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White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders refused to back down Thursday from the Trump administration's decision to rescind CNN correspondent Jim Acosta's press pass, insisting incidental physical contact with a female intern during a heated presidential press conference was enough to get him banned.

Acosta found himself without access to 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue following a tense shouting match with President Donald Trump and a near-tussle over the White House's microphone as he pushed the intern's arm away.

Facing stern questions from the rest of the political press corps, Sanders issued a terse statement: 'The question is: did the reporter make contact or not? The video is clear, he did. We stand by our statement.'

That video, a brief C-SPAN clip that made the rounds Wednesday night, generated new outrage in the evening when Sanders tweeted an altered version that was first distributed by an editor of the alt-right 'InfoWars' conspiracy theorist website.   

Sarah Sanders shared a re-cut video on Twitter that was originally posted by an InfoWars host, opening herself up to criticism over the footage's alterations

Sanders was pictured Wednesday in the East Room of the White House during the press conference where Acosta tangled with Trump and later found himself banned from the building

CNN media critic Brian Stelter pressed her on Twitter: 'InfoWars personality @PrisonPlanet posted the same video two hours before you did. Surely you don't trust InfoWars...?'

Dartmouth College digital forensics expert Hany Farid told theMotherboard tech website that the footage itself wasn't doctored, but the video was slowed down and zoomed in to focus on a single moment. 

'I believe that the video tweeted by the Press Secretary is misleading but I don’t see unambiguous evidence that it has been doctored,' Farid said. 

He also suggested that the vantage point of C-SPAN's camera 'gives the appearance that there was more contact between the reporter and the intern than there probably was.'

'In particular, if you look at original, higher-quality videos from other vantage points you can more clearly see that while there was some contact between the reporter and intern, he did not strike her as his hand comes down.' 

The video Snaders tweeted does appear to speed up and zoom in on the moment of contact. 

Acosta wrestled with an unnamed White House intern who tried to take the White House's mic from him on Wednesday after the president decided he was done answering CNN's questions

Acosta's defenders urged people to look at video of the interaction, saying it proves White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders was incorrect to say he 'placed his hands' on the female intern; the video shows the intern reaching for the mic and Acosta's left hand pushing her left arm down as he grips it

Sanders, pictutred during an October 29 press briefing, is under fire for treating Acosta's moment of contact like a serious infraction

Kellyanne Conway said Thursday morning that the White House was right to cancel Acosta's press credentials, casting his physical contact with the intern as a male-on-female threat.

In a 'Fox & Friends' interview, Conway described it as 'a rough moment for the young aide' and cast Acosta as a chauvinist villain for stopping the young woman from taking the microphone back once President Donald Trump said he was finished answering the reporter's questions.

'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.

'Obviously I don't think anybody should have – any young woman, particularly – should have somebody swiping away them and grabbing the microphone back.'

During a Fox Business Network appearance on Wednesday evening, she laid out the controversy as a #MeToo moment.

'You don’t put your hands on a woman. I think we all had to hear that recently in some other context, and I’m not sure that he’s apologized to that young woman but she certainly is owed one,” Conway said.

Kellyanne Conway, a senior adviser to President Donald Trump, said Thursday that the White House was right to cancel a CNN reporter's press pass following a brief and incidentally physical confrontation over a microphone during a presidential press conference

Conway framed the incident as a male-on-female moment and lumped it in with threats she and other pro-Trump women have faced 

On Thursday she re-framed the moment, replayed millions of times on social media videos, as part of a culture of harassment that Trump aides deal with on a regular basis.

She blamed Democrats and the media for a 'red-hot tone' that has put some female Trump backers in dangerous positions.

'I've been physically touched by people. I've been yelled at, my kids have been threatened,' she said.

'Tucker Carlson ... had a mob show up at his house last night. His wife was hiding in a pantry!'

'Let's talk about red-hot rhetoric,' she said. 'I'll stand here all day long in my four-inch heels and talk about it if you want to, but I will not let it be cast as one-sided and the president's fault.'

Conway didn't mention Acosta by name but drew a contrast between journalists who 'try to do their job by getting the story' and others who 'try to get the president.'

'Some people like to grandstand and be part of the story,' she complained, claiming that other correspondents secretly agree with her: 'Maybe they're not going to come forward and say that, but they say that.'

Acosta tweeted Thursday morning: 'Don’t believe the lies coming from the WH. Believe in our freedoms. Thank you all for your support. We won’t back down.'

Acosta shot a hasty cell phone video of a uniformed Secret Service officer denying him entry to the White House and revoking his press pass on Wednesday evening

President Donald Trump and Acosta got into a heated verbal back-and-forth during Wednesday's post-election press conference

Florida Republican Sen. Marco Rubio responded by blasting him on Twitter even while suggesting that the White House overreacted.

'I don’t think they should revoke his WH pass. Revoking press access for being rude is a very slippery slope,' Rubio wrote.

'But the WH pass is to cover the news,not make yourself the news. This tweet & his behavior is what you expect from an activist,not a journalist.'

CNN has cast the White House's reaction as an over-reaching attack on the First Amendment.

Conway pointed out that Trump 'answered 68 questions from 35 different reporters over the span of 90 minutes' on Wednesday. 'That's pro-press, that's transparent, that's accountability.

A uniformed Secret Service officer denied Acosta entry to the White House grounds Wednesday evening and revoked his 'hard pass,' the long-term credential issued to regular members of the White House press corps.

Acosta's tense exchange with Trump wasn't his first; the president has slammed him publicly before, and considers much of what CNN airs 'fake news'

Sanders stunned Washington by announcing Wednesday evening that Acosta was persona non grata at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue; CNN can still send other reporters to cover the White House

'I’ve just been denied entrance to the WH. Secret Service just informed me I cannot enter the WH grounds for my 8pm hit,' Acosta tweeted before sharing a cell phone video of the officer taking his pass away.

In a statement, White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders said that Acosta's hard pass had been suspended 'until further notice.' 

Acosta appeared on 'Anderson Cooper 360,' calling the tension 'a test for all of us. I do think they're trying to shut us down to some extent.'

He also insisted that White House press secretary Sarah sanders was wrong to claim video captured him 'placing his hands on a young woman just trying to do her job.' 

'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 said in a statement Wednesday night.

Acosta tweeted that her claim was 'a lie.' 

'I didn't put my hands on her or touch her as they’re alleging. It's unfortunate the White House is saying this... I think I handled myself professionally,' Acosta told Cooper. 

'Put the mic down,' Trump told Acosta as the female intern (left) tried to take it back from him

CNN flatly accused Sanders in a statement of lying about the nature of the confrontation between Acosta and the unnamed female intern.

'She provided fraudulent accusations and and cited an incident that never happened,' the network said. 'This unprecedented decision is a threat to our democracy and the country deserves better. Jim Acosta has our full support.' 

The White House Correspondents’ Association issued a statement condemning the Trump administration for confiscating Acosta's hard pass.

'Revoking access to the White House complex is a reaction out of line to the purported offense and is unacceptable,' the group said. 'We urge the White House to immediately reverse this weak and misguided action.'

'We encourage anyone with doubts that this reaction was disproportionate to the perceived offense to view the video of the events from earlier today.'

Acosta's shouting match with Trump came as he was asking the president a lengthy question about the Central American migrant caravan, arguing that Trump should not have called it an 'invasion.'

'That's enough!' Trump boomed as Acosta tried to pivot to a question about Special Counsel Robret Mueller's Russia investigation.

'CNN should be ashamed of itself having you work for them. You are a rude terrible person. You shouldn't be working for CNN,' the president told Acosta as the intern tried to reclaim the mic.

'When you report fake news, which CNN does a lot, you are the enemy of the people,' he told him, later quipping: 'I think you should let me run the country and you run CNN. If you did it well your ratings would be much better.'

NBC correspondent Peter Alexander got the next question, and leapt to advocate for Acosta following the jaw-dropping exchange.

'In Jim's defense, I've traveled with him and watched him. He's a diligent reporter who busts his butt,' Alexander said.

'Well, I'm not a fan of yours either,' Trump replied. 'You aren't the best.'