The White House is continuing to insist it was justified in suspending CNN reporter Jim Acosta's press credentials after he dared question Donald Trump assertively. They’re not saying “he asked Trump questions he couldn’t handle,” of course. Instead, the White House claim has Acosta “placing his hands” on an intern who was trying to get him to surrender the microphone. As Acosta responded, “This is a lie.”
It’s not a close call: There’s video. As you would expect of a presidential press conference. In the video, you see Acosta holding the microphone as he questions Trump, and the intern approaching him, reaching in a couple times, and finally getting her hand on the microphone, while Acosta holds onto it, saying “Pardon me, ma’am.” To back up the White House lie, Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders tweeted a version of the video, saying “We stand by our decision to revoke this individual’s hard pass. We will not tolerate the inappropriate behavior clearly documented in this video.” So, why is the White House going to the video that does not show any kind of inappropriate behavior? Well, the version Sanders tweeted came from Infowars, or at least an Infowars-associated person. So that’s where the White House is going for proof of its case against CNN and basically all observers.
Many observers have suggested the Infowars video is altered, speeding up the interaction; the maker denies that, saying he just zoomed in. Either way, two things remain: 1) The White House relationship with Infowars is appalling, and 2) Acosta did not “place his hands” on the intern. As the video Sanders tweeted very clearly shows, the intern reached across Acosta’s body to the hand that was holding the microphone, as he gestured with his other hand. His gesture and her reach across his body to grab the microphone out of his hand caused a minor bump—the point at which Acosta says “Pardon me, ma’am,” which the White House is characterizing as inappropriate behavior and the online far right is describing as a “karate chop.” At any speed and zoom, though, the video clearly shows that Acosta simply held onto the microphone and gestured with his free hand in the way he had been doing throughout his exchange with Trump. Any physical contact he made with the intern was incidental and happened as she was trying to snatch the microphone out of his hand.
The White House is lying to cover up for banning a reporter it doesn’t like … and it’s relying on Infowars to make its case. Attacking and trying to ban the free press is bad enough. Turning to a racist, violent conspiracy theory site as the favored alternative is a serious move against democracy.