An aide has been fired after President Trump took the stage at a Turning Point USA event earlier this week in front of a doctored presidential seal that featured pro-Russian imagery and said “45 is a puppet.”
White House spokesman Judd Deere told the Associated Press officials “never saw the seal” before it was projected on a screen behind Trump as he was introduced Tuesday at Turning Point USA’s teen summit. The altered seal appeared on the projector screen for at least 80 seconds behind Trump before it was taken down, the Washington Times reported.
Turning Point USA, a conservative group that has been aligned with Trump, announced Thursday that the aide responsible for the supposedly accidental mix-up has since been fired.
The doctored image featured a two-headed eagle, a direct nod to the Russia Federation’s coat of arms. The bird’s left claw held golf clubs instead of the original’s 13 arrows, which symbolize the 13 colonies. The right claw grasped cash, instead of the original’s olive branch.
The altered presidential seal read “45 es un titere,” which translated from Spanish means “45 is a puppet.” The authentic seal sports the Latin phrase “e pluribus unum,” the U.S. motto meaning “out of many, one.”
