President Donald Trump responded to claims that a video shared by White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders was doctored.
The video they are referring to showed a White House aide trying to take away a microphone from CNN reporter Jim Acosta before he put his hand down on her’s as she was trying to grab it.
He added that the claims of the video doctoring are “just dishonest reporting.“ He added that the shared video is just ”a close-up.”
“That is just dishonest reporting,” he added. “That’s not doctoring,” Trump later said.
“When you say ‘doctored,’ you’re a dishonest guy,” Trump told the reporter on Nov. 9.
Regarding how long Acosta will be suspended, Trump said that “as far as I’m concerned, I haven’t made that decision.”
“But, it could be others, also,” he said.
Trump added: “I don’t think he’s a smart person, but he’s got a loud voice.”
Sanders noted that Trump took 68 questions from 35 different reporters over the lengthy press conference that lasted 90 minutes—the first one he’s held since the midterm elections. Acosta, she added, asked several questions during the press conference.
“The fact that CNN is proud of the way their employee behaved is not only disgusting, it’s an example of their outrageous disregard for everyone, including young women, who work in this Administration,” Sanders stated.
White House counselor Kellyanne Conway told “Fox and Friends” on Nov. 8 “The reporter from NBC was already standing, getting ready to ask his question, and she was just doing her job, which was to reclaim the microphone that belongs to the federal government.”
Conway said Acosta should not have swiped at the White House aide before “grabbing the microphone back.”