PoliticsCNN Host Pamela Brown 'Stunned' by 'Cringeworthy' Heckling at Biden's Administration Israel-Hamas Ceasefire Briefing
Pamela Brown was stunned by the chaos during a recent press briefing.
CNN anchor Pamela Brown was "stunned" by what she called "cringeworthy heckling" that took place during Secretary of State Antony Blinken's briefing on the Israel-Hamas ceasefire deal.
Journalists Sam Husseini heckled during the state department's ceasefire briefing.
Blinken gave his briefing on Thursday, January 16, at the State Department. But activist/journalists Sam Husseini and Max Blumenthal, who were granted access, disrupted the presser with repeated shouting and diatribes about the number of civilian and journalist deaths in Gaza.
Ultimately, security stepped in and physically dragged Husseini out of the briefing room.
On CNN News Central, Brown and news correspondent Alex Marquardt were covering the briefing when the shouting began with the former later admitting she and Marquardt were "pretty stunned."
"This is supposed to be a press conference with a room of journalists," she told her viewers. "Those were activists who were interrupting the secretary of state when he initially was thanking the press and talking about the Israeli Hamas deal."
Sam Husseini was physically escorted out of the room.
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Marquardt told Brown: "Yeah, I think it’s really surprising. A lot of our viewers will have seen protests on Capitol Hill, for example, during confirmation hearings. But it’s very rare for something like that to happen at the State Department."
"I’m over there all the time in that briefing room, and you need to have a reason to be at the State Department, need to have an appointment," he continued. "You need to have press accreditation to come and go. So it’s it’s unclear who those people were. So I think there’s a real security question there. And in terms of, like, who gets to come into the building."
"I think it also speaks to the incredible anger at the Biden administration, both domestically and internationally, for the support that they have given to Israel," the news correspondent explained.
Thousands have died during the war between Israel and Hamas.
Brown also aired the incident filmed from another angle at the briefing, showing Husseini and Blumenthal's protest.
"You know about Israel’s nuclear weapons. Everybody from the ICJ. I was sitting here quietly, and now I’m being manhandled by 2 or 3 people! You pontificate about a free press," Husseini yelled. "You are hurting me! ... I am asking questions after being told by Matt Miller that he will not answer my questions. And I’m asking questions!"
An unidentified voice in the video told the journalist to "respect the process," leading Husseini to yell, "I was at the point of the op-ed, the May 31st statement to block to the ICJ orders. You block the ICJ orders."
A ceasefire agreement was made between Israel and Hamas.
The highly anticipated ceasefire deal, which would start Sunday with a six-week truce, could end 15 months of fighting in the Gaza Strip.
The first phase of the hard-won agreement would free 33 hostages held in Gaza, starting with two Americans. It would also free Palestinians held in Israeli jails.
However, according to Gaza's Civil Defense, at least 80 Palestinians have been killed in Israeli strikes since the announcement.
