Stephen Colbert, Jimmy Kimmel, and Trevor Noah only half-laugh at the White House smearing CNN's Jim Acosta with doctored video

Late-night hosts side with Jim Acosta
(Image credit: Screenshots/YouTube/The Late Show, Jimmy Kimmel Live, The Daily Show)

President Trump's newest trick is banning journalists, Stephen Colbert said on Thursday's Late Show. "That's very strongman. I'm not saying he's Kim Jong Un — he's Kim Jong-ish." At Wednesday's "White House press tantrum, the president and CNN's Jim Acosta just got into it — until an intern was dispatched" to grab Acosta's mic, Colbert said. "That has got to be the worst intern assignment. ... 'Brad, you're in charge of making copies, Kathy, you'll be destroying the First Amendment, okay? Remember, it's for college credit!'"

A lot of people were outraged that the White House then revoked Acosta's press pass, but Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders defended the move by tweeting a video appearing to show Acosta chopping the intern's arm. "That is terrible," Colbert said, "or it would be if it weren't 'fake news.' Because Sarah Sanders tweeted a doctored video," apparently from Alex Jones' Infowars. "The fact that the White House press secretary is promoting this doctored video is reprehensible and grounds for dismissal," he said. "Or as they call it in the Trump administration, Thursday."

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Peter Weber, The Week US

Peter has worked as a news and culture writer and editor at The Week since the site's launch in 2008. He covers politics, world affairs, religion and cultural currents. His journalism career began as a copy editor at a financial newswire and has included editorial positions at The New York Times Magazine, Facts on File, and Oregon State University.