The Democrats regained control of the House of Representatives in the American mid-term elections but their anticipated 'blue wave' of support broke just short of the Senate, where Republicans maintained control.

As the final ballots were counted early Wednesday, Democrats held 204 seats in the House to the Republican's 187, having flipped 26 targets along the way, putting them on track to take the 218 needed for a majority.

But in the Senate it was a different story with Republicans holding the 51 seats needed for a majority early on Wednesday with more results expected to go their way. The Dems hold just 42 seats.

Trump called the night a 'tremendous success' on Twitter and praised himself as 'magic', but the reality is that the Democrats will now use their House majority to frustrate his agenda for the remaining two years of his term.

Gaining the House also means the Dems gain control of several committees which they could now use to launch investigations against Trump, including subpoenaing tax records he refused to release during the 2016 election.

However, the night failed to live up to Democrat expectations with the party failing to gain the maximum number of seats in the House projected and losing key governor races including Florida. In Georgia Stacey Abrams is refusing to concede in an extremely close race that would make her America's first female black governor.

Taylor Swift's intervention also flopped as Marsha Blackburn won by 26 points over Democrat candidate Phil Bredesen, who the singer backed.

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While the Democrats' grass-roots organisation allowed them to seize the House, Trump's showmanship and personality thwarted them in key battleground states of Indiana, Missouri, and Tennessee - where he held rallies in the closing days of the election.

One of the most bitter defeats for the Democrats came in Texas, where rising star Beto O'Rourke was defeated by incumbent Ted Cruz - a onetime foe of Trump who has since warmed to him - though the contest was closer than anticipated.

Another stinging Dem loss came in Florida, Donald Trump's adopted home state, where Ron DeSantis won a seat in the governor's mansion ahead of Andrew Gillum, despite backing from the likes of P Diddy.

In Tennessee, Marsha Blackburn defeated Democrat rival Phil Bredesen by a crushing 26 point margin, despite Taylor Swift denouncing her on Instagram and urging supporters to vote for Bredesen instead.

Democrats who stand to return next year as chairmen of the House Oversight and Judiciary Committees are already sharpening their pens and preparing to drag Trump through his own swamp.

'We probably will' seek Trump's tax returns, said Reps. Elijah Cummings and Jerrold Nadler.

As Tuesday headed to Wednesday, presidential counselor Kelyanne Conway told reporters at the White House: 'I guess they could try.'

'I don't know that there will be much of an appetite ... for their members to be spending all of their time, or even most of their time, or a fraction of their time investigating, instigating, trying to impeach or subpoena people,' Conway said.

Nadler said it was 'way too early' to talk about impeaching Trump, but wouldn't rule it out depending on the results of Special Counsel Robert Mueller's expansive Russia probe.

'He's going to learn that he's not above the law,' he said, according to CNN.

White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders told reporters that 'the president's agenda isn't going to change regardless of whose party is there.'

But Democrats will find themselves empowered to launch probes into voting-rights matters and questions about whether Trump has violated the Constitution's 'Emoluments Clause' that prohibits presidents from receiving income from foreign governments.

Security clearances in the Trump White House could also come under close examination, along with prescription drug prices, family separations along the U.S.-Mexico border, gun control and insurance coverage for Americans with pre-existing medical conditions.

The road to a House majority ran through two dozen suburban districts Hillary Clinton won in 2016. Democrats flipped seats in suburban districts outside of Washington, Philadelphia, Miami, Chicago and Denver.

The results were more mixed deeper into Trump country.

In Kansas, Democrat Sharice Davids beat a GOP incumbent to become the first Native American and gay woman elected to the House. But in Kentucky, one of the top Democratic recruits, retired Marine fighter pilot Amy McGrath, lost her bid to oust to three-term Rep. Andy Barr.

Trump sought to take credit for retaining the GOP's Senate majority, even as the party's foothold in the more competitive House battlefield appeared to be slipping.

'Tremendous success tonight. Thank you to all!' Trump tweeted.

History was working against the president in the Senate: 2002 was the only midterm election in the past three decades when the party holding the White House gained Senate seats.

Nearly 40 percent of voters cast their ballots to express opposition to the president, according to AP VoteCast, the national survey of the electorate, while one-in-four said they voted to express support for Trump.

Overall, 6 in 10 voters said the country was headed in the wrong direction, but roughly that same number described the national economy as excellent or good. Twenty-five percent described health care and immigration as the most important issues in the election.

Nearly two-thirds said Trump was a reason for their vote.

