Delta Air Lines announced on Thursday that it has banned people described as Trump supporters involved in heckling two Republican Senators at airports from being able to fly on their airline.
“Sen. Lindsey Graham was verbally harassed by at least a couple dozen Donald Trump supporters at Reagan National Airport on Friday after his public break with the president, according to a person at the scene who provided a video of the incident,” Politico reported last week. “Several people repeatedly loudly yelled at the South Carolina Republican that he was a ‘traitor.’ One woman called him a ‘liar,’ while another said, ‘You work for the people, you work for us, do you hear me?’ They promised not to touch him as he was surrounded by security.”
The other incident involved Sen. Mitt Romney (R-UT), a vocal critic of President Donald Trump, who was also confronted at an airport last week.
“In the nearly two minute video posted Tuesday evening, Romney is seen wearing a mask and typing on a laptop while sitting alone at the airport when he is approached by a Trump supporter, who calls him a ‘disgusting shame,'” Desert News reported. “The video was posted by the Twitter account Qtah — a mashup of QAnon and the state of Utah.”
Reuters reported on Thursday that Delta Air Lines CEO Ed Bastian revealed the company’s decision to ban those involved in harassing the two.
“Turning to disruption on recent U.S. flights by supporters of U.S. President Donald Trump, Bastian said Delta has placed passengers involved in incidents that targeted senators Mitt Romney and Lindsey Graham on its no-fly list,” Reuters reported.
WARNING: STRONG LANGUAGE – A group of supporters of President Trump confronted Senator Lindsey Graham at Washington's Reagan National Airport. Police escorted Graham from the area pic.twitter.com/CoAWXLHoLE
— Reuters (@Reuters) January 9, 2021
The Twitter account that posted the video of Romney being harassed inside the airport was suspended by the platform, but Desert News noted excerpts of what was said:
In the video, an off camera woman walks up to the senator, who asks her to put her mask on a couple times before the woman agrees, saying she will because she wants to “have a chat” with Romney.
“Are you going to support him in the fraudulent votes?” the woman asks, referring to Wednesday’s Congressional confirmation of the Electoral College vote.
“To overturn the election?” Romney asks. “No, I’m not.” The senator refers the woman to a statement he released Saturday on efforts to contest the results of the election, which he called “an egregious ploy to reject electors,” that “dangerously threatens our Democratic Republic.”
“We have a Constitution, the Constitutional process is clear,” Romney tells the woman. “I’ll follow the Constitution and I’ll explain all that when we meet in Congress this week.”
The woman continues to confront Romney, telling the senator that he hasn’t been supportive of the president and he was “voted in as a conservative to represent the conservative constituents. Period.”
As the woman raises her voice, Romney folds the laptop and walks away.
“Trump is a juggernaut,” a man off camera says to Romney, “your legacy is nothing.”
“You’re a joke. An absolute joke,” the woman says. “It’s a disgusting shame.” …
In another video posted to Twitter on Tuesday night, a group of passengers on the same flight with Romney from Salt Lake City to Washington D.C. can be heard chanting “traitor.”
“Resign, Mitt,” a woman yells.
This report has been updated to include additional information.