Trump gives speech in front of hoax seal with eagle holding golf clubs
Donald Trump seemed unaware the eagle had two heads and was holding golf clubs and cash instead of arrows and an olive branch.
Friday 26 July 2019 09:38, UK
A conservative aide has been fired after the US president found himself giving a speech in front of a doctored presidential seal.
Donald Trump seemed unaware of the hoax image - which included a Russian-inspired two-headed eagle holding golf clubs and cash in its talons.
By contrast, the official seal features an eagle holding arrows and an olive branch.
Instead of the Latin "E pluribus unum" (from many one), the words were in Spanish and translated to "45 is a puppet", referring to Mr Trump being the 45th president of the United States.
The bird's chest also had hammer and sickle symbols on it. The double-headed eagle resembled the bird on the Russian coat of arms.
An audiovisual aide for the conservative student group Turning Point USA was fired over the gaffe, which is being blamed on a Google Images search gone wrong.
A White House spokesman said: "We never saw the seal in question before it appeared in the video.
"The White House had no knowledge of it."
Mr Trump had been greeted enthusiastically by the young audience before his 80-minute speech at the student summit on Tuesday.
However, they also seemed unaware of the mistake that had been made on the screen behind him.
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Turning Point USA, which hosted the event, is a political non-profit group which, among other activities, maintains a list of college professors it thinks are too liberal.