Jonathan Ernst/Reuters
A video tweeted out by White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders on Wednesday of the encounter between CNN journalist Jim Acosta and a White House intern was “doctored to make Acosta look more aggressive than he was,” according to the Associated Press. Independent video producer Abba Shapiro reportedly concluded the clip distributed by Sanders “appears to have been altered to speed up Acosta’s arm movement as he touches the intern’s arm.” Shapiro also noted that frames in the tweeted video were “frozen to slow down the action,” an action he claims is “too precise to be an accident.” The Associated Press reports the source of the doctored video is unclear, but CNN reports it was previously distributed out by an editor at large for InfoWars named Paul Joseph Watson. White House News Photographers Association president Whitney Shefte denounced Sanders sharing the doctored video. “As visual journalists, we know that manipulating images is manipulating truth,” she said. “Knowingly sharing manipulated images is equally problematic, particularly when the person sharing them is a representative of our country’s highest office with vast influence over public opinion.” Sanders originally tweeted out the video to defend the White House’s decision to revoke Acosta’s access to the White House after she claimed he “plac[ed] his hands” on a White House intern who tried to take away a mic from him at a press conference Wednesday.