the Secret Service didn’t immediately respond to questions about the incident.
The protester, however, appears to have posed as a member of the media throughout the morning as was even seen as part of a group of journalists talking to Sen. Bob Corker, R-Tenn., earlier in the day.
A similar incident occurred in July and may have been carried out by the same protester.
On July 24, man standing with reporters who identified himself as “Ryan Clayton with Americans Take Action” tried to hand a Russian flag to Jared Kushner and asked Kushner to sign it.