Allahpundit reported earlier on Trump’s speech at CPAC but there was a minor media story that erupted just before the speech. People waiting on Trump’s speech were seen waving Russian flags:

A section of people in the back of #CPAC2017 waving Russian flags — a staffer just came and demanded they all be handed over. pic.twitter.com/mZVoVUqudn — Tim Alberta (@TimAlberta) February 24, 2017

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

Someone handed out Trump Russian flags on the #CPAC2017 floor before Trump's speech pic.twitter.com/uf1ADMt6ZL — Taylor Lorenz (@TaylorLorenz) February 24, 2017

A handful of tweets was enough to spawn numerous stories like this one at Raw Story headlined, “CPAC scrambles to control damage after attendees wave Russian flags during Trump speech.” Of course there was a bit more to this story that many missed. Attendees at CPAC didn’t pick these up in a gift shop. Someone had been handing out Russian flags with Trump’s name on them:

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 — Tim Alberta (@TimAlberta) February 24, 2017

And it turns out that someone was a progressive activist named Ryan Clayton:

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

A while later O’Keefe published video of Clayton being ejected during Trump’s speech:

David Martosko from the Daily Mail confirmed that Clayton was indeed the person seen handing out the flags:

CPAC confirms to me that it was liberal activist Ryan Clayton who was ejected today for handing out the Trump-branded Russian Flags. — David Martosko (@dmartosko) February 24, 2017

The Daily Caller’s Chuck Ross reports that Clayton, “is the head of Americans Take Action, a mysterious left-wing activist group that seeks to reform the electoral system.” Clayton is apparently one of the people behind these celebrity videos seeking to get electors to change their votes. In short, this was a progressive stunt designed to generate headlines like this one by Matt Yglesias at Vox, “Trump fans were waving tiny Russian flags until CPAC staff confiscated them.”

Finally, have to give credit to Adam Baldwin whose tweet inspired my headline: