State Department spokesperson Matt Miller lost his temper as a journalist accused him of “smirking” at civilian deaths in Palestine.
A reporter questioned Miller about The Lancet medical journal’s estimate, relying on trends in “recent conflicts,” that 186,000 people could have died in Gaza as a result of the Israel-Hamas war. The State Department spokesperson said a higher number of deaths would be a tragedy. Another journalist, named Sam Husseini, then shouted out that he smirked during the answer.
“But we long ago passed the stage where, this has been a horrific human tragedy for quite some time,” Miller said.
“You’re smirking!” a reporter yelled. “You’re smirking as you say that!”
“Excuse me … go ahead with another question. I’m absolutely not. I’m not even gonna entertain that, I’m not even gonna entertain that … it’s ridiculous,” Miller said.
Miller expressed the administration’s desire to encourage a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas to mitigate the suffering in response to a following question.
Sam Husseini accused Miller on social media of pretending to “express sadness” about the deaths while “smirking,” which he claims the spokesperson has done repeatedly. (RELATED: ‘Disingenuous To The Extreme’: Reporter Leaves Biden Spox Stammering To Explain Iran Money Transfer)
“Matt Miller was asked about the estimate in the Lancet of 186,000 dead in Gaza. He pretended to express sadness about it while repeatedly smirking, as I’ve seen him do time and again,” Husseini wrote.
Matt Miller was asked about the estimate in the Lancet of 186,000 dead in Gaza. He pretended to express sadness about it while repeatedly smirking, as I’ve seen him do time and again.
I spoke up. Watch — https://t.co/hdPFkPPAg1
— Sam Husseini (@samhusseini) July 10, 2024
The Lancet’s journal article was not peer-reviewed, but reflected the difficulty of being able to gather an accurate number of those killed in Gaza, according to MSNBC. The Hamas-run Gaza Health Ministry has calculated the death toll up to at least 38,000, though that number is not confirmed.
At a press conference in January, Associated Press reporter Matt Lee left Miller stammering over the IDF’s destruction of a university in Gaza. Lee pressed Miller for more details about the demolition, leading to a tense exchange between the pair.
“It looks like they control demolition. It looks like what we do here in this country when we’re taking down an old hotel or stadium. And you have nothing to say? You have nothing to say about this, I mean, to do that kind of an explosion, you need to be in there, you have to put the explosives down and it takes a lot of planning and preparation to do and if there is a threat from this particular facility, they wouldn’t have been able to do it,” Lee said.
“So, I have seen the video. I can tell you that it is something that we are raising with the governor of Israel as we often do when we see—” Miller began.
“Well, raising as what?” Lee interjected.
WATCH:
Watch Lee clash with Miller over Iran using unfrozen funds to sponsor the terrorist group Hamas:
Watch another testy exchange between Lee and Miller:
