Watch: did White House use doctored video to support punishment of CNN journalist Jim Acosta?
- Trump spokeswoman Sarah Sanders accused Acosta of ‘placing his hands on a young woman’ to justify stripping the reporter’s White House credentials
- She shared a video of an incident that had apparently been sped up at a moment when Acosta and an intern tussled over a microphone
White House press secretary Sarah Sanders on Wednesday night shared a video of CNN reporter Jim Acosta that appeared to have been altered to make his actions at a news conference look more aggressive toward a White House intern, during a fiery encounter between Acosta and US President Donald Trump.
The edited video looks authentic: Acosta appeared to swiftly chop down on the arm of an aide as he held onto a microphone while questioning Trump at the White House press conference on Wednesday. But in the original video, Acosta’s arm appears to move only as a response to a tussle for the microphone. His statement, “Pardon me, ma’am,” is not included in the video Sanders shared.
Critics said that video – which sped up the movement of Acosta’s arms – was deceptively edited to score political points.
On Wednesday night, Sanders accused Acosta of “placing his hands on a young woman” and said his press credentials would be suspended “until further notice”. Press advocates called the move an unprecedented retaliation against a journalist.
The edited video shared by Sanders was first shared by Paul Joseph Watson, known for his conspiracy-theory videos on the far-right website Infowars.