On Friday morning at the Conservative Political Action Conference, or CPAC, the crowd waved what at first glance appeared to be tiny pro-Trump flags during the president's speech. But something about them seemed…off.
@PeterHamby: Crowd at CPAC waving these little pro-Trump flags that look exactly like the Russian flag. Staffers quickly come around to confiscate them.
Oh yeah, because they were RUSSIAN FLAGS.
@DeeinHouston: Someone is passing out Russian flags with TRUMP on them. Protests come in all forms. # Freedom# Merica# CPAC
@C4KylieM: Flags just distributed at CPac. Russia anyone?
@TaylorLorenz: Someone handed out Trump Russian flags on the # CPAC2017floor before Trump's speech
A CPAC staffer later came around and confiscated the flags.
@TimAlberta: A section of people in the back of # CPAC2017waving Russian flags -- a staffer just came and demanded they all be handed over.
It was not immediately clear who passed out the flags, or why.
CPAC attendees told Politico's Tim Alberta they'd thought the person who gave them the flags was a staffer. "They saw red, white & blue — with "TRUMP" stamped across it" and "gave no thought to Russian flag," Alberta said.
@TimAlberta: A section of people in the back of # CPAC2017waving Russian flags -- a staffer just came and demanded they all be handed over.
@TimAlberta: They saw red, white & blue - with "TRUMP" stamped across it - and started to wave them. Gave no thought to Russian flag, they all said. 2/2
People couldn't tell if it was a prank, a protest, or something else entirely.
@rseymour: troll-level: hard to tell
@LutherLowe: brilliant prank, whoever did this!
@Rschooley: What mad genius made these?
@Kasparov63: Were the people waving Russian flags at Trump at CPAC his supporters or his critics?
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