When Democracy Now! senior producer Mike Burke attempted to interview billionaire casino magnate and Republican donor Sheldon Adelson inside the Republican National Convention, a woman identified as Adelson's daughter grabbed his video camera, tried to take it into a private suite and then threw the camera to the ground. While Adelson's daughter first accused Burke of hitting her, she later came out of the suite to apologize. The incident was caught on tape, shortly after Burke questioned another billionaire GOP donor, David Koch, as well as former House Speaker Newt Gingrich and former Republican National Committee chair Michael Steele. Burke files a report and joins Amy Goodman to describe what happened.

MIKE BURKE: Yeah, and there was a very large entourage that ended up responding to this incident. And there was actually a third incident that happened, where another one of his aides ended up grabbing my cell phone and attempting to take my cell phone, because once Hany’s camera was on the ground and we weren’t sure if it was working, I attempted to take out my Android and—because I wanted to record what was happening. He immediately grabbed my hand and grabbed onto the phone and refused to let go. And he held on for about probably 20 seconds or so. You can hear that, as well, in this tape. So, I think we should take a listen

ADELSON HANDLER: ...their privacy. Probably shouldn’t have had—

HANY MASSOUD: We weren’t recording her. We were doing an interview.

ADELSON DAUGHTER: You’re recording right now.

ADELSON HANDLER: They’re in here for a private event, and you stuck—do me a favor.

HANY MASSOUD: Who are you guys? Who are you guys?

ADELSON HANDLER: Do me a favor. Do me a favor.

ADELSON DAUGHTER: Are you recording me now?

ADELSON HANDLER: Do me a favor. Do me a favor.

HANY MASSOUD: Mike. 571.

ADELSON HANDLER: Do me a favor. Do me a favor.

MIKE BURKE: Sir, you just stole my camera!

ADELSON HANDLER: Do me a favor. Do me a favor, OK? When you run into someone in the hallway—

MIKE BURKE: That’s my camera.

HANY MASSOUD: It’s on camera. It’s on camera. Are you joking? Are you joking?

ADELSON DAUGHTER: I am sorry. I don’t know who. I thought you were hitting me.

HANY MASSOUD: OK, that’s fine. That’s fine. Well, it’s on camera. It’s on camera. We’re not worried about it. We’re not worried about it. I mean, she grabs my camera and tries to run off with it. So how am I supposed to respond to that? That’s exactly my point. It’s on camera. I’m not even near her. I’m behind her. I’m behind her.

MIKE BURKE: I’ve been working on this job for 12 years. I’ve never seen somebody grab a camera like this.

HANY MASSOUD: Is there a spokesperson?

ADELSON HANDLER: She’s his daughter.

HANY MASSOUD: See, I didn’t know that. So that’s why she’s more emotional, you see?

ADELSON HANDLER: That’s his daughter. And they’re giving—and they gave [inaudible]—

HANY MASSOUD: So, she took it personal. She took it personal.

ADELSON HANDLER: She did. Well, it is personal, because they’re private citizens.

HANY MASSOUD: Which I also understand. Until she grabbed the camera, it wasn’t a big deal.

ADELSON HANDLER: I know. I understand.

HANY MASSOUD: That’s what I’m saying. We’re used to handlers bumping us and things like that, and we respect their jobs.

ADELSON HANDLER: Yeah, I’ve got it.

HANY MASSOUD: We respect their jobs.

ADELSON HANDLER: So, but just—the best thing is to back off. Contact me. We’ll fix it.

AMY GOODMAN: There you have this bit of commotion here. Mike, what happened next?

MIKE BURKE: Well, one interesting thing I forgot to mention is, Karl Rove was actually standing by when almost all of this happened. He was walking down the hall with Sheldon Adelson and was going to the same suite as Sheldon. So, he actually witnessed at least the beginning part of this, and I’m not sure how much after that.

Much, much more to this story, and the full transcript is available at DemocracyNow!