White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders shared a video Wednesday evening of CNN reporter Jim Acosta's interaction with President Trump and a White House intern to defend the White House's decision to revoke Acosta's press pass. A WIRED review of Sanders' video reveals that it originated with conservative media sites and was presented in a way that makes the incident seem more dramatic than it was. Images from the video may not have been altered, but the effect is potentially misleading to viewers.
In releasing the video, Sanders said it offered proof of Acosta's "inappropriate behavior" with the intern. But differences between Sanders' video and an unedited version of the incident led to charges Wednesday that the White House had altered the video for political purposes.
What Actually Happened?
While Acosta was questioning President Trump at a press briefing, a White House intern attempted to grab his microphone. Acosta didn't let go of the mic, and attempted to avoid her grasp. During the three-second scuffle, his wrist and lower arm appears to touch her arm. The White House calls this behavior "inappropriate" and has revoked Acosta's press pass. Sanders posted an edited video of the event as proof.
Who Made the Video?
The video posted by Sanders appears identical to a video shared two hours earlier by Paul Joseph Watson, an editor-at-large at the right-wing media site InfoWars. Both videos were edited in the same way and had no sound. While the White House hasn't responded to inquiries about the source of the video posted by Sanders, it seems reasonable to say that the chance the two videos were created independently is extraordinarily low.
While the first four seconds of Watson's video appear to be from a C-Span feed, the true origins of the clip are a bit more complicated. It's notable that neither Watson's nor Sanders' video has sound, as the source video for both appears to be a three-second GIF circulated in conservative circles moments after the actual event took place.
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