Trump encouraged voters to view the first nationwide election of his presidency as a referendum on his leadership, pointing proudly to the surging economy at recent rallies.

He bet big on a xenophobic closing message, warning of an immigrant 'invasion' that promised to spread violent crime and drugs across the nation. Several television networks, including the president's favorite Fox News Channel, yanked a Trump campaign advertisement off the air on the eve of the election, determining that its portrayal of a murderous immigrant went too far.

One of Trump's most vocal defenders on immigration, Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach, lost his bid for governor. Kobach had built a national profile as an advocate of tough immigration policies and strict voter photo ID laws. He served as vice chairman of Trump's now-defunct commission on voter fraud.

The president's current job approval, set at 40 percent by Gallup, was the lowest at this point of any first-term president in the modern era. Both Barack Obama's and Bill Clinton's numbers were 5 points higher, and both suffered major midterm losses of 63 and 54 House seats respectively.

Democrats, whose very relevance in the Trump era depended on winning at least one chamber of Congress, were laser-focused on health care as they predicted victories that would break up the GOP's monopoly in Washington and state governments.

Yet Trump's party will maintain Senate control for the next two years, at least.

In Texas, Sen Ted Cruz staved off a tough challenge from Democrat Beto O'Rourke, whose record-smashing fundraising and celebrity have set off buzz he could be a credible 2020 White House contender.

In Indiana, Trump-backed businessman Mike Braun defeated Democratic incumbent Joe Donnelly. In Missouri, Josh Hawley knocked off Democratic Sen. Claire McCaskill. And in Tennessee, Congresswoman Marsha Blackburn defeated former Gov. Phil Bredesen, a top Democratic recruit.</s>Donald Trump was involved in an angry exchange with Jim Acosta

White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders has been accused of sharing a video doctored to make a journalist appear more aggressive.

The clip shows the moment CNN reporter Jim Acosta refused to hand over a microphone to an intern during a heated exchange with US President Donald Trump.

The White House has since banned Mr Acosta over what it called "unacceptable" conduct.

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

Ms Sanders took aim at the CNN correspondent after accusing him of "placing his hands on a young woman just trying to do her job as a White House intern".

Ms Sanders went on to share a clip that appears identical to one published by cable network C-SPAN, writing: "We stand by our decision to revoke this individual’s hard pass. We will not tolerate the inappropriate behaviour clearly documented in this video."

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But Storyful, a social media intelligence agency that specialises in video, say its analysis shows the clip "contains extra frames that do not appear in the C-SPAN broadcast of the event".

Its report claims the video has several frames repeated.

It says: "These frames do not appear in the original C-SPAN footage, and appear to exaggerate the action of Acosta.

"There is a clear moment (frames 13, 14, 15 in our first clip, where C-SPAN version is on the left) when the Sanders video halts and the C-SPAN footage does not.

"The two clips, which were roughly in sync before that moment, are out of sync thereafter," Storyful said.

Many in the media industry were furious with Ms Sanders for sharing the video, including one of Mr Acosta's colleagues.

Matt Dornic, a vice-president at CNN, said: "Absolutely shameful, @PressSec. You released a doctored video - actual fake news. History will not be kind to you."

The Storyful report also says: "The video shared by Sanders appeared under an hour after the same video, with the same close-up, was posted by Infowars.com contributor Paul Joseph Watson."

Infowars.com is a controversial far-right site described by many as a publisher of conspiracy theories and fake news.

The same three still frames are repeated in the zoomed-in clips of the incident in the Sanders video, its report adds.

Mr Watson posted his defence on Twitter, saying: "Here's the video that proves I did not 'doctor' or 'speed up' the Acosta video, as some media outlets claim. I merely zoomed in.

Here's the video that proves I did not "doctor" or "speed up" the Acosta video, as some media outlets claim. I merely zoomed in.



Nice try to distract from Acosta's behavior, but this kind of dishonesty is why the media has a massive trust issue.



Please correct your stories. pic.twitter.com/g0AzlEyVx0 — Paul Joseph Watson (@PrisonPlanet) November 8, 2018

"Nice try to distract from Acosta's behavior, but this kind of dishonesty is why the media has a massive trust issue.</s>Here are the notable firings and resignations of the Trump administration, starting with the most recent departure:

The day after a bitter midterm election, President Trump announced his attorney general Jeff Sessions would no longer serve in his administration. Sessions' firing was no surprise as he'd long been a primary target of the president due to his recusal from heading the special counsel investigation on Russia meddling.

