• by Joe Mandese  @mp_joemandese, November 8, 2018

If the White House wanted to create a massive distraction to draw media attention away from the outcome of the midterm elections, it couldn’t have planned a better one than to hold a press briefing discussing the outcome of the midterm elections.

It turned into a public presidential meltdown.

The White House stepped up its attacks on the press corps, especially CNN correspondent Jim Acosta, who lost his White House press credentials and became the subject of a White House smear campaign. 

It charged he assaulted an intern who attempted to take the microphone away from him, when the President of the United States lost his cool and demanded he sit down.

Videos of Acosta’s exchange with the intern are approaching the kind of forensics analysis that people usually reserve for discussing the Warren Commission’s description of the trajectory of the magic bullet that killed President John F. Kennedy.

The White House has been accused of circulating what appeared to be a doctored video of Acosta’s exchange with the intern, slowing down and exaggerating what in most other videos appeared to be a defensive parry at best.

In any case, mission accomplished.

Instead of discussing how the results of the midterm elections will impact the White House and its legislative agenda, we are all talking about how a journalist stood his ground and how the White House went after him because of it.

We stand by our decision to revoke this individual’s hard pass. We will not tolerate the inappropriate behavior clearly documented in this video. pic.twitter.com/T8X1Ng912y

— Sarah Sanders (@PressSec) November 8, 2018