White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee is facing demands she resign on Thursday after her “Orwellian” attempt to alter reality by sharing a clearly doctored video of the incident that the Trump administration used to justify suspending CNN reporter Jim Acosta.
In the video, which had first been posted by Paul Joseph Watson of the far-right website Infowars, Acosta appeared to slam the side of his hand down on the woman’s arm in a “karate chop” move as she attempted to take a microphone away from him.
Critics quickly noted that the video had clearly been edited, speeding up Acosta’s movement as well as removing his verbal apology to the intern to make it look like he intentionally hit her—instead of trying to keep the microphone and continue asking President Donald Trump a question.
Rafael Shimunov, a video editor who has worked with the Working Families Party, was among those who posted a side-by-side comparison of the original video with the one the White House shared.
The video was shared to bolster the administration’s claim that Acosta deserved to be stripped of his press credentials following the press conference.
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