Sarah Sanders accused of sharing doctored Infowars video to justify Acosta ban
White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders was accused on Wednesday night of sharing a doctored video to defend the administration’s decision to revoke the press credentials of CNN reporter Jim Acosta.
Earlier in the day, President Donald Trump called Acosta a “rude, terrible person” during a press conference and tried to cut off his questioning.
When a White House intern attempted to take the microphone from Acosta three times, he held onto it and continued questioning Trump. During the intern’s final attempt, as she tried to pull the microphone away, Acosta’s hand appeared to briefly brush her arm.
“Pardon me, ma’am,” Acosta quickly said.
Here is a video of the interaction for the world to see: pic.twitter.com/us8u5TWzDz
— CNN Communications (@CNNPR) November 8, 2018
However, 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.
Sanders did not disclose where she obtained the video.
Several Twitter users noted that the same video was shared hours earlier by a personality from Infowars, the Alex Jones outlet banned from many social media sites for abusive behavior.
Trump’s press secretary, who frequently calls accurate but critical reporting “fake,” is sharing doctored video produced by InfoWars, a lunatic conspiracy theory outlet who has falsely claimed that the Sandy Hook massacre was faked & that John Kerry shot a hurricane with a laser.
Trump’s press secretary, who frequently calls accurate but critical reporting “fake,” is sharing doctored video produced by InfoWars, a lunatic conspiracy theory outlet who has falsely claimed that the Sandy Hook massacre was faked & that John Kerry shot a hurricane with a laser
— Brian Klaas (@brianklaas) 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
This article originally appeared on HuffPost.