The White House is standing by its decision to revoke the press credentials of CNN correspondent Jim Acosta. Press Secretary Sarah Sanders tweeted a video that allegedly shows Acosta using “inappropriate behavior” when a White House intern try to take the microphone from Acosta during a Donald Trump news conference on Wednesday.
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
One problem. The video has been doctored.
1) Took @PressSec Sarah Sanders' video of briefing
2) Tinted red and made transparent over CSPAN video
3) Red motion is when they doctored video speed
4) Sped up to make Jim Acosta's motion look like a chop
5) I've edited video for 15+ years
6) The White House doctored it pic.twitter.com/q6arkYSx0V— Rafael Shimunov ? (@rafaelshimunov) November 8, 2018
The video, it turns out, came from the conspiracy website Infowars. From Newsweek:
Paul Joseph Watson, a far-right conspiracy theorist and editor-at-large of InfoWars, wrote for the Alex Jones-run website that “Acosta clearly uses his left arm to physically resist/restrain the woman.”
On Twitter, Watson accused Acosta of using his arm “to overpower her” and shared the doctored footage, which zooms in on the reporter’s arm.
The original clip shows the staffer grabbing the mic and attempting to pull it away as Acosta holds on. Her arm meets with Acosta’s hand, which drops with his arm as she tries to pull the mic and turn to hand it to another reporter.
The Infowars-White House pipeline is alive and well: Sarah Huckabee Sanders shared a doctored Infowars video to prop up lies about CNN’s Jim Acosta https://t.co/q6NtEIYq2j pic.twitter.com/xMm5VIau52
— Media Matters (@mmfa) November 8, 2018
From Media Matters:
“Observers on Twitter quickly pointed out that the clip in question originated from a tweet by Watson and that the video was altered. According to HuffPost, “The footage Sanders shared was missing the audio, zoomed in and repeated. Critics on social media said the speed of the footage was altered as well.”