US President Donald Trump and his unending slugging match with CNN was made a whole lot more interesting this week when the network’s White House correspondent, Mr Jim Acosta, lost his privileges to set foot in the Presidential offices ever again.
However, the video that press secretary Sarah Sanders distributed as proof that Mr Acosta inappropriately touched a White House intern (by now nicknamed ‘Microphone Meghan’ by the leftwing mainstream media) during his spat with the US President is coming under scrutiny because of the source material.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">If the media attacks you, smears you, defames you - don’t sit back and take it. Defend yourself. Fight back. If you’re committed, honest and righteous - you will win. <a href="https://t.co/PHShwjjGgg">https://t.co/PHShwjjGgg</a></p>— Paul Joseph Watson (@PrisonPlanet) <a href="https://twitter.com/PrisonPlanet/status/1060791759255621632?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 9, 2018</a></blockquote>
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According to the official White House explanation, Mr Acosta "placed his hand" on the female intern while she tried to get the microphone. Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders wrote on Twitter that the administration would "never tolerate" such behavior from a reporter and that it had therefore revoked Acosta's press accreditation. Mr Acosta, and with him most of the mainstream US media, now says that the video given as proof is doctored and slowed down to make it look like he did.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">We stand by our decision to revoke this individual’s hard pass. We will not tolerate the inappropriate behavior clearly documented in this video. <a href="https://t.co/T8X1Ng912y">pic.twitter.com/T8X1Ng912y</a></p>— Sarah Sanders (@PressSec) <a href="https://twitter.com/PressSec/status/1060374680991883265?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 8, 2018</a></blockquote>
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Sanders tweeted an edited video of a C-SPAN recording which, she wrote, clearly documents the inappropriate behavior by Mr Acosta. Of course, given that the source material came from Infowars correspondent Paul Joseph Watson, the mainstream media argue that the material has been ‘tampered with.’
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">President Trump to Jim <a href="https://twitter.com/Acosta?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@Acosta</a>: "You should let me run the country. You run CNN."<br><br>"That's enough. Put down the mic. CNN should be ashamed of itself having you working for them. You are a rude terrible person." <a href="https://t.co/GR9TIbKUok">pic.twitter.com/GR9TIbKUok</a></p>— CSPAN (@cspan) <a href="https://twitter.com/cspan/status/1060224857286369280?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 7, 2018</a></blockquote>
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In fact, the video posted by Sanders only focuses on the moment when the woman tries to take the microphone from Acosta. The clip, which is without audio, zooms in twice to show the supposed "placing of a hand" in detail.
Doctored or not, the White House is standing its ground and digs in its heels even deeper against CNN. In a statement released on Thursday, Ms Sanders said that she stands by her previous position: "the question is: did the reporter make contact or not? The video is clear, he did."
CNN from its side called the White House's description of the incident a lie. In a statement, the network labeled the decision to suspend Acosta's accreditation as "a threat to our democracy."
However, the network may be losing sympathy across the world for its tough position in this.
In an opinion piece for the BBC, also not the greatest fan of the current White House Administration, the Presenter of BBC Newsnight, Ms Emily Maitlis blames Mr Acosta, clearly stating that: “What happened in that room was not the ultimate fight for press freedom. This wasn't someone risking life and limb against a regime where freedom of speech is forbidden. This was a bloke sitting in a room full of colleagues who were all trying to ask questions too.”
“This was a man who'd had his turn and had been told he couldn't hog the whole time.”
We've reached the point where it doesn't take a deepfake for people to doubt their own eyes in order to accept the bandwagon narrative they're spoonfed. In the case of the Acosta video, InfoWars has been accused of "doctoring" a clip of the video that was later shared by Sarah Sanders. Here's the thing though, despite AP, Acosta and CNN on the "doctored" side, even Vice and Buzzfeed seem to doubt that anything was altered (apart from video quality in the conversion to GIF).
Whether the video was sped up or not. It shows him making contact with the woman, pushing her away. He claimed he did not touch her, no amount of speeding up a video clip is going to make it look like he touched her when he didn't.
CNN referred to the video shared by the White House as "actual fake news" but once again, sped up or not, Acosta obviously is wrong when he says he did not touch the woman. Even Vice Motherboard and Buzzfeed were quick to come out explaining that the video does not at all appear to have to been "doctored," not to mention the fact that no matter how much you speed up or slow down frames in a video the result will be the same action just at a different speed.
Vice cited a forensic expert who said the video was not edited for effect. Slate noted that the video does seem different to the eyes but points out that is likely related to compression of the video.
Source:
CNN, only someone with their head stuck straight up their ass believes anything you say. You have done nothing but lie for years now.
Man! That Acosta is a chauvinistic pig whose penchant for fabricating lies will end his “career” quickly. Guess that is what happens when you are too damn stupid to admit the truth….you Dan Rather yourself!
A real piece O sheit that acosta is.
Hey wasn`t that him in that jar bill gates was holding at his toilet convention?
I was watching LIVE at my doctors office waiting .
Acosta did physically push the WH intern aside and refused to surrender the mic more than twice. Plus he was clearly told no less than 3 times and closer to 5 to stop and let other reporters ask their questions.
1000's likely video tape it LIVE at home also.
The media is just playing the usual false narrative to cover a fellow LIBERAL
Video came from CSpan with added zoom. Clear as day. Acosta wasn't going to let a white female intern push him around.
This is hilarious.
From every angle the video shows Acosta holding the microphone and not letting it go. He doesn't push the intern, in fact she places her hand towards his hand to grab the mic. He doesn't let go. She gives up and sits down.
He didn't place his hands on her - it's obvious from the video he simply didn't. I suspect there are a significant number of mentally ill people who post comments here who are trying to further their crazy 'no evidence' agenda in that they simply deny all evidence presented to them, even evidence caught straight on camera.
The evidence in this case shows Acosta did not push or invade the personal space of the intern. You seem offended because this disrupts your crazy narrative; but hey, this is the USA, free country: a country where truth is obvious.
Sounds you need reading glasses lady, you should ask your doctor about that.
Clear as day this wasn't a push.
Also, this website is itself fake news, full of weird unsubstantiated articles, otherwise known as clickbait.
David Smith, are you one of those folks who believe the video was doctored even after video forensics experts, Slate, Vice and Buzzfeed all came out agreeing that the video was not edited for effect?
It's not a video, it's a GIF. From your Buzzfeed article:
"Watson's clip is different than the CSPAN clip because it was taken from a GIF and thus missing frames, which could cause Acosta's movement to appear faster than it actually was."
There you go. The lightest of touches, as the woman tries to get the microphone, appears faster, to look as if he is forcefully pushing her.
I think you and goodnight :-)
Acosta should be removed just due to lack of respect for the office. His childish outburst and refusing to stop harassing the President should be enough alone and his pushing the interns arm was uncalled for. Seems odd to me that the WH wouldn’t have 2 or 3 mics at the ready on separate channels so when some prick keeps talking they can shut him off and quietly deal with the idiot? Better yet add a stun circuit into the body and trigger it when this shit goes down. He would have dropped the mic and prolly looked like an even bigger dur dur while getting half a million volts scorched thru his sweaty mitts. Three strike rule… the pres asks the next reporter for their question 3 times and wham the guy still holding the now turned off mic gets blasted!