White House accuses media of playing down inauguration crowds
Press Secretary Sean Spicer delivers a statement while television screen show a picture of U.S. President Donald Trump's inauguration at the press briefing room of the White House in Washington U.S., January 21, 2017. REUTERS/Carlos Barria
By Jeff Mason and Roberta Rampton
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The White House on Saturday accused the media of framing photographs to understate the crowd that attended Donald Trump's inauguration, a new jab in a long-running fight between the new president and the news organizations who cover him.
In an unusual and fiery statement on Saturday night, White House spokesman Sean Spicer lashed out about tweeted photographs that showed large, empty spaces on the National Mall during the ceremony on Friday.
"This was the largest audience ever to witness an inauguration, period. Both in person and around the globe," Spicer said in a brief statement. "These attempts to lessen the enthusiasm about the inauguration are shameful and wrong."
Washington's city government estimated 1.8 million people attended President Barack Obama’s 2009 inauguration, making it the largest gathering ever on the Mall.
Aerial photographs showed that the crowds for Trump's inauguration were smaller than in 2009.
Spicer's rebuke followed a larger-than-expected turnout for women's marches protesting Trump across the United States on Saturday, including at the flagship event in Washington, where a crowd of hundreds of thousands clogged the streets and appeared to be larger than those who came for Trump's inauguration.
Spicer, who did not take questions from reporters, said spaces for 720,000 people were full when Trump took his oath.
He also said the National Park Service does not put out official crowd counts. "No one had numbers."
Washington’s Metro subway system said 193,000 users had entered the system by 11 a.m. on Friday, compared with 513,000 at that time during Obama's 2009 inauguration.
On Saturday, Metro reported ridership of 275,000 at 11 a.m. as it struggled to handle the crowd converging on downtown Washington for the protest march.
Trump has long used the media as a foil during his unconventional climb to the White House. On Saturday, he blamed the media for making up his feud with the CIA over its investigation into Russian hacking.
Spicer also criticized a reporter who made an error in a pool report during a brief ceremony in the Oval Office on Friday. Earlier, Trump called out the reporter by name at the CIA headquarters.
"There's been a lot of talk in the media about the responsibility to hold Donald Trump accountable, and I'm here to tell you it goes two ways. We're going to hold the press accountable as well," Spicer said.
(Additional reporting by Lisa Lambert and Andy Sullivan; Edited by Kieran Murray and Mary Milliken)
Serious News for Serious Traders! Try StreetInsider.com Premium Free!
You May Also Be Interested In
- Huawei-led Chinese firms aim to make advanced memory chips by 2026, The Information reports
- Lukashenko talks up threats to Belarus to justify 'nuclear deterrence'
- EU court adviser backs data privacy activist Schrems in Meta fight
Create E-mail Alert Related Categories
ReutersRelated Entities
Donald J. Trump, Barack ObamaSign up for StreetInsider Free!
Receive full access to all new and archived articles, unlimited portfolio tracking, e-mail alerts, custom newswires and RSS feeds - and more!