Report: Trump called park official to dispute crowd photo
ASSOCIATED PRESS
President Donald Trump waved as former President Barack Obama applauded during the inauguration.
WASHINGTON >> On his first full day in office, President Donald Trump called the acting director of the National Park Service to dispute widely circulated photos of Trump’s inauguration.
The Washington Post reported today that Trump personally ordered park service head Michael Reynolds to produce additional photographs of the previous day’s crowds on the National Mall. The president believed that the photos might prove that the news media had lied in reporting that attendance had been no better than average, the newspaper said.
The Post reported that Reynolds forwarded additional photos to the White House as requested.
Photos taken that day made clear that crowds didn’t extend to the Lincoln Memorial as Trump later asserted and that his claim of 1 million to 1.5 million people in attendance was wrong.
A spokesman for the park service confirmed the call today but declined to reveal details of the conversation. Asked about Trump’s call, White House spokeswoman Sarah Huckabee Sanders said, “President Trump is someone who takes action and gets things done — this is one of the reasons he won and Hillary didn’t.”
Trump also expressed anger over a retweet sent from the park service’s account, in which side-by-side photographs showed far fewer people at his swearing-in than had shown up to see President Barack Obama’s inauguration in 2009, the Post reported.
The call from Trump came after the Interior Department briefly suspended park service accounts and others run by the department in response to the retweeted photos and another tweet that pointed out that webpages about some issues, including climate change, had been removed from the White House site.
The Interior Department accounts were reactivated the next day.
Park service employees launched a Twitter campaign against Trump this week. After three climate-science tweets by Badlands National Park were deleted, several other parks posted tweets related to climate change in an apparent show of solidarity and defiance.
Trump has called climate change a hoax, and many readers saw the climate-related tweets as a message of defiance to the new president.
Tom Crosson, the chief spokesman for the park service, declined to comment on any of the tweets sent out by park service accounts, but he said there is no restriction on agency use of Twitter or other social media.
“There’s no gag order on national parks that would prevent people from tweeting,” he said Wednesday.
Trump used his Twitter account during the campaign to bash opponents and share his messages directly to his supporters. But government policy indicates that any agency must agree with the contents of whatever it shares on social media.
19 responses to “Report: Trump called park official to dispute crowd photo”
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at first the side by side photos looked like triumph’s crowds were indeed thinner by far than obama’s first inauguration photo of a large crowd. how could there be such a difference?
then, on closer inspection, the photo of obama’s inauguration crowd revealed that it was taken early in the day as people gathered to hear the oath of office and initial ceremony at the steps of the capital.
the photo of triumph’s inaugural crowd used as comparison was taken much later in the day after the oath taking ceremony and when most people would have left the great lawn to other venues for parties or to watch the parade.
the clue: the sun’s signature on the capitol dome in obama’s crowd photo is much lower in the horizon illuminating just a section of the dome and leaving long shadows on the ground from standing objects. the sun’s signature on the capitol dome in triumph’s crowd photo shows an evenly lit dome indicating the sun was much higher in the sky and the shadows cast are not as prominent.
the photos clearly indicate more people are in obama’s crowd and less people in triumph’s crowd. but, they are bookend photos. obama’s photo appears to be taken before he took the oath. triumph’s photo appears to taken long after the oath ceremony was over.
The photos in question are time stamped. No independent observer can claim one million Trump supporters showed up at his inauguration without gagging.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PdantUf5tXg
Here is a time lapse of the inauguration from beginning to end. In the beginning of the time lapse you can see people filing in. At the end of the time lapse you can see the people leaving. At no time during the time lapse can a sane person claim that Trump had anywhere near the attendance that Obama had. Stop your lying std1…..
Jeez…who cares. I know how many people came to Hillary Clinton’s inauguration…ZERO.
I was responding to std’s comment. Why didn’t you post your comment to std? Anyway, apparently Trump cares because he can’t stop lying about it every chance he gets….
“Jeez…who cares.”
Why don’t you just keep that on on your clipboard. That being your new slogan and all…
The POTUS worried that he didn’t have enough people at his inauguration? Like a little kid. If his mother was still alive he would be running and crying on her shoulders.
Trump is the most immature, insecure, needy, narcissistic buffoon you could ever hope not to meet. Unfortunately for us, he is in a position to inflict great harm upon our country. Also, unfortunately, his party is made up of cowards too interested in self-preservation to stand up to him.
For Gods sake. Isnt there something more important to Chump that he should be concentrating on than the size of the crowd? Absolutely ridiculous and petty!!!!
Apparently Trump has an obsession about the “size” of things. Remember how he went on and on about the small size of his hands?…lol
On his first day as President, Trump’s primary first order of business was a futile attempt to inflate his sensitive ego!
You mean the pics were just “alternative facts?”
In an attempt to sabotage the final days of the Obamacare enrollment period and, as a result, drive up health insurance premiums, Trump cancelled $5M in pre-paid ads and outreach. No refunds. Just pure sabotage.
Obamacare. It only works if you don’t.
Wonder why Trump is so concerned about his inauguration crowd. The real facts show Trump’s inauguration crowd was indeed smaller than Obama’s- but so what? Braddah Don, much more important matters for you to attend to…
Who gives a s*** about the crowd size. You are the President act like one.
So basically what we are saying as a people, as citizens of these United States, is that we are petulant, small, and petty at heart which is why we chose such a similar character to be our leader. Ok, I can accept that.
There goes the AP chasing a non-story while Trump piles up accomplishments each day. He’s pulling a classic rope-a-dope on these clowns and they have yet to figure it out.
It was a non-story until Trump kept bringing it up.