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CNN and several major journalism advocacy groups denounced the White House’s move. The Radio Television Digital News Association, which represents newsrooms across the country, called the revocation “unconscionable.”
Reporters and historians said it was hard to recall a similar episode.
“White House staff don’t pull passes over personal pique, only over threats to the president,” professor Martha Joynt Kumar, director of the White House Transition Project, told CNN.
No one is suggesting that Acosta threatened President Donald Trump. But right-wing websites and pro-Trump commentators alleged that Acosta mistreated a White House intern who tried to take a microphone away from him during the press conference.
Trump’s boosters used words like “pushed” and “slammed.” They screamed “assault” and “abuse.” Sanders cited this alleged “inappropriate behavior” to suspend Acosta’s pass. But all of this is contradicted by the video, which shows Acosta holding onto the mic and saying “pardon me, ma’am,” when the intern tries to take it away.
CNN’s critics defend Acosta
Even Chuck Ross of The Daily Caller, a website that harshly criticizes CNN, stood up for Acosta.
Sanders defended her claim by posting a video on Twitter on Wednesday night. The same video was published about two hours earlier by Paul Joseph Watson, an editor-at-large for the Infowars website.
Both Sanders and Watson used the clip to attack Acosta, but the 15-second video has been distorted to make Acosta look menacing.
CNN said in a statement that Sanders “lied” on Wednesday night. “She provided fraudulent accusations and cited an incident that never happened,” CNN said. “This unprecedented decision is a threat to our democracy and the country deserves better. Jim Acosta has our full support.”
Press freedom groups also weighed in. The Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press said Sanders’ “false description of the events leading up to it is insulting not only to the nation’s journalists, but to its people.”
“We urge the White House to immediately reverse this weak and misguided action,” the association added.
The White House News Photographers Association’s president Whitney Shefte issued a statement expressing outrage that Sanders “may have shared a manipulated video.”
“As visual journalists, we know that manipulating images is manipulating truth,” Shefte said. “It’s deceptive, dangerous and unethical. 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.”
Revoke credentials? ‘I wouldn’t do that’
Senior journalists represented by the association also spoke up.
Peter Baker, of The New York Times tweeted, “This is something I’ve never seen since I started covering the White House in 1996.” Baker wrote that he believes Trump called on Acosta at the presser because “he wants the confrontation.”
In 2015 and 2016, Trump’s campaign refused to give press credentials to reporters from several major news outlets, including the Washington Post and BuzzFeed.
“When I’m representing the United States, I wouldn’t do that,” Trump added.
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