Protester shouts 'Trump is treason' and hurls Russia flags at US president as he walks past

A protester has been arrested at the US Capitol Building after footage appears to show him throwing Russian flags at Donald Trump as he entered a meeting with Republican officials.

The man can be heard yelling "Trump is treason" as the president passed, although Trump did not seem fazed on Tuesday (24 October).

In the video, the man says that he is Ryan Clayton from 'Americans Take Action' and is heard yelling "why is Congress talking about tax cuts when they should be talking about treason?" Trump was in the Capitol to discuss Republican plans to overhaul the US tax system.

In a statement, the US Capitol Police said that they had "arrested an individual for protesting inside the U. Capitol" at around 1:38pm. The statement identified the man as 36-year-old Ryan Clayton of Sterling, Virginia and said he was preliminarily charged with unlawful conduct.

Clayton was previously part of a similar protest before Trump was due to speak at the Conservative Political Action Conference in nearby National Harbour, Maryland. Clayton and fellow activist Jason Charter handed Russian flags to audience members before they were ejected from the event.

Speaking to IBTimes UK after that incident, Clayton and Charter said that they had been surprised by the positive reception they had received from some young Republicans at the conference. Charter said that Clayton approached him with the idea the week before and he had replied: "We have to do it".

On its website, Americans Take Actions describes itself 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".