An independent video producer tells The Associated Press a video tweeted by the White House on an interaction between CNN reporter Jim Acosta and a White House intern appears to have been manipulated to make the reporter's actions look more aggressive. Abba Shapiro did a side-by-side and frame-by-frame analysis of AP's video from President Donald Trump's contentious news conference Wednesday and the version spread on Twitter by Trump press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders.
Shapiro says that when Acosta's hand touches the intern's arm as she reaches for his microphone, the action speeds up in the apparently altered video to accentuate his movement. Earlier in the video, Shapiro notices three frames that were frozen to slow down the action. This, Shapiro says, enables the manipulated video to run the same length as the original. Sanders has not confirmed the source of the video she tweeted.