There’s a growing chorus demanding Sarah Huckabee Sanders resign over the doctored video.
On Wednesday, the White House shockingly pulled the credentials of reporter Jim Acosta, after the CNN reporter got into a heated exchange with President Trump during a televised press conference.
Acosta and Trump have sparred numerous times, with neither man hiding their contempt for each other. But pulling the credentials of a White House reporter over nothing more than a personal grievance from the president is entirely unprecedented, even in Donald Trump’s administration.
So, it was understandable when the media and people around the world demanded an explanation for why Acosta was being barred from the White House and the obvious repercussions it could have for freedom of the press, government transparency and our democracy itself.
In response, White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders distributed a video which she claims shows Acosta pushing a female White House intern as she attempts to take the microphone from Acosta.
We stand by our decision to revoke this individual’s hard pass. We will not tolerate the inappropriate behavior cl… https://t.co/xLP6P2Mm9k— Kayleigh McEnany 45 Archived (@Kayleigh McEnany 45 Archived) 1541647999
However, people on social media quickly pointed out that the video is clearly doctored, speed up and edited to falsely make it appear like Acosta placed his hands on the intern in what Sanders called “inappropriate behavior.”
Almost immediately, there has been a major backlash for Sanders to resign in the wake of sharing the video, which was created by the widely discredited alt-right site InfoWars. Even CNN got involved, sharing the actual, undoctored video of the interaction on their Twitter account:
Here is a video of the interaction for the world to see: https://t.co/us8u5TWzDz— CNN Communications (@CNN Communications) 1541642564
The White House disseminated doctored footage, also disseminated by Infowars, to smear a reporter. This will sound… https://t.co/aXxe2RZN9A— Brian Beutler (@Brian Beutler) 1541680694
In days of yore, tweeting out a doctored video cribbed from Infowars would be resignation territory for a White Hou… https://t.co/t36vCiAyeY— Blake Hounshell (@Blake Hounshell) 1541689813
As of now, Sanders still hasn’t removed the video of addressed the accusations that it is doctored.