In the video, a man could be seen painting the letters "USA" in green on a "45" presidential placard. After finishing the letters, the man sat down on the floor and waited for law enforcement to arrive. The arresting agent was asked for his name and badge number, but claimed not to have a badge number. "This is your country!" the activist shouted as he was taken away in handcuffs. "This is our planet! This is our country! You cannot ruin it without comment! They are ruining the planet for profit!" "We're going to close the building now," an agent announced.
A climate activist connected with Extinction Rebellion was arrested inside Trump Tower in Manhattan on Wednesday after disfiguring a presidential seal in a protest drawing attention to government inaction on climate change. What Happened: Clad in a shirt that said "Join, or Die," the protester spray-painted "USA" across a presidential plaque in the Trump Tower lobby, and then knelt in front of it. He was then arrested by Secret Service agents in the presence of onlookers, many of whom filmed the incident. The protester was identified as a 36-year-old Nathaniel Smith of Brooklyn. He has been charged with third-degree criminal tampering and possession of graffiti tools.
A climate protester was busted after he spray painted the word “USA” over a presidential insignia inside Trump Tower Wednesday afternoon, according to law enforcement sources and video from the scene. The man, later identified by cops as Nathaniel Smith, 36, sprayed the bright green paint over the plaque inside the Midtown landmark before kneeling on the ground in front of it and closing his eyes, according to footage posted on X. Moments after a small crowd gathered — some snapping photos of the demonstrator — a security officer approached, and Smith unfurled a small banner bearing the words, “GAME OVER” with the symbol for the climate activist group Extinction Rebellion.
