A journalist was escorted out of a joint press conference between President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin held in Helsinki on Monday.
The reporter, Sam Husseini, identified himself as being with the progressive publication the Nation. He was reportedly holding a sign that read, “Nuclear Weapons Ban Treaty.”
“They initially asked him to step out of the room, which he did peacefully,” White House correspondent Jim Acosta explained during CNN’s live coverage of the exchange. “They brought him back in to get his stuff, and he said the reason why I’m being removed — talking about himself obviously — is because he had a sign, and he held up a sign that talked about the nuclear test ban treaty.”
Acosta continued, “At that point, as he held it up, the security officials grabbed him and forcibly removed him from the room.”
WOW — a reporter was forcibly removed from the press conference before it began. @Acosta says he is with @thenation, and was taken out because he was carrying an anti-nuclear weapons "protest sign" pic.twitter.com/bRPIiyiCRP
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) July 16, 2018
The press briefing follows a one-on-one summit between Trump and Putin. Fox News host Sean Hannity and political commentator Tucker Carlson are scheduled to interview Trump after, while Fox News anchor Chris Wallace is set to interview Putin.
The conference comes days after Special Counsel Robert Mueller indicted 12 Russian military officers on charges of interfering with the 2016 presidential election.
