MSNBC’s Nicolle Wallace on Friday showed an altered video clip of herself to blast President Trump’s attempt to “smear” Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) with an edited video.
The “Deadline: White House” host said on her show that the clash between Trump and Pelosi this week has “deteriorated to a level beneath words — comprehensible words at least.”
“That’s why we’re going to do something different here to make sure you understand just how low the president has stooped in his efforts to smear the Speaker of the House,” Wallace said.{mosads}
“We believe that transparency is the best disinfectant for dirty politics, so we’re going to break down what the president of the United States did to the Speaker of the House when he shared a doctored video of her with his millions of Twitter followers,” she added.
Wallace, who served as White House communications director in the George W. Bush administration and as a GOP campaign aide, noted that Trump had shared an edited video clip Thursday that made it seem like Pelosi was stuttering.
The video, while itself not doctored, was shared the same day The Washington Post reported that videos doctored to make Pelosi appear to be slurring her words as if she were drunk had gone viral on social media.
Trump shared a video from Fox Business Network that had been edited to combine clips of Pelosi tripping over her words in a press conference. Trump tweeted the clip with the caption “PELOSI STAMMERS THROUGH NEWS CONFERENCE.”
Wallace noted that the slowed-down video “has the effect of making anyone look like they’re having a hard time speaking.”
The MSNBC host proceeded to air a clip of her speaking that had been slowed down so her audience could see what she looked and sounded like doctored.
She also pointed out that Trump has been a victim of doctored videos himself, playing a clip that showed a campaign speech that had been altered.
Wallace said her MSNBC show had decided not to show the clip of Pelosi that Trump shared with his 60.5 million Twitter followers.
The president on Friday denied knowledge of the altered videos and praised his ability to work with the Democratic leader before accusing her of “not helping the country.”
“I don’t know about the videos. I can tell you that — what I’m here is to help the country,” Trump told reporters at the White House before leaving on a trip to Japan.