Everyone is saying the most awful and outrageous thing to happen today was for Trump to stand next to Putin and deny Putin interfered with our elections. It was indeed awful and outrageous, and there truly seems to be no basement for Trump when it comes to levels to which he'll sink to please his master. That's nothing new, though. Yet it's what was all over the news all day long because it's yet a new low for him, and everyone is waiting for the train to go completely off the cliff.
Completely swept under the rug by the news, however, was something equally awful and chilling - and something we do NOT see every day. Before the joint presser, we saw a credentialed journalist literally dragged from the room by Russian security.
Sam Husseini, of The Nation, was escorted out of the room by two security guards for reasons unknown to the other reporters. Then he was brought back in to retrieve his belongings when he held up a handwritten sign that said, "Nuclear Weapon Ban Treaty." At that point, Russian security reached around him and tried to grab the sign, and he was instantly surrounded by 5 or 6 other security guards who grabbed him and forcibly removed him — at times, carrying him, while he yelled and physically resisted.
You'd think that would be the story of the day, no? You might imagine this would be the top-of-the-hour beginning to each news show, right? Nope. Because what followed was the press conference wherein Putin literally admitted to helping Donald Trump win the 2016 election. Again, as astonishing as it is, it is nothing we did not already know. This reporter being dragged out of the room by a large group of large Russian men? There is a LOT more I'd like to know about this, and I refuse to let it be swept under the rug.
1. Where is Sam Husseini now?
2. Why was he removed?
3. Is he an American citizen?
4. Am I the only one who thinks it's fishy that NBC reporter Kelly O'Donnell's sound stopped working during the broadcast just as the altercation began? She had been narrating what was going on with Husseini in the clip above.
Most importantly, why didn't any major journalists cover this story, especially on TV? This was one of the most chilling and frightening things I have ever seen, and Hosseini's safety and rights as a journalist must not be lost under the Trump treason story.
UPDATE: Sam Husseini was released from detention, and the sign he was holding up was indicative of the topic of a question he wanted to ask. He is safe and in Finland for the next few days.
