White House press secretary Sarah Sanders is facing backlash for sharing a video showing CNN reporter Jim Acosta’s microphone tug of war with a White House intern that appears to have been altered.
At a news conference Wednesday, President Trump engaged in a heated exchange with Acosta. After saying he had enough of Acosta’s questions, a young woman walked over and tried to grab the microphone away from the White House correspondent.
The woman, who has been identified only as an intern, repeatedly tried to reach around his left arm to grab the microphone away from him. On her third attempt, the intern reached under his left arm and he put his arm down to block her.
Hours later, Sanders issued a statement saying the White House would not tolerate Acosta “placing his hands on” the woman and revoked his White House hard pass.
On Twitter, Sanders shared a video showing the moment Acosta blocked the intern with his arm in increasingly zoomed-in frames.
We stand by our decision to revoke this individual’s hard pass. We will not tolerate the inappropriate behavior clearly documented in this video. pic.twitter.com/T8X1Ng912y
— Sarah Sanders (@PressSec) November 8, 2018
Heated accusations followed, as critics said the video shared by Sanders had been manipulated to make Acosta’s movement appear more aggressive.
“Yes, the White House press office is sharing a manipulated video that makes it appear that Acosta was menacing the intern when he was not and did not. The intern reached over Acosta to grab the microphone while he was trying to ask another q and Acosta tried to pull away,” New York Times White House reporter Maggie Haberman wrote.
Yes, the White House press office is sharing a manipulated video that makes it appear that Acosta was menacing the intern when he was not and did not. The intern reached over Acosta to grab the microphone while he was trying to ask another q and Acosta tried to pull away. https://t.co/2cqjHSYmr4
— Maggie Haberman (@maggieNYT) November 8, 2018
“This video is doctored. It’s slowed down and then sped up at the moment Acosta’s hand comes down to make it look like he’s doing a karate chop or something. This is shameful propaganda. It’s Orwellian,” reporter Dana Schwartz, of Entertainment Weekly, wrote.
This video is doctored. It’s slowed down and then sped up at the moment Acosta’s hand comes down to make it look like he’s doing a karate chop or something. This is shameful propaganda. It’s Orwellian. https://t.co/in8m3iHn18
— Dana Schwartz (@DanaSchwartzzz) November 8, 2018
You manipulated this video. The lies never end. Here’s the actual video. pic.twitter.com/pdVWbDOKTI
— Matt Dornic (@mdornic) November 8, 2018
Question for @PressSec: Where’d you obtain the distorted @Acosta video you posted? InfoWars personality @PrisonPlanet posted the same video two hours before you did. Surely you don’t trust InfoWars…?
— Brian Stelter (@brianstelter) November 8, 2018
Others showed the video shared by Sanders side-by-side with a clip of the original broadcast to argue it had been manipulated. They also alleged that it was taken from an editor with InfoWars, a far-right conspiracy website.
Further analysis: video is absolutely doctored. You can see the edit when the clips are side by side and slowed down to quarter speed. See for yourself: pic.twitter.com/4ZZrzhislg
— Aymann Ismail (@aymanndotcom) November 8, 2018
Sanders’ video had been shared on Twitter two hours beforehand Paul Joseph Watson of InfoWars. Watson denied doctoring or speeding up the video.
“I merely zoomed in,” he said.
Here’s the video that proves I did not “doctor” or “speed up” the Acosta video, as some media outlets claim. I merely zoomed in.
Nice try to distract from Acosta’s behavior, but this kind of dishonesty is why the media has a massive trust issue.
Please correct your stories. pic.twitter.com/g0AzlEyVx0
— Paul Joseph Watson (@PrisonPlanet) November 8, 2018
After watching the separate clips, another Twitter user said any changes made to the video “would be incredibly minor — possibly due to working across [frame rates] and compressions.”
OK, I have been looking at this all morning – here’s C-Span vs. the InfoWars clip from @PrisonPlanet that the White House tweeted. Any changes, if they did make them, would be incredibly minor – and possibly due to working across framerates and compressions pic.twitter.com/4FasYDZv4a
— Paul Joseph Watson is far-right (@imbadatlife) November 8, 2018
But the Washington Post reports that experts said they are convinced the video was manipulated. For his part, Acosta denies the interaction with the intern was as violent as the White House claims.
“Obviously I didn’t put my hands on her or touch her as they’re alleging, and it’s unfortunate that the White House is saying this,” Acosta said Wednesday night.
