Trump-Putin summit in Helsinki: 'Journalist' Sam Husseini kicked out of press conference for raising protest sign

A man claiming to be a journalist was forcefully ousted from the press conference which followed the meeting between US president Donald Trump and Russian president Vladimir Putin in Helsinki on Monday. [caption id=“attachment_4756261” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Sam Husseini raises a protest placard at the Trump-Putin meet press conference in Helsinki on Monday[/caption] The man — later identified as Sam Husseini — was holding up a paper which had “Nuclear Weapon Ban Treaty” written on it. According to media clips, the Secret Services security officials present at the venue first tried to take off the paper from him before grabbing and escorting him out According to a Sky News report, Husseini was sitting among the US news media at the time of the incident and told journalists in the room that he was a reporter from the American magazine, The Nation. The magazine has since issued a statement, saying: “Sam Husseini, communications director of the Institute for Public Accuracy, received press accreditation from The Nation to cover the summit between president Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin in Helsinki.”

Sam Husseini, communications director of Institute for Public Accuracy, received press accreditation from @thenation to cover summit. As Trump administration consistently denigrates media, we’re deeply troubled by reports that he was forcibly removed from press conference.

— Katrina vandenHeuvel (@KatrinaNation) July 16, 2018

Husseini reportedly disrupted the conference just before the two leaders were set to take questions from the press. According to a Mirror report, security officials had earlier asked Husseini to leave the room, and he had left peacefully then. However, he returned carrying the handwritten sign — which the Russian authorities reportedly called a “malicious item.”

“I want to ask a question about this issue. I want to ask about nuclear weapons,” the journalist said as he was led out of the conference room, the report states.

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

As per a report in Mail Online, in 2011, was “Husseini was suspended by the National Press Club’s executive director after he asked in Turki a point question about the legitimacy of the Saudi regime at an event at the Club”. However, the ethics committee of the Club later overturned his suspension.