White House used ‘doctored’ footage of press conference row, expert says
When Donald Trump invited Jim Acosta, a CNN reporter, to ask a question during a White House press conference on Thursday, he was no doubt spoiling for a fight.
Trump has a notoriously testy relationship with the journalist and once refused to call on him, simply saying ‘‘your [news] organisation is terrible’’.
But even the president could not have anticipated the row that erupted after their most recent exchange, with accusations the White House shared manipulated footage of the incident.
The row began after Acosta pressed Trump to answer a question, while a White House intern tried to take the microphone out of his hand.
The interaction was brief, and Acosta appeared to brush the intern’s arm as she reached for the microphone and he tried to hold on to it. ‘‘Pardon me, ma’am,’’ he told her.
Hours later Sarah Sanders, the White House press secretary, accused Acosta of ‘‘placing his hands on a young woman just trying to do her job as a White House intern’’.
She added that it was ‘‘absolutely unacceptable’’. She later posted footage of the incident, which video verification experts claimed had been digitally altered, as a justification for revoking Acosta’s White House press pass.
Analysts claimed that in Sanders’ version, the footage was frozen for three frames to make Acosta’s contact with the woman appear longer and therefore more aggressive.
This can be achieved by repeating the frames so fast the human eye cannot detect it.
By contrast, in the original footage his arm appears to move only as a response to the tussle. The moment where he says: ‘‘Pardon me, ma’am’’ is also not included in Sanders’ video.
Alan O’Riordan, a video verification expert, said there were clear ‘‘discrepancies’’ between the original footage from US network C-Span and the version Sanders posted on Twitter.
‘‘In [Mrs Sanders’] version, what we see is something that has been added to the original, it repeats several frames at a crucial moment . . . basically,’’ he said. ‘‘We found three repeated frames where you can see Jim Acosta’s arm make contact with the intern’s arm.’’
The White House has also been accused of obtaining the footage from InfoWars, the alt-Right conspiracy theorist website.
Paul Joseph Watson, the InfoWars editor-at-large, released what appeared to be the same edited footage some time before Sanders’ post.
He denied claims the footage had been doctored or speeded up, saying he ‘‘merely zoomed in’’.
Sanders has not commented on how she obtained the footage, but said: ‘‘The question is, did the reporter make contact or not? The video is clear, he did. We stand by our statement.’’
Acosta called Sanders’ characterisation of the incident ‘‘a lie’’.
CNN said Sanders ‘‘provided fraudulent accusations and cited an incident that never happened. This unprecedented decision is a threat to our democracy and the country deserves better.’’
The cable news network claimed the White House had revoked Acosta’s press pass out of ‘‘retaliation for his challenging questions’’.
Matt Dornic, an executive at CNN, posted on Twitter: ‘‘Absolutely shameful, @PressSec. You released a doctored video – actual fake news.’’
Meanwhile, US news organisations rallied to defend Acosta, accusing the Trump administration of clamping down on press freedom.
The White House Correspondents’ Association said it ‘‘strongly objects’’ to using press credentials as a ‘‘tool to punish a reporter with whom it has a difficult relationship’’.
– Telegraph Group ceremony welcoming new Justice Brett Kavanaugh, who joined the court last month. President Donald Trump and new acting Attorney General Matthew Whitaker were on hand.
Ginsburg has had a series of health problems. She broke two ribs in a fall in 2012. She has had two prior bouts with cancer and had a stent implanted to open a blocked artery in 2014. She also was hospitalised after a bad reaction to medicine in 2009.
But she has never missed Supreme Court arguments. The court won’t hear arguments again until November 26.
Rib fractures are common among older adults, particularly after falls. The severity depends in part on whether the ribs are cracked or broken all the way through, and how many are broken. The extent of Ginsburg’s injury was not clear.
A complete break requires making sure the two ends are in alignment, so that a sharp piece of bone doesn’t puncture nearby blood vessels or organs. Broken ribs typically heal on their own in six weeks to a month, and patients are advised to limit strenuous activity. But they can be very painful and controlling pain is key. A chief complication is pneumonia, when patients don’t breathe deeply enough or cough enough because of the rib pain.
Appointed by President Bill Clinton in 1993, Ginsburg rebuffed suggestions from some liberals that she should step down in the first two years of President Barack Obama’s second term, when Democrats also controlled the Senate and would have been likely to confirm her successor.
She already has hired clerks for the term that extends into 2020, indicating she has no plans to retire.
Ginsburg leads the court’s liberal wing. –AP