Paul Joseph Watson ([@PrisonPlanet][1]) has been [quite open][2] about producing the video.  He even published a [screenshot][3] of his video editing session, which shows the edits made in order to repeat the action in close-up, and the original Twitter-generated filename, `DrasJZTWwAAU5hs.mp4`, which indicates that the original video clip is this: [`https://video.twimg.com/tweet_video/DrasJZTWwAAU5hs.mp4`][4]

This is consistent with Watson’s claim that the original video was from [this tweet][5] from The Daily Wire, which links to the same video URL.  I have not been able to trace the source further, but Watson’s claim that it was originally a GIF is backed up by the coarse colour quantisation (and of course the “GIF” label in the player!).

The first appearance of Watson’s edited version seems to be [his tweet][6] dated 5:33 pm - 7 Nov 2018.

As for alterations: apart from the obvious crop-zoom-loop, there is a duplicated frame just as Acosta and the woman make contact (frames 2 and 3 below). This repeated frame occurs in both the zoomed and unzoomed cuts in Watson’s video.

[![frames from edited video][7]][7]

Curiously, there is another duplicated frame a little later (frames 2 and 3; look carefully at the woman’s hair).

[![additional frames from edited video][8]][8]

These duplicate frames appear both in the [edited video tweeted by Watson][6] and in the [video issued by Sanders][9], but not in the `DrasJZTWwAAU5hs.mp4` source video.

[![frames from original video][10]][10]

These certainly could be deliberate attempts to exaggerate the action.  They could also be technical glitches, but given the attention paid to that moment during editing, I would be surprised if Watson did not notice something amiss. However, Watson has [repeatedly][11] [stated][12] that the video was not doctored.

Regardless, it is unfortunate that the Press Secretary published the edited video without greater scrutiny.


  [1]: https://twitter.com/PrisonPlanet
  [2]: https://twitter.com/PrisonPlanet/status/1060521980615634944
  [3]: https://twitter.com/PrisonPlanet/status/1060521980615634944/photo/1
  [4]: https://video.twimg.com/tweet_video/DrasJZTWwAAU5hs.mp4
  [5]: https://twitter.com/realDailyWire/status/1060227002832056320
  [6]: https://twitter.com/PrisonPlanet/status/1060344443616800768
  [7]: https://i.sstatic.net/96YY5.png
  [8]: https://i.sstatic.net/UmAXG.png
  [9]: https://twitter.com/PressSec/status/1060374680991883265
  [10]: https://i.sstatic.net/WlNyg.png
  [11]: https://twitter.com/PrisonPlanet/status/1060908625974231040
  [12]: https://twitter.com/PrisonPlanet/status/1060771119416967168