Senate Democrat to blogger on Amtrak ride: ‘I’m gonna have you thrown off this train’

Sen. Chris Coons (D-DE) had a tense conversation on Monday with journalist Aaron Maté on an Amtrak train when the lawmaker was repeatedly asked about pushing for a ceasefire in Gaza.

The confrontation began when Maté started his video recording of Coons, who was sitting in front of him on the train, and he opened his questioning with an apology about putting the senator on the spot about his views on his support for Israel.

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“Sen. @ChrisCoons sat across from me on the train. With Israel using US weapons to kill thousands of Palestinian civilians, including 4600+ children, I asked him why he refuses to call for a ceasefire,” the journalist said on social media.

“U.S. weapons are killing kids in Gaza,” Maté said to Coons on the train.

“Who are you?” Coons asked him.

The Delaware senator repeatedly reminded Maté that they were in the quiet car and he was disturbing others around them by questioning him.

“My name is Aaron Maté. I’m a journalist,” he responded.

After Maté continued to press the senator on a ceasefire, Coons pushed back to say that he was “not gonna call for a ceasefire.”

“I strongly support humanitarian pauses. I’ve urged the Israeli government to target their campaign against Hamas. But you need to stop,” the senator said.

As Maté persisted, Coons kept urging him to stop his questioning in the quiet car.

“Please stop, or I’m gonna have you thrown off this train,” Coons said. “This is not professional journalism. Please get up and leave now.”

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“After questioning Sen. Coons about his support for Israeli massacres in Gaza, I was asked to move to a different seat. I complied. About 30 mins later, he walked by me. We did not exchange words. At the next stop, in Philadelphia, I was removed from the train. I assume this was done at Sen. Coons’ behest,” Maté said in a post on social media.

Maté is a self-described “award-winning independent journalist” on Substack. He hosts Pushback with Aaron Maté on the Grayzone. He previously worked as a reporter and producer for Democracy Now!, Vice, the Real News Network, and Al Jazeera.