Blinken's Final Briefing Sees Reporter Forcibly Ejected
Independent journalist Sam Husseini was physically removed from US Secretary of State Antony Blinken’s last press briefing. Read Full Article at RT.com.
In footage shared by Ryan Grim of DropSite News, several uniformed officers from the Diplomatic Security Service moved in on Husseini, who was sitting in the briefing room.
“Get your hands off me!” Husseini protested as the guards grabbed him. “Answer my damn question.”
He continued, “You pontificate about a free press! I am asking questions after being told by [State Department spokesman] Matt Miller that he will not answer my questions.”
The other journalists present in the room remained silent during the incident.
“Everybody from Amnesty International to the ICJ [International Court of Justice] is saying that Israel is doing genocide and extermination, and you’re telling me to respect the process?” Husseini shouted in response to Blinken.
“Criminal! Why are you not in The Hague?” he yelled repeatedly as he was escorted out by the DSS officers.
Following the event, Husseini took to X to report that he had been “seriously manhandled” for posing questions the State Department was unwilling to address. He sought clarification on various issues, including whether the US was aware of the “Hannibal Directive,” a controversial guideline that permits the Israeli military to kill service members or civilians rather than let them be captured.
According to Ryan Grim, a State Department staff member attempted to remove Husseini after he asked about this directive and subsequently called for armed security when he refused to leave.
Husseini expressed additional intentions to inquire about Blinken's ties to Jeffrey Epstein, Israeli nuclear capabilities, and the applicability of the Geneva Conventions to Gaza.
During the same briefing, Grayzone editor Max Blumenthal confronted Blinken, accusing him of harming the Jewish faith by associating it with fascism and referencing the secretary of state's father-in-law and grandfather, who were lobbyists for Israel.
“Why did you sacrifice the rules-based order on the mantle of your commitment to Zionism?” Blumenthal questioned as he was escorted out by State Department personnel. “Why did you allow the Holocaust of our time to happen? How does it feel to have your legacy be genocide?”
Olivia Brown for TROIB News