The White House on Wednesday, 7 November, suspended the press pass of CNN correspondent Jim Acosta after he and President Donald Trump had a heated confrontation during a news conference.
SANDERS’S CLAIM
Hours after the suspension, White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders tweeted a video from the press conference, claiming that the reason behind Acosta’s suspension was that he “behaved inappropriately” with an intern. She also said that the incident was “clearly documented” in the video she shared.
Sanders released a statement accusing Acosta of "placing his hands on a young woman just trying to do her job as a White House intern," calling it "absolutely unacceptable."
YOU SHOULD READ ON BECAUSE...
The video tweeted out by Sanders is a doctored/manipulated video of the original.
Here’s the original clip of the incident, tweeted out by CNN’s Matt Dornic:
As seen in the original, the intern is trying the take the mic away from Acosta – and the journalist refuses to budge. He even says, “Pardon me, Ma’am,” after refusing to give away the mic.
Acosta responded to Sanders’s statement by tweeting that her claim was a “lie.”
You can watch the exchange between Trump and Acosta at the conference here.
THE BUZZ ON TWITTER
From the cameraperson who shot the video to video editors, support poured in for Acosta.
Americans also demanded that Sanders be fired for uploading a doctored video.
WHAT HAPPENED?
Acosta asked Trump why the caravan of migrants was emphasised as an issue in the just-concluded midterm races, and he questioned Trump's reference to the caravan as an invasion.
“You should let me run the country,” Trump said. “You run CNN and if you did it well, your ratings would be much better.”
After Acosta asked about the investigation of Russia's involvement in the 2016 election, Trump tried to turn to another reporter, but Acosta continued to ask questions.
"CNN should be ashamed of itself having you work for them," the president said to Acosta. "You are a rude, terrible person. You shouldn't be working for CNN. The way you treat Sarah Huckabee (Sanders) is horrible. The way you treat other people is horrible. You shouldn't treat people that way."
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