Jim Acosta Of CNN Had His Credentials Revoked After He Did This To An Intern

Jim Acosta Of CNN Had His Credentials Revoked After He Did This To An Intern

President Donald Trump is not a fan of CNN. He’s made that point loud and clear, time and time again. He cites them as a significant source of “fake news,” and the president has “battled” with CNN’s White House correspondent Jim Acosta on several occasions. Trump held a press conference yesterday following the midterm elections, and he and Acosta were quickly at it once again.

Acosta was questioning the president on statements he’s made regarding the migrant caravan proceeding through Mexico. Specifically, he asked why President Trump had referred to the caravan as an “invasion”

“They’re hundreds of miles away, they’re hundreds of miles away… that’s not an invasion,” Acosta said, shortly before it went downhill.

“Honestly, I think you should let me run the country, you run CNN, and if you did well your ratings would be much better,” Trump responded.

Acosta was trying to ask an additional question when Trump interrupted the reporter, “Okay, that’s enough.” The second, “That’s enough,” had a bit more punch to it, and was clearly intended to end the back-and-forth conversation in its tracks.

A female intern was then sent up to the podium to presumably remove the microphone from Acosta’s grasp. Trump continued to speak over Acosta’s attempts at questioning, telling him once again that his time was up. In his trademark fashion, the CNN reporter continued to push for answers to his questions – but that proved to be the biggest issue in the end.

The now-viral video shows contact occurring between Acosta and the intern’s left arms as she attempted to remove the microphone from his grasp. What exactly that contact constituted has people on both sides of the political spectrum up in arms, especially after Acosta’s press pass was taken.

White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders tweeted regarding the incident just after the news regarding Acosta’s press pass went public. She described his actions as, “placing his hands on a young woman just trying to do her job as a White House intern.”

“This conduct is completely unacceptable. It is also completely disrespectful to the reporter’s colleagues not to allow them the opportunity to ask a question,” Sanders continued in a subsequent tweet. “President Trump has given the press more access than any President in history.”

Sanders posted a clip of the exchange between Acosta and the intern, using it to defend the decision to refuse him access to the White House, along with a caption describing how the White House will, “stand by our decision to revoke this individual’s hard pass” and that they “will not tolerate the inappropriate behavior clearly documented in this video.”

Many in the mainstream media have criticized her post, with some even claiming the video had been doctored to make it seem worse than it was in reality. They argue that the clip had been edited to make Acosta’s arm speed up slightly on the downward motion. A few conservatives have also described the video as edited to make the incident seem tamer, as a rebuke to the other side’s claims.

Based on the specific zoom-in technique, it appears that Sanders sourced the video from Infowar’s editor Paul Joseph Watson. In turn, he’s insisted that the sole editing done to the clip involved enlarging the image after sourcing the original GIF from The Daily Wire, according to an interview with Buzzfeed News.

Watson also blamed the issue on the difficulties of file conversion, rather than any malicious intent. Interestingly enough, a Daily Wire story on the Twitter outrage towards the video cites Watson as the source of the clip – potentially leading to even more confusion in the coming days.

There isn’t much clarity to be had at this time with this story, and unfortunately, everyone should get used to it. While they may not have been used in this case, there is little doubt that video manipulation techniques have advanced far past our ability to predict them, and the possibilities are nearly endless. You can bet that the issue will come up again in the near future, no doubt.

What do you make of this contentious issue? Start a conversation in the comments below.