CABLE NEWS NETWORK, INC. et al v. TRUMP et al

Filing 3

LARGE ADDITIONAL ATTACHMENT(S) re 2 MOTION for Temporary Restraining Order filed by CABLE NEWS NETWORK, INC., ABILIO JAMES ACOSTA. (Attachments: # 1 Exhibit 7, # 2 Exhibit 8, # 3 Exhibit 9, # 4 Exhibit 10, # 5 Exhibit 11, # 6 Exhibit 12, # 7 Exhibit 13, # 8 Exhibit 14, # 9 Exhibit 15, # 10 Exhibit 16, # 11 Exhibit 17, # 12 Exhibit 18, # 13 Exhibit 19, # 14 Exhibit 20, # 15 Exhibit 21, # 16 Exhibit 22, # 17 Exhibit 23, # 18 Exhibit 24, # 19 Exhibit 25, # 20 Exhibit 26, # 21 Exhibit 27, # 22 Exhibit 28, # 23 Exhibit 29, # 24 Exhibit 30, # 25 Exhibit 31, # 26 Exhibit 32, # 27 Exhibit 33, # 28 Exhibit 34, # 29 Exhibit 35, # 30 Exhibit 36, # 31 Exhibit 37, # 32 Exhibit 38, # 33 Exhibit 39, # 34 Exhibit 40, # 35 Exhibit 41, # 36 Exhibit 42, # 37 Exhibit 43, # 38 Exhibit 44, # 39 Exhibit 45, # 40 Exhibit 46, # 41 Exhibit 47, # 42 Exhibit 48, # 43 Exhibit 49, # 44 Exhibit 50, # 45 Exhibit 51, # 46 Exhibit 52, # 47 Exhibit 53, # 48 Exhibit 54)(jf)

Exhibit 49

11/11/2018

Jim Acosta: White House shares apparently doctored video posted by conspiracy site InfoWars to justify suspending CNN reporter’s pre…

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News > World > Americas

Jim Acosta: White House shares apparently doctored video posted by
conspiracy site InfoWars to justify suspending CNN reporter’s press
pass
‘We will not tolerate the inappropriate behaviour clearly documented in this video,’ Sarah Huckabee Sanders says

Tom Embury-Dennis | @tomemburyd | 3 days ago | 196 comments
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The Independent US

The White House has shared footage posted by an editor of a conspiracy theory website showing Jim
Acosta making contact with a Trump aide, in a bid to justify its suspension of the CNN reporter’s press
pass.
Mr Acosta “placed his hands on” a female aide trying to retrieve a microphone as the journalist
repeatedly questioned the president, press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders claimed in a statement
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/jim-acosta-trump-cnn-press-conference-pass-white-house-infowars-sarah-sanders-a8623441.html

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Jim Acosta: White House shares apparently doctored video posted by conspiracy site InfoWars to justify suspending CNN reporter’s pre…

posted to Twitter.
The incident occurred during a fiery press conference in which reporters and Mr Trump clashed over his
divisive rhetoric in the run-up to the midterms.
Footage showed Mr Acosta attempting to keep the microphone during his questioning of Mr Trump,
while the female aide tried three times to grab the microphone from him.
Watch more

On her final attempt, Mr Acosta’s free hand briefly
blocks the aide’s arm, as Mr Trump refuses to
answer the reporter’s questions.
Announcing Mr Acosta’s suspension, Ms Sanders
said the White House would “never tolerate a
reporter placing his hands on a young woman just
trying to do her job”.
“As a result of today’s incident, the White House is

White House suspends CNN
reporter’s press pass after Trump row

suspending the hard pass of the reporter involved
until further notice,” she wrote on Twitter.

She added: “The question is: did the reporter make contact or not? The video is clear, he did. We stand
by our statement.”
Late on Wednesday, Ms Sanders posted partial video footage of the incident, alongside a statement which
read: “We stand by our decision to revoke this individual’s hard pass. We will not tolerate the
inappropriate behaviour clearly documented in this video.”

The video, which has no audio and is of notably low quality, shows the moment Mr Acosta’s hand blocks
the aide’s attempts to grab the microphone. It repeats the moment six times, each time zooming further
into the brief moment of contact.
Many social media users accused Ms Sanders of posting footage which sped up the contact to make Mr
Acosta’s movement appear more aggressive.

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/jim-acosta-trump-cnn-press-conference-pass-white-house-infowars-sarah-sanders-a8623441.html

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Jim Acosta: White House shares apparently doctored video posted by conspiracy site InfoWars to justify suspending CNN reporter’s pre…

The Independent

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But according to analysis by The Independent, the video instead appears to have been doctored to freeze
for three frames the moment before Mr Acosta’s hand pushes down on the aide’s arm.
Ms Sanders’ tweet came exactly two hours after the same video was shared by Paul Joseph Watson,
editor-at-large of InfoWars, a far-right conspiracy theory website fronted by Trump-supporter Alex
Jones.
Mr Watson denied altering the footage in an interview with Buzzfeed News. He downloaded a gif file
posted elsewhere, “zoomed in, saved it again as an mt2 file – then converted it to an mp4 [video file]”, he
told the site. He added: “Digitally it’s gonna look a tiny bit different after processing and zooming in, but
I did not in any way deliberately ‘speed up’ or ‘distort’ the video.”

Trump attacks CNN's Jim Acosta in angry White House press conference

Show all 10

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Mr Trump has long feuded with CNN and accused it of peddling “fake news” – the channel is one of his
favoured punching bags. During the ill-tempered press conference on Wednesday, he singled out Mr
Acosta as “rude”.
He has also threatened to revoke the broadcast licences of outlets whose content he dislikes, and stoked
anger against journalists by denouncing them as the “enemy of the people”.
Speaking on CNN to colleague Anderson Cooper, Mr Acosta said: “I was just trying to ask a question of
the president. It was obviously a question they didn’t like.

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Jim Acosta: White House shares apparently doctored video posted by conspiracy site InfoWars to justify suspending CNN reporter’s pre…

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“I do think this is a test for all of us. I do think they’re trying to shut us down.”
In a statement, CNN said the revocation of Mr Acosta’s credentials “was done in retaliation for his
challenging questions at today’s press conference”.
The company said Ms Huckabee Sanders had “provided fraudulent accusations and cited an incident that
never happened”. It added: “This unprecedented decision is a threat to our democracy and the country
deserves better. Jim Acosta has our full support.”
MORE ABOUT

JIM ACOSTA

CNN

DONALD TRUMP

SARAH HUCAKBEE SANDERS

WHITE HOUSE

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