The White House counsel, who had extraordinary access to President Donald Trump during some of his most controversial dealings and decisions, will leave his post this fall, the president announced in a tweet.

After months of allegations of misconduct, the administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency handed in his resignation.

The acting director of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, who headed up the president's efforts to to ramp up immigration arrests and crack down on sanctuary cities, announced his plans to retire in June.

The homeland security adviser resigned a day after John Bolton took over as national security adviser.

The announcement of the Obama administration holdover's departure came via tweet, after weeks of speculation about his fate.

The departure of the national security adviser appeared to be amicable, with each releasing written statements thanking each other.

The deputy director of the FBI was set to retire in just a matter of days when Attorney General Jeff Sessions decided to fire him.

After months of friction, the secretary of State was bumped from his position. According to a statement from the State Department, Tillerson had not spoken to the president and was not aware of the reason for his dismissal.

President Trump's personal assistant was abruptly fired over what was described as security reasons.

The head of the National Economic Council announced plans to resign from the administration, amid a fierce internal debate over proposed tariffs on foreign-made steel and aluminum.

The White House communications director announced her resignation and that she would be leaving in the coming weeks or months. She took on her role in August and has been one of Trump's longest-serving aides.

Porter's resignation as the White House staff secretary came after domestic abuse allegations against him were made public.

Newman, who rose to notoriety when she was on The Apprentice with Trump, was left her job in the White House's Office of Public Liaison. She later denied that she had been fired or escorted from White House grounds, though the Secret Service did say it terminated her access.

Trump's deputy national security adviser, who was a driving force behind the president's Middle East policy, announced her plans to depart the administration in 2018, the White House announced in December.

The Health and Human Services secretary resigned after revelations that he had racked up around $400,000 in private flights while traveling on official business.

When the controversial counterterrorism adviser stepped down, he said Trump's populist campaign agenda had been hijacked by establishment figures.

The chief strategist, who had a turbulent time at the White House, left his post after pressure to remove him from his post following violent clashes in Charlottesville, Va. For his part, Bannon said he resigned two weeks prior.

The controversial communications director stepped down after 11 days on the job, the same day John Kelly took over as chief of staff.

In his six-month tenure, marked by staff infighting and political reversals, the chief of staff was often a target of Trump loyalists who said he had failed to help the president win congressional legislation.

The senior assistant press secretary, brought on by Priebus, resigned after Scaramucci said he was going to fire him for allegedly leaking to the press.

The press secretary's tumultuous tenure, marked by standoffs with the press, culminated in his resignation when Trump went against his advice to hire Scaramucci as his new communications director.

The director of the Office of Government Ethics clashed repeatedly with the president before announcing his resignation.

Trump's first communications director did not work on the Trump campaign and did not know Trump before his hire. He handed in his resignation after three months on the job.

The White House initially said the FBI director's firing was based on the Justice Department's recommendation, over his handling of the Clinton email probe. Since then, Trump has said he had considered firing Comey even without that recommendation and has said the Russia investigation was on his mind when he made the decision.

The chief usher was fired for unclear reasons; it is unusual for a chief usher to be dismissed and they typically hold their positions for several years and over a number of administrations.

The national security adviser was mired in controversy after news reports surfaced that he had misled officials, including Vice President Pence, about his communications with Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak. He resigned shortly afterward.

The acting attorney general, a holdover from the Obama administration, was dismissed after she refused to defend the first iteration of Trump's travel ban on citizens from seven Muslim-majority countries.</s>How Oath and our partners bring you better ad experiences To give you a better overall experience, we want to provide relevant ads that are more useful to you. For example, when you search for a film, we use your search information and location to show the most relevant cinemas near you. We also use this information to show you ads for similar films you may like in the future. Like Oath, our partners may also show you ads that they think match your interests. Learn more about how Oath collects and uses data and how our partners collect and use data.

HuffPost is part of Oath. Oath and our partners need your consent to access your device and use your data (including location) to understand your interests, and provide and measure personalised ads. Oath will also provide you with personalised ads on partner products. Learn more. Select 'OK' to continue and allow Oath and our partners to use your data, or select 'Manage options' to view your choices.</s>Here are the notable firings and resignations of the Trump administration, starting with the most recent departure:

The day after a bitter midterm election, President Trump announced his attorney general Jeff Sessions would no longer serve in his administration. Sessions' firing was no surprise as he'd long been a primary target of the president due to his recusal from heading the special counsel investigation on Russia meddling.

The White House counsel, who had extraordinary access to President Donald Trump during some of his most controversial dealings and decisions, will leave his post this fall, the president announced in a tweet.

After months of allegations of misconduct, the administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency handed in his resignation.

The acting director of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, who headed up the president's efforts to to ramp up immigration arrests and crack down on sanctuary cities, announced his plans to retire in June.

The homeland security adviser resigned a day after John Bolton took over as national security adviser.

The announcement of the Obama administration holdover's departure came via tweet, after weeks of speculation about his fate.

The departure of the national security adviser appeared to be amicable, with each releasing written statements thanking each other.

The deputy director of the FBI was set to retire in just a matter of days when Attorney General Jeff Sessions decided to fire him.

After months of friction, the secretary of State was bumped from his position. According to a statement from the State Department, Tillerson had not spoken to the president and was not aware of the reason for his dismissal.

President Trump's personal assistant was abruptly fired over what was described as security reasons.

The head of the National Economic Council announced plans to resign from the administration, amid a fierce internal debate over proposed tariffs on foreign-made steel and aluminum.

The White House communications director announced her resignation and that she would be leaving in the coming weeks or months. She took on her role in August and has been one of Trump's longest-serving aides.

Porter's resignation as the White House staff secretary came after domestic abuse allegations against him were made public.

Newman, who rose to notoriety when she was on The Apprentice with Trump, was left her job in the White House's Office of Public Liaison. She later denied that she had been fired or escorted from White House grounds, though the Secret Service did say it terminated her access.

Trump's deputy national security adviser, who was a driving force behind the president's Middle East policy, announced her plans to depart the administration in 2018, the White House announced in December.

The Health and Human Services secretary resigned after revelations that he had racked up around $400,000 in private flights while traveling on official business.

When the controversial counterterrorism adviser stepped down, he said Trump's populist campaign agenda had been hijacked by establishment figures.

The chief strategist, who had a turbulent time at the White House, left his post after pressure to remove him from his post following violent clashes in Charlottesville, Va. For his part, Bannon said he resigned two weeks prior.

The controversial communications director stepped down after 11 days on the job, the same day John Kelly took over as chief of staff.

In his six-month tenure, marked by staff infighting and political reversals, the chief of staff was often a target of Trump loyalists who said he had failed to help the president win congressional legislation.

The senior assistant press secretary, brought on by Priebus, resigned after Scaramucci said he was going to fire him for allegedly leaking to the press.

The press secretary's tumultuous tenure, marked by standoffs with the press, culminated in his resignation when Trump went against his advice to hire Scaramucci as his new communications director.

The director of the Office of Government Ethics clashed repeatedly with the president before announcing his resignation.

Trump's first communications director did not work on the Trump campaign and did not know Trump before his hire. He handed in his resignation after three months on the job.

The White House initially said the FBI director's firing was based on the Justice Department's recommendation, over his handling of the Clinton email probe. Since then, Trump has said he had considered firing Comey even without that recommendation and has said the Russia investigation was on his mind when he made the decision.

The chief usher was fired for unclear reasons; it is unusual for a chief usher to be dismissed and they typically hold their positions for several years and over a number of administrations.

The national security adviser was mired in controversy after news reports surfaced that he had misled officials, including Vice President Pence, about his communications with Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak. He resigned shortly afterward.

The acting attorney general, a holdover from the Obama administration, was dismissed after she refused to defend the first iteration of Trump's travel ban on citizens from seven Muslim-majority countries.</s>White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders has been accused of sharing a “doctored” video of CNN correspondent Jim Acosta’s interaction with a White House intern that resulted in the reporter’s press pass being revoked.

Acosta’s press pass to access the White House was suspended “until further notice” Wednesday, hours after he engaged in a contentious back-and-forth with President Trump. A White House intern attempted to retrieve the microphone from Acosta, but the CNN reporter resisted and asked an additional question – and that’s where things get cloudy.

Sanders said the suspension of his press credentials stemmed from his “placing his hands on a young woman just trying to do her job as a White House intern.” She called the behavior “absolutely unacceptable.”

But many high-profile media members, including The New York Times’ Maggie Haberman and CNN executive Matt Dornic, have accused Sanders of using a doctored video speeding up Acosta’s arm motion, as evidence.

“We stand by our decision to revoke this individual’s hard pass. We will not tolerate the inappropriate behavior clearly documented in this video,” Sanders tweeted to accompany the allegedly doctored video.

“Yes, the White House press office is sharing a manipulated video that makes it appear that Acosta was menacing the intern when he was not and did not. The intern reached over Acosta to grab the microphone while he was trying to ask another q and Acosta tried to pull away,” Haberman wrote.

