President Donald Trump appeared on stage at a Turning Point USA student summit in front of an altered presidential seal featuring symbols representing Russia and golf, Yahoo Finance reports.
The presidential seal projected behind Trump featured the two-headed eagle clutching golf clubs in its claw. And “E pluribus unum”—the national motto which translates to “out of many, one—was replaced by the Spanish phrase “45 es un títere”: “45 is a puppet.”
Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin’s close relationship is well-known, with the pair recently joking about election meddling at an international summit in Japan, the New York Times reports.
According to Forbes, Trump’s golf trips could cost U.S. taxpayers $340 million.
Turning Point USA quickly worked to rectify the situation, announcing Thursday afternoon that the audiovisual aide allegedly responsible for the seal has been fired, The Hill reports. An unnamed source insisted that there was “zero malicious intent” behind the image.
“We’re sorry for the mix-up and meant no disrespect to the White House or the president or the advance team,” the TPUSA source told CNN.