US journalist slams his ‘thuggish’ removal from war criminal Blinken’s final press conference

In his final press conference as US secretary of state on 16 January, genocide-denier and war criminal Antony Blinken ensured the removal of two journalists who challenged him on US participation in Israel’s genocide in Gaza – one of them being Sam Husseini.

Journalist Sam Husseini calls his treatment “very thuggish” and “total mafioso stuff”

Security officers manhandled veteran journalist Sam Husseini, who was brave enough to ask Blinken a number of important questions as they roughed him up:

I was seriously manhandled but I'm back home… thanks for all support folks.

My intention was to ask tough questions at every opportunity during the news conference which State personnel obviously cut short:

* Was the point of the May 31 announcement to block implementation of… https://t.co/1VcopsaYDg

— Sam Husseini (@samhusseini) January 16, 2025

Imagine still believing that America is the land of the free when they’re doing this to journalists in press conferences pic.twitter.com/oNOg8NIz8C

— Lauren McKenzie (@TheMcKenziest) January 16, 2025

Husseini is an independent US journalist with Jordanian-Palestinian roots. And he criticised how Department of State spokesperson Matt Miller set security personnel on him to avoid further embarrassment for Blinken, saying:

Matt Miller and the other propagandists at the State Dept would rather have visuals of me being carried out than have Blinken have to answer a few of my questions.

Speaking to fellow independent journalist Katie Halper after the events, Husseini said he didn’t expect such rough treatment, which he described as “very thuggish” and “total mafioso stuff”. And he later stressed that no major US news outlet had reached out to him about what had happened, adding:

I suspect they are desperate that the public not look at how murderous US gov policy is or think about what journalism should be.

The farewell Blinken deserved, but not according to mainstream media

Suppressed News argued that the challenges Blinken faced in his final press conference were “the farewell he deserves”. But most journalists in the room notably remained silent as security dragged Husseini away. As Thomson Reuters Foundation deputy editor-in-chief Barry Malone asked:

Did not a single other journalist protest when a colleague was being manhandled out of the room?

CNN, meanwhile, actively covered for Blinken, suggesting that it was ‘protesters‘ rather than journalists that Blinken’s team had removed from the room. The mainstream outlet also called the interventions “cringeworthy” and praised US ‘democracy’ for allowing “foreign journalists” to be there and ask questions. For CNN, apparently, genocide itself is not cringeworthy, but holding the government to account for its participation in such a crime is.

Unbelievable. CNN covers a journalist being dragged from the briefing room by complimenting America on its “democracy” and for deigning to allow foreign journalists from “Turkey, China, & Korea” to ask questions. (Sam is an American citizen). https://t.co/7ZZcSqFYmO

— Briahna Joy Gray (@briebriejoy) January 16, 2025

One former state department analyst even complained that Husseini’s *interruptions* marked “a new low in civility and discourse”. That this, and not the thuggish removal of a journalist for trying to hold officials accountable for their involvement in genocide, was the subject of criticism said everything about the elite’s contempt for ‘civility and discourse’.

The men who ‘smirked their way through genocide’

Independent journalist Max Blumenthal also interrupted Blinken, and was also escorted out of the room.

Journalist @MaxBlumenthal confronts Secretary of State Blinken during his farewell address to the State Department press corps:
“Why did you allow the Holocaust of our time to happen? How does it feel to have your legacy be genocide?”

Blumenthal also called out spokesperson Matt… https://t.co/hBkwIj4FR7 pic.twitter.com/mwFMbRPVf1

— Drop Site (@DropSiteNews) January 16, 2025

He highlighted Blinken’s connection to pro-Israel lobbyists:

I’m grateful to have finally gotten a conversation going on how America’s outgoing top diplomat repeatedly proclaimed his ethnoreligious and familial loyalty to a foreign apartheid state, then assisted it as it conducted a Holocaust, and how this was not an issue in official DC https://t.co/afj9iqUALL

— Max Blumenthal (@MaxBlumenthal) January 17, 2025

Blinken's late stepfather was Samuel Pisar, the longtime lawyer and confidant of Robert Maxwell – a Mossad agent and father of Ghislaine Maxwell.

Pisar was perhaps the last person to speak to Robert Maxwell before he died after falling off his yacht. https://t.co/qR9gd2mm2a https://t.co/wldmAYdrw2 pic.twitter.com/zhvwU3n9QB

— Max Blumenthal (@MaxBlumenthal) November 25, 2020

Blinken’s step-father Samuel Pisar, for example, “thought about Israel all the time and spent a good deal of his life in support of the Jewish state”, had links to Israeli super-spy Robert Maxwell, and to Jeffrey Epstein.

Blumenthal also criticised Miller (and Blinken indirectly) for ‘smirking his way through genocide’:

MUST SEE: Journalist @MaxBlumenthal confronts Antony Blinken about Israel's genocide

“300 reporters in Gaza were on the receiving end of your bombs…”

“Why did you keep the bombs flowing when we had a deal in May?…”

“Why did you allow the holocaust of our time to happen??…” pic.twitter.com/wqpRDGEWCd

— Decensored News (@decensorednews) January 16, 2025

Watch Blinken’s face when @MaxBlumenthal says “How does it feel to have your legacy be genocide… you smirked through a genocide.”

Blinken: I’m happy to take any question about anything as we’ve done these last 4 years

Who cares if you take questions when you don’t answer them. pic.twitter.com/XhhnrDotha

— Assal Rad (@AssalRad) January 16, 2025

And later on, he criticised CNN‘s coverage of Blinken’s final press conference, insisting:

CNN was central in manufacturing consent for the Gaza genocide, now it’s trying to insulate the author of this titanic crime from accountability

CNN was central in manufacturing consent for the Gaza genocide, now it’s trying to insulate the author of this titanic crime from accountability

I’d be happy to grant these corporate state media hacks a live in studio interview so we can compare notes on journalistic experience https://t.co/FCk0r6gukZ

— Max Blumenthal (@MaxBlumenthal) January 16, 2025

Featured image via screengrab