Donald Trump’s press secretary attacks media over inauguration crowd coverage at first White House briefing
Donald Trump’s strained relationship with the media has deteriorated further after his press secretary rounded on journalists at his first White House appearance.
Sean Spicer at the White House
In a combative debut press conference, Sean Spicer accused the media of lying after Trump’s inauguration crowd was compared unfavourably to that of Barack Obama’s in 2009.
Photographs of the two ceremonies appeared to show many more people were gathered on the National Mall for Obama’s first inauguration.
President Trump is disputing how many people attended his inauguration. We had experts assess the crowd size. https://t.co/B5olahGgQc pic.twitter.com/5fFWJHJ3Jd
— NYT Graphics (@nytgraphics) January 22, 2017
But Spicer went on the attack and told the assembled journalists: "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.”
On the crowd comparison, he insisted: "This was the largest audience ever to witness an inauguration, period. Both in person and around the globe.
"These attempts to lessen the enthusiasm about the inauguration are shameful and wrong."
Spicer’s claim that Trump drew the largest ever inauguration audience was undermined by his own assertion that “no one had numbers because the National Park Service, which controls the National Mall, does not put any out”.
He had said that protective coverings on the grass had created “defective highlighting,” making the crowd at Trump’s swearing-in ceremony appear smaller than it was in the aerial pictures.
"Photographs of the inaugural proceedings were intentionally framed in a way...to minimize the enormous support that had gathered on the National Mall," Spicer said.
He left the briefing without taking questions. Rather than quell the debate, Spicer's lecture prompted many media outlets to retaliate by restating their crowd claims and accuse him of peddling falsehoods.
"White House press secretary attacks media for accurately reporting inauguration crowds," read the headline on CNN's website, while the Atlantic said: "Trump's Press Secretary Falsely Claims: 'Largest Audience Ever to Witness an Inauguration, Period'."
Earlier in the day the new president had accused the media of manufacturing a feud between him and the intelligence community, as he addressed CIA staff.
He devoted part of his address at the CIA headquarters to disputing some media reports that as few as 250,000 people attended his inauguration. "It looked like a million and a half people," Trump said.
And he reiterated his low opinion of the media, describing reporters "among the most dishonest human beings on earth".