Wednesday during a verbal sparring match between President Donald Trump and CNN White House correspondent Jim Acosta—during a press conference described as "off the rails"—a White House intern attempted several times to grab the microphone from Acosta's hand while he spoke with the President.
Video of the interaction with the President and the actions of the White House intern was widely shared immediately after the press conference.
Then that night, Acosta reported on Twitter that his press credentials were revoked at 7:46pm EST.
Sarah Huckabee Sanders made a statement to the press regarding the decision to revoke Acosta's credentials, stating the CNN employee "put his hands" on the intern who was "only doing her job."
Sanders also posted her statement on Twitter Wednesday night at 7:48pm, just two minutes after Acosta posted his tweet.
Other members of the media and the White House Correspondents Association (WHCA) all came out in support of Acosta. WHCA posted an official response at 9:26pm EST.
"Journalists may use a range of approaches to carry out their jobs and the WHCA does not police the tone or frequency of the questions its members ask of powerful senior government officials, including the president. Such interactions, however uncomfortable they may appear to be, help define the strength of our national institutions."
Other members of the press, including some that attended the same press conference and sat next to Acosta, added their support.
Even conservative media pundit Ben Shapiro called Sanders' claims a misrepresentation of facts.
So to silence critics, Sanders shared video as proof of the incident.
At 10:33pm EST, Sanders shared footage missing the audio, zoomed in and repeated. Critics on Twitter cited the alteration of the speed of the footage as well.
People are calling out the source of the video and saying it was doctored.
The video was created by alt-right personality Paul Joseph Watson of Prison Planet, an affiliate of Infowars, known for their conspiracy theories and disproven evidence.
However video of the full interaction was already widely available online without the alterations. CNN shared it again as proof that any contact between Acosta and the intern was initiated by the intern and inadvertent on the part of Acosta, who immediately says "Pardon me, ma'am" when his already lowering hand touches her.
In response, Sarah Burris of Raw Media shared her own video only slowed down and showing the full interaction with the intern.
Whether Acosta regains his credentials and whether there are repercussions for Sanders sharing altered video from a known conspiracy theorist—to accuse a private citizen of actions they did not commit—remains to be seen.
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