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4A Saturday, November 10, 2018 The Times, Gainesville, Georgia | gainesvilletimes.com WASHINGTON/POLITICS Trump insults reporters, claims Acosta video not altered EVAN VUCCII Associated Press CNN correspondent Jim Acosta does a stand up Aug. 2 before the daily press briefing at the White House in Washington. BY DAVID BAUDER AND JONATHAN LEMIRE Associated Press NEW YORK - Before hopping on a plane to Paris on Friday, President Trump insulted some more report ers, threatened that others may have their White House credentials pulled like CNN’s Jim Acosta and dis puted reports that his press secretary spread a doctored video of Acosta’s encounter with a White House intern. During a brief media availability outside the White House, the president gave more fodder to fans who enjoy watching him scrap with journalists. Trump said “nobody manipulated” a video dis tributed by White House press secretary Sarah Sand ers that showed Acosta resisting an intern’s attempt to take a microphone from him during a news confer ence on Friday. A video expert had told The Associ ated Press that the video appeared doctored to speed up Acosta’s arm movement and make his gesture more threatening; the White House used that encounter to justify pulling Acosta’s credentials. “It wasn’t doctored,” the president said. “They gave a close-up view. That’s not doctoring.” Abba Shapiro, an indepen dent video producer hired by The Associated Press to compare the footage tweeted by Shapiro with the AP’s coverage of the news conference, said the altera tion made was “too precise to be an accident.” Two late-night comics, Stephen Colbert and Jimmy Kimmel, both said on their shows Thursday that Sand ers should be fired for her action. “The fact that the White House press secretary is pro moting this doctored video is reprehensible, and grounds for dismissal,” Colbert said. While Trump called the reporter who asked about the video “dishonest,” that was mild compared to his treatment of April Ryan, a White House correspondent for American Urban Radio Networks, and CNN’s Abby Phillip. Phillip asked Trump whether he wanted Matt Whitaker, the newly- appointed acting attorney general, to rein in Special Counsel Robert Mueller. “What a stupid question you asked,” Trump replied. “What a stupid question and I watch you a lot and you ask a lot of stupid questions.” In response, CNN said through its Twitter feed that Phillip’s question wasn’t stu pid. “In fact, she asked the most pertinent question of the day,” CNN said. Trump’s insults “are nothing new. And never surprising,” CNN said. The attack on Ryan was unprovoked, although the president had appeared upset at Wednesday’s news conference when Ryan stood up and asked him, without a microphone, about voter suppression in the mid term elections. Ryan wasn’t among Trump’s questioners Friday. “I watch her get up,” he said Friday. “I mean, you talk about somebody that’s a loser, she doesn’t know what the hell she’s doing. She gets publicity, and then she gets a pay raise, or she gets a contract with, I think CNN. But she’s very nasty, and she shouldn’t be.” Hundreds of migrants leave Mexico City headed for US border RODRIGO ABD I Associated Press Central American migrants ride on the subway after leaving the temporary shelter at the Jesus Martinez stadium, in Mexico City, Friday, Nov. 9. BY MARK STEVENSON AND CHRISTOPHER SHERMAN Associated Press MEXICO CITY - About 750 Central American migrants headed out of Mexico City on Friday to embark on the longest and most dangerous leg of their journey to the U.S. border, while thousands more were waiting one more day at a massive improvised shelter. The group that got a head start bundled their few possessions and started off, taking a subway to the north part of the city and then hik ing down an expressway with a police escort. For many, it was the first time they had ever been in a metro sys tem, and they had little knowledge of the city or the 1,740 mile route to Tijuana that lay ahead of them. Carlos Castanaza, a 29-year-old plumber from Guatemala City, wrapped himself from head to toe in a blanket against the cold and asked bystanders where the first toll booth was. When told it was in a town about 20 miles away, he care fully wrote the name of the town on his hand with a pen to remember where he was going. Deported for driving without a license after a decade working in Connecticut, Castanaza was desper ate to get back to his two U.S.-born children. “I’ve been wanting to get back for more than a year, but I couldn’t until the caravan came through,” said Castanaza. “That’s why I joined the caravan.” The advanced group hoped to reach the north-central city of Queretaro, about 105 miles to the northwest, by nightfall. Meanwhile, another 4,000 to 5,000 migrants milled around the massive shelter improvised at a Mexico City sports complex, impa tient to leave. “Let’s go, let’s go!” shouted Eddy Rivera, 37, a rail-thin migrant from Honduras who said he couldn’t take staying in the camp any longer. “We are all sick, from the humidity and the cold,” said Rivera, who left behind four children and a wife in Honduras. “We have to get going, we have to get to Tijuana.” Though he was unsure how an unskilled farmworker like himself would be allowed in the United States, he had a simple dream: earn enough money to build a little house for his family back in Puerto Cortes, Honduras. Thousands of migrants have spent the past few days resting, receiving medical attention and debating how to proceed with their arduous trek through Central America and Mexico which began in mid-October. On Thursday, car avan representatives met with offi cials from the local United Nations office and demanded buses to take them to the border, saying the trek would be too hard and dangerous for walking and hitchhiking. Caravan coordinator Milton Benitez said officials had offered them buses for women and chil dren but organizers demanded that they be for everyone. By Fri day, the migrants said they were so angry at the U.N.’s lack of help that they no longer wanted U.N. observ ers with the caravan. The United Nations on Friday denied the offer, releasing a state ment saying its agencies “are unable to provide the transporta tion demanded by some members of the caravan.” The migrants made a big point of sticking together, their only form of self-protection. Felix Rodriguez, 35, of Cho- luteca, Honduras had been at the Mexico City sports complex for more than a week. “We all want to get moving,” he said. But he was waiting for the main group to leave Saturday, not ing “it is better to leave in a group, because leaving in small bunches is dangerous.” Mexico City is more than 600 miles from the nearest U.S. border crossing at McAllen, Texas, but the area around the Mexican border cities of Reynosa, Matamoros and Nuevo Laredo is so rife with drug gangs that the migrants consider it too dangerous to risk. A previous caravan in the spring opted for the longer route to Tijuana in the far northwest, across from San Diego. That cara van steadily dwindled to only about 200 people by the time it reached the border. “California is the longest route but is the best border, while Texas is the closest but the worst” bor der, said Jose Luis Fuentes of the National Lawyers Guild. Mexico has offered refuge, asy lum or work visas to the migrants, and its government said 2,697 tem porary visas had been issued to individuals and families to cover them while they wait for the 45-day application process for a more per manent status. On Wednesday, a bus left from Mexico City to return 37 people to their countries of origin. But many want to continue on toward the United States. MAER'CA’S original BUTCHFp TENDERNESS and SAVE 75%' on Omaha Steaks 30 GOURMET ITEMS! The Family Gourmet Feast 2 (5 oz.) Filet Mignons 2 (5 oz.) Top Sirloins 2 (4 oz.) Boneless Pork Chops 4 Boneless Chicken Breasts (1 lb. pkg.) 4 (3 oz.) Kielbasa Sausages 4 (4 oz.) Omaha Steaks Burgers 4 (3 oz.) Potatoes au Gratin 4 (4 oz.) 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