sam-husseini

Reporter kicked out of Trump-Putin press conference in Helsinki

Moments before the highly anticipated press conference between President Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin on Monday, a credentialed member of the media holding a sign reading “Nuclear Weapons Ban Treaty” was kicked out of the room inside the Presidential Palace in Helsinki. He was later identified as Sam Husseini, the communications director of a Washington non-profit who was covering the Trump-Putin summit in Finland on behalf of the magazine The Nation.

Video of the incident shows Husseini holding the sign before security quickly grabbed him and forcibly took him out of the venue.

A journalist who heckled other members of the press and waved a sign that said “nuclear weapon treaty” was confronted by security detail and escorted out of press conference, @weijia Jiang reports from Helsinki https://t.co/ayZoKGvWxk pic.twitter.com/iHGnzvVT4I

— CBS News (@CBSNews) July 16, 2018

Husseini was removed twice, initially cooperating with security agents and exiting the media area. He came back, however, and brandished a sheet of paper with writing on it, at which point he was removed by force.

‘I shouldn’t have wasted my effort,’ says man turfed out of Trump summit

Sam Husseini says he was held in ‘dungeon’ after trying to engage US leader on policies

,, “I wasn’t trying to make a point. I was trying to get a question in,” Husseini said during an interview at a cafe overlooking the Gulf of Finland on Tuesday. “I wanted to engage him on nuclear policy.”

It isn’t clear who tipped off the authorities about Husseini’s sign, which he had sketched out with a magic marker and finished off at the White House press centre.

.. “I thought they could say ‘no, no, we don’t allow that, we have to take the sign away,’” Husseini said. “Instead, they jumped at me, my glasses get thrown to the ground and they pulled me out without any discussion.”

.. He said tat he wanted to ask the two leaders why the US and Russia had not made a good faith effort toward complete nuclear disarmament under the non-proliferation treaty. He also wanted to know whether Trump would declare the existence of an Israeli nuclear weapons programme.

“Everyone is talking about Russia influence,” Husseini said. “Israel has more influence in the United States.”

Husseini sparred with journalists before the press conference after making a wisecrack about television reporters that some had interpreted as heckling.

“They were getting up in breathless tones and going through the same Russiagate points that they’ve been repeating for the last year and a half as if it was breaking news,” he said.

“I shouldn’t have wasted my effort on it,” he added.

.. But he felt it was important to inject something else into Monday’s press conference, which largely focused on accusations of election interference and felt scripted, he said.Instead, he says, he was held first in a room resembling a dungeon in Finland’s presidential palace and later in a detention centre on the outskirts of town, with graffiti etched into the walls.

.. “This is freedom of the press in Finland?” he yelled at passersby. He said he was then shackled by his arms and legs and put into a police van heading away from the summit.

Ray McGovern On Trump/Putin Helsinki Meeting & The Shocking Treatment Of Journalist Sam Husseini

Legendary CIA analyst and political activist Ray McGovern joins Richie. www.raymcgovern.com Ray reflects on Donald Trump’s meeting with Vladimir Putin in Helsinki, both mens insistence that there was no collusion before the election, the indictment of 12 Russian spies for alleged election hacking and more. This is unmissable. Ray also chats about the appalling treatment of journalist Sam Husseini, who was forcibly removed from the press conference by hired goons, moments before it started.