The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Several media members have accused Sanders of using an edited video circulated by Infowars editor Paul Joseph Watson. Infowars is known for spreading conspiracy theories and is banned from most social media platforms, but Watson has managed to keep his Twitter account.

The video allegedly speeds up Acosta’s arm motion to make it appear that he essentially karate chopped the female intern – but Watson has taken to Twitter to defend himself.

“The only editing done to this clip is that it is zoomed in,” Watson wrote.

Fox News has not yet confirmed whether or not the video is actually doctored, or simply zooms in on the incident. NBC News tweeted its own video of the encounter.

“The edited video looks authentic: Acosta appeared to swiftly chop down on the arm of an aide as he held onto a microphone while questioning President Trump. But in the original video, Acosta’s arm appears to move only as a response to a tussle for the microphone. His statement, ‘Pardon me, ma’am,’ is not included in the video Sanders shared,” Washington Post technology reporter Drew Harwell wrote.

“I’ve just been denied entrance to the WH,” Acosta tweeted Wednesday night. “Secret Service just informed me I cannot enter the WH grounds for my 8pm hit.”

Sanders confirmed Acosta’s claim and the White House Correspondents’ Association – of which Fox News is a member — quickly released its own statement condemning the decision to revoke Acosta’s credential.

“We urge the White House to immediately reverse this week and misguided action,” the WHCA wrote. We encourage anyone with doubts that this reaction was disproportionate to the perceived offense to view the video of events.”

It all started when CNN’s Acosta got into a heated debate with Trump after he asked the president about the migrant caravan.

“Honestly, I think you should let me run the country and you run CNN,” the president said, resulting in the intern attempting to retrieve the microphone.

CNN said Wednesday night that Acosta’s suspension “was done in retaliation for his challenging questions at today’s press conference” and claimed Sanders “lied” in her explanation of what unraveled.

“This unprecedented decision is a threat to our democracy and the country deserves better. Jim Acosta has our full support,” CNN said.</s>In a video tweeted by White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders, CNN White House corespondent Jim Acosta appeared to push, or possibly hit, a White House intern when she tried to take the microphone from him during a tense exchange with President Donald Trump on Wednesday.

Later that day, Acosta's press credentials were suspended. In a different tweet, Sanders explained why: "We will, however, never tolerate a reporter placing his hands on a young woman just trying to do her job as a White House intern..."

After Sanders shared the video and explanation, some claimed her video was "doctored" and showed a different version of what really happened.

You can watch the video Sanders shared here:

Self-proclaimed editing experts took Sanders' video and compared it to C-SPAN's recording of the interaction.

Those accusing Sanders of sharing a doctored video claimed that the edits increase the speed at which Acosta appears to touch the intern and make "Acosta's motion look like a chop."

Was the video posted by press secretary Sanders different than the C-SPAN version? If so, was it doctored to appear that way?

We can VERIFY without a doubt that the video posted by Sanders is different than the recording from C-SPAN and other outlets. There are freeze frames and accelerated motion that don't appear in other videos.

But, that does not necessarily mean the video was doctored or edited to have those effects.

VERIFY ran our own version of the tests mentioned in social posts above.

We identified two-to-three frozen frames and what appeared to be accelerated motion in the clip right around the point when Acosta and the intern touched arms.

When you line up the C-SPAN video and Sanders' version side-by-side, or even overlay them, there's no doubt the the clips are slightly different.

But that is not definitive proof the clip was doctored. As a few individuals pointed out, the discrepancies could also be due to video compression or the dropping of a few frames when formats were changed.

The video Sanders posted is identical to a video posted by Paul Joseph Watson, an InfoWars editor. He claimed he made the video by taking a .gif and converting it into a video format. You can see his Twitter defense by clicking here.

We created our own test to show how converting .gif files to video and back can create degradation in the overall video and often leads to motions that appear quicker or slower.

To see this in video format, watch the attached video above.

The video from Sanders is different. That’s Verified.

But claiming that it was done on purpose is unverifiable. You’d have to witness someone editing the video to be certain it happened.

There are other explanations, including video degradation and frame drops, that could explain how this happened.</s>Video from the press conference shows an intern attempting to take the microphone from Acosta, who says, "Pardon me, ma'am," after briefly making contact with her arm. Acosta then continues to ask a question about the Russia investigation, which Trump doesn't answer.

