In his weekend farewell on “Velshi,” Ali Velshi used his final episode to argue that the freedom of the press is being squeezed—after he says police removed him while he was covering a protest at an ICE detention center in Newark, New Jersey.
Ali Velshi’s last weekend episode of “Velshi” didn’t end quietly. He spent it confronting viewers with a blunt message about the freedom of the press, and he didn’t pull punches when he brought President Donald Trump into the frame.
Velshi. who is moving to nights on MS NOW. recalled being removed by police during a recent attempt to cover a protest of an ICE detention center in Newark. New Jersey. He said he was “just moved. removed from an unfolding news event in the United States of America so that what was happening there could happen without a journalist watching.” He added. “I was uninjured this time.”.
But he said the moment still struck at core democratic standards—“democracy. fairness. transparency and accountability took yet another hit.” In his telling. the pattern isn’t limited to new laws or formal punishments. “This is how it unfolds,” he said. “Not always with legislation. not always with imprisonment. sometimes with a rubber bullet. sometimes with a police escort. sometimes with a president who calls the press the enemy of the people.”.
Velshi argued that Trump’s language has moved beyond rhetoric. “Not once, not as a rhetorical flourish, but as a governing philosophy repeated until enough people believe it and they believe that the next step becomes possible.”
He then delivered the line he wanted viewers to carry forward: “The press is not the enemy of the people.” He said the press is “the people’s guarantee that they will know what is done in their name.”
Velshi also tied the immediate events to a broader pressure he believes journalism is facing inside the political moment. He pointed to “institutions that taught this country what bearing witness looks like. ” saying they are “right now under pressure from. or perhaps in bed with. this administration.”.
He brought special attention to CBS News. invoking the legacy of Walter Cronkite and comparing it to what he described as CBS’s posture toward Trump in the wake of a legal fight. Velshi referenced CBS’s “$16 million cave-in settlement” with Trump over his lawsuit. and he framed it alongside reports of “wholesale changes” underway on “60 Minutes. ” where he said the network is facing “cries that it’s losing its journalistic freedom.”.
The plea wasn’t only aimed at reporters. Velshi returned to the idea of ordinary people bearing witness to injustice, and his remarks brought in two names he said paid with their lives: Renee Good and Alex Pretti. He said Trump and his loyalists cast them as villains.
In the studio, Velshi appeared emotionally affected at points as he made his case. He briefly described his own origin story as a way of explaining why he believes in the stakes of press freedom: he said he was born in Kenya, grew up in Canada, and came to America as an adult.
“I chose this country not out of sentiment, not out of necessity, but because of what I believed it was capable of,” he said. He added that he has reported from places where “the press is silent,” where “elections are theater,” and where “asking the wrong question can cost you your freedom.”
“I’ve seen up close what the absence of this great experiment looks like,” he continued. “I chose America. I still choose it because of what was built here. A nation founded not on blood or soil or a single faith. but on an idea and an argument and a set of rules generous enough on its best days to hold all of us.”.
Then, as “Velshi” came to a close, he turned back to the audience. “I choose it, I choose you,” he said, “and I’m standing here in the studio as this program comes to an end, asking you who were born to it, who inherited it, or who, like me, chose it, to choose it again.”
Starting June 15, Velshi’s schedule will change as he takes over weeknights in the slot currently held by Stephanie Ruhle on “The 11th Hour,” while Ruhle moves to mornings.
Ali Velshi Velshi MS NOW The 11th Hour Stephanie Ruhle President Donald Trump freedom of the press ICE detention center Newark New Jersey police removal media freedom CBS News 60 Minutes Walter Cronkite Renee Good Alex Pretti
So like cops just escorted him out? wild.
I mean Trump says press is the enemy a lot, but I don’t know, isn’t it also like they’re trying to cover protests and stuff and then people get in the way. Still, getting removed from an event is sketchy.
Wait I thought he was ending the show because of ratings? But now it’s about “press freedom”? Also “rubber bullet”??? Like that’s every protest now. Not sure what he wants police to do, let everyone film ICE buildings and interfere or something.
Man I feel like this is what they do. They remove journalists, then everyone pretends nothing happened. Even if he wasn’t injured “this time,” that doesn’t mean it’s not escalating. And the whole “press is not the enemy of the people” thing sounds right but also like… Trump would never admit it. I just hope he’s okay moving to nights on whatever channel because these stories always get buried.