WASHINGTON (DC)
The Huffington Post
November 8, 2018
By Alanna Vagianos
The White House outright lied about the CNN reporter “placing his hands on a young woman” and barred him from future press conferences.
CNN reporter Jim Acosta’s press credentials were revoked by the White House on Wednesday because, press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said, he put his hands on a female White House intern when she attempted to take away his microphone during a news conference.
“President Trump believes in a free press and expects and welcomes tough questions of him and his administration,” Sanders wrote in a series of tweets after the incident. “We will, however, never tolerate a reporter placing his hands on a young woman just trying to do her job as a White House intern. This conduct is absolutely unacceptable.” (The controversy only heated up when Sanders shared a doctored video of the episode to defend the administration’s decision.)
White House counselor Kellyanne Conway piled onto the false allegation on Thursday in an interview on Fox News.
“Obviously, I don’t think anybody should have, any young woman, particularly, should have swiping away at them, grabbing the microphone back,” she said. “That’s very unfortunate. I have talked to that young woman. She is very brave and just doing her job.”
In reality, footage shows that the exchange between Acosta and the intern was mild and, despite the administration’s insinuation, he was not violent in any way. The intern attempted to take the microphone from him three times as President Donald Trump repeatedly cut the reporter off. During the intern’s final attempt, Acosta’s hand briefly brushed her arm, and he said, “Pardon me, ma’am.”
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