The White House on Wednesday said it is suspending access to CNN's chief White House correspondent Jim Acosta after he refused to give up the microphone while asking a question about the Russia investigation at a news conference.

BREAKING: White House aide grabs and tries to physically remove a microphone from CNN Correspondent Jim Acosta during a contentious exchange with President Trump at a news conference. https://t.co/fFm7wclFw2

In a statement, White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said the decision to revoke Acosta's credentials was made because of his "placing hands on a young woman just trying to do her job as a White House intern."

Sanders also defended the Trump administration's support of a free press, adding, "President Trump has given the press more access than any president in history."

On Twitter, Acosta said Sanders's description of what happened was a lie.

Acosta leads CNN's coverage of the president, and over the last two years, he's become known for his persistent questions and testy interactions with Trump and his press staff. But his questions have at times prompted Trump to account for his administration's actions.

Trump, meanwhile, has repeatedly said Acosta and CNN are "fake news," and on Wednesday, he further singled the reporter out as an "enemy of the people."

“CNN should be ashamed of itself, having you working for them,” Trump said. “You are a rude, terrible person. You shouldn’t be working for CNN.”

Acosta isn't the only CNN reporter to face the White House's ire. Reporter Kaitlan Collins was banned from an open press event this summer after asking what White House staff deemed to be “inappropriate” questions of Trump earlier in the day. She had shouted questions about the audio recording of Trump discussing paying former Playboy model Karen McDougal during a media scrum in the Oval Office the European Commission’s president.

And last year, CNN was among several news organizations banned by then-press secretary Sean Spicer.</s>The White House promoted an edited video on Wednesday to justify revoking Jim Acosta's press badge following the CNN reporter's questioning of President Donald Trump earlier that day. The video was earlier shared by the editor of InfoWars, whose founder has pushed conspiracy theories that the the 2012 Sandy Hook shooting never occurred.

The video was tweeted Wednesday night by White House press secretary Sarah Sanders, who claimed Acosta's "inappropriate behavior clearly documented in this video."

The video from Sanders' tweet purports to show a moment from a Wednesday exchange between Acosta and Trump, in which Acosta persisted in asking the president about the ongoing Russia investigation amid Trump's repeated refusals to answer.

More: CNN's Jim Acosta has White House press badge revoked after Trump called him 'terrible'

More: President Trump calls media 'hostile,' says of CNN reporter Jim Acosta: 'You are a rude, terrible person'

In footage of the incident earlier published by NBC and others, a White House intern attempts to take the microphone out of Acosta's right hand, during which Acosta lowers his left hand to block the woman while apologizing, "Pardon me, ma'am."

But in the video posted by Sanders, the moment of Acosta's arm movement is sped up, making his apparent block appear more aggressive —– a fact noted by many respondents to Sanders' tweet.

Within hours, videos comparing earlier footage and the video from Sanders' tweet showed a discrepancy when those moments of the White House-released video failed to match up to original footage.

"The clip being shared by the WH Press Secretary and Infowars has been slowed down then sped up to create the illusion of a karate chop," said Aymann Ismail, a video producer for Slate, in a series of tweets, adding that the "the intern's reach for the mic is slowed down, and the 'chop' motion is accelerated.

Paul Joseph Watson, the InfoWars editor who shared the video before Sanders did, later argued that he did not "speed up" the video but "merely zoomed in."

Media from InfoWars has previously been banned from Apple, Facebook, YouTube and Spotify after being classified as hate speech.

Despite Watson's claim, an in-depth analysis of the footage from Tom Richell, a video producer at The Independent, reports the precise frames where the video was edited.

"We know the video has been edited in some way," he said. "There's a very slight pause ... Who made that edit, though, and for what reason — that's what we don't know."</s>In a stunning break with protocol, the White House said Wednesday night that it's suspending the press pass of CNN's Jim Acosta "until further notice."

The move came just hours after Acosta, CNN's chief White House correspondent, drew the ire of President Donald Trump and his allies by asking multiple questions at a post-midterms news conference. Trump insulted Acosta and called him a "terrible" person.

White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders announced in a statement that Acosta would be stripped of what's known as a "hard pass," which gives him access to the White House grounds.

CNN said in a statement that Acosta has the network's full support.

The revocation of his pass "was done in retaliation for his challenging questions at today's press conference," the statement said. "In an explanation, Press Secretary Sarah Sanders lied. She provided fraudulent accusations and cited an incident that never happened. This unprecedented decision is a threat to our democracy and the country deserves better. Jim Acosta has our full support."

In the 7 p.m. hour on Wednesday, Acosta was stopped at the White House's Pennsylvania Avenue gate where reporters usually enter. He was heading back to the White House for a live shot on "Anderson Cooper 360."

"I've just been denied entrance to the WH," Acosta tweeted. "Secret Service just informed me I cannot enter the WH grounds for my 8pm hit."

"I was just told to do it," the officer said on the recording.

"I am now giving my hard pass to the Secret Service," Acosta said.

Reporters who regularly cover the White House are routinely granted "hard passes" to ease entry and exit to the grounds. It is unclear whether Acosta will be granted some other sort of entry pass for his work. But on Wednesday night, he was turned away at the gate.

The removal of his pass is a sharp escalation of tensions between the Trump administration and CNN. It immediately stirred concerns within the White House press corps.

Peter Baker, the chief White House correspondent for The New York Times, said on Twitter: "This is something I've never seen since I started covering the White House in 1996. Other presidents did not fear tough questioning."

The White House Correspondents' Association, which advocates for the press corps, issued a statement soon after Acosta was denied entry, calling the revocation of his access "unacceptable."

"Journalists may use a range of approaches to carry out their jobs and the WHCA does not police the tone or frequency of the questions its members ask of powerful senior government officials, including the President," the association said. "Such interactions, however uncomfortable they may appear to be, help define the strength of our national institutions. We urge the White House to immediately reverse this weak and misguided action."

Elisabeth Bumiller, the Washington bureau chief for The New York Times, said that "the president should not pick and choose who covers him, and he should certainly not force out a representative of one of the country's leading news organizations, one that tens of millions of Americans depend on for their news."

Acosta has been one of the most aggressive reporters on the Trump beat, winning him huge numbers of fans but also huge numbers of critics.

During Wednesday's news conference, many people on social media thanked Acosta for trying to hold the president accountable for his words and deeds.

But others condemned the correspondent. Some Trump boosters said Acosta's credentials should be revoked. And pro-Trump media outlets ran stories alleging that the reporter had mistreated the White House aide who tried to take a microphone away from him at the news conference.

Sanders repeated this assertion in her statement.

"President Trump believes in a free press and expects and welcomes tough questions of him and his Administration," she said. "We will, however, never tolerate a reporter placing his hands on a young woman just trying to do her job as a White House intern. This conduct is absolutely unacceptable."

CNN producer Allie Malloy responded to Sanders via Twitter: "This is a complete lie. The woman grabbed Jim's arm repeatedly. He never once touched her. In fact at one point @Acosta tells her politely 'pardon me, mam' as she's yanking on his arm."

Acosta also tweeted that Sanders' description of the incident was a "lie."

At the news conference, Trump snapped at the press corps, called reporters "rude" for asking questions, and made baseless claims about political polling.

"Such a hostile media. It's so sad," he said, keeping up his years-long campaign against the people who cover him.

Trump's most contentious exchange was with Acosta. Immediately afterward, CNN said in a statement: "This President's ongoing attacks on the press have gone too far. They are not only dangerous, they are disturbingly un-American."

"While President Trump has made it clear he does not respect a free press, he has a sworn obligation to protect it," CNN added. "A free press is vital to democracy, and we stand behind Jim Acosta and his fellow journalists everywhere."

Acosta was one of the first reporters Trump called on.

"Thank you, Mr. President," he said. "I want to challenge you on one of the statements that you made in the tail end of the campaign."

Trump leaned into the mic and said, "Here we go" — seemingly relishing the confrontation.

Acosta brought up the migrants traveling from Central America toward the US southern border, and the ad many have deemed racist that refers to them released by the Trump campaign last week.

"As you know, Mr. President, the caravan is not an invasion," Acosta said. "It's a group of migrants moving up from Central America towards the border with the US--"

Trump, sarcastically, replied, "Thank you for telling me that, I appreciate it."

Acosta: "Why did you characterize it as such?"

"Because I consider it an invasion. You and I have a difference of opinion."

"But do you think that you demonized immigrants?"

"No, not at all. I want them to come into the country. But they have to come in legally."

That's what the migrants are trying to do — they say they intend to seek asylum.

Acosta called out the misleading ad and said: "They're hundreds of miles away, though. They're hundreds and hundreds of miles away. That's not an invasion."

"You know what? I think you should," Trump started to say, pointing at Acosta. "Honestly, I think you should let me run the country. You run CNN. And if you did it well, your ratings would be much better."

"Okay, that's enough," Trump said as Acosta tried to ask another question.

A White House staffer hurried over to grab the mic and carry it to the next reporter Trump chose, NBC's Peter Alexander.

"If I may ask one other question, are you worried--"

Acosta tried to point out that other reporters had also asked multiple questions.

"That's enough," Trump said.

The White House staffer tried to grab the mic from Acosta, but he held onto it.

"Pardon me, ma'am," he said, as she looked toward Trump, then ducked out of camera view.

"Peter, let's go," Trump said, trying to move on to Alexander.

"If I can ask, on the Russia investigation," Acosta said, "are you concerned that you may have indictments coming down--"

"I am not concerned about anything with the Russian investigation because it is a hoax," Trump said, "That is enough, put down the mic."

Trump backed away from the podium for a moment, signaling he was done, while Acosta asked the question again and then let go of the mic.

While Alexander started to ask his question, Trump said, "I tell you what, CNN should be ashamed of itself, having you working for them." He pointed at Acosta: "You are a rude, terrible person. You shouldn't be working for CNN."

Then he turned to Alexander: "Go ahead." But he turned his focus back to Acosta: "You are a very rude person, the way that you treat Sarah Huckabee Sanders is horrible. The way that you treat other people are horrible. You shouldn't treat people that way."

"Go ahead," Trump said to Alexander. The NBC journalist then spoke up in Acosta's defense: "I've traveled with him and watched him, he is a diligent reporter who busts his butt like the rest of us."

"Well I'm not a big fan of yours either, to be honest," Trump said, prompting laughs in the room. He disparages NBC almost as often as CNN.

"So let me ask you a question," Alexander said, not missing a beat.

Acosta stood back up and spoke. His comments were not totally audible on live TV, but Acosta could be heard asking about the dangers of Trump's anti-media attacks, like the use of the term "enemy of the people."

"When you report fake news, which CNN does, a lot, you are the enemy of the people," Trump said, turning back to Alexander.

Trump's treatment of the press varied from one minute to the next. As at prior news conferences, he showed contempt for reporters one minute, complaining about questioners "jumping out of their seats screaming questions at me," then suggested he was enjoying the back and forth.

"Should we keep this going for a little while?" he asked, one hour into the session, prompting some of the reporters to say an emphatic "Yes."

When a reporter from a Japanese news outlet asked a question, Trump said, "Say hello to Shinzo," referring to Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.

The news conference threw into stark relief the different styles of different White House correspondents. Some, like April Ryan, tried to ask questions without being explicitly called on.

"Sit down please," Trump said to her. "Sit down. I didn't call you, I didn't call you, I didn't call you."

Ryan was trying to ask about voter suppression concerns. In response, Trump falsely said that CNN's polls were a form of suppression.

Trump frequently condemns so-called "suppression polls," alluding to a conspiracy theory that claims news outlets distort polling results to discourage people from voting. He brought up the idea again later in the news conference, despite a lack of evidence for the idea.

Toward the end of the event, Yamiche Alcindor, a correspondent for PBS "NewsHour," asked Trump about the widely shared view that his rhetoric has emboldened white nationalists.

"That's a racist question," Trump said repeatedly in response.

Social media lit up with outrage about Trump's dismissiveness. Alcindor, who is black, moved on.

She tweeted later: "I followed up the president calling my question "racist" with a policy question about his proposed middle class tax cut because that's what journalists do. We press on. We focus on the privilege of asking questions for a living. We do the work."

Here is the full White House statement:

"President Trump believes in a free press and expects and welcomes tough questions of him and his Administration. We will, however, never tolerate a reporter placing his hands on a young woman just trying to do her job as a White House intern. This conduct is absolutely unacceptable. It is also completely disrespectful to the reporter's colleagues not to allow them an opportunity to ask a question. President Trump has given the press more access than any President in history. Contrary to CNN's assertions, there is no greater demonstration of the President's support for a free press than the event he held today. Only they would attack the President for not being supportive of a free press in the midst of him taking 68 questions from 35 different reporters over the course of an hour and a half -- including several from the reporter in question. The fact that CNN is proud of the way their employee behaved is not only disgusting, it is an example of their outrageous disregard for everyone, including young women, who work in this Administration. As a result of today's incident, the White House is suspending the hard pass of the reporter involved until further notice." -- Sarah Sanders
White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders receives widespread condemnation after allegedly tweeting an altered video from a press conference the day before. The video, which was allegedly doctored by the far-right conspiracy website InfoWars, is claimed to falsely depict CNN's White House correspondent Jim Acosta physically assaulting an intern.