White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer said that “this was the largest audience to ever witness an inauguration, period. Both in person and around the globe.” He did not provide any evidence to back up those claims. | Getty White House doubles down on Trump crowd claims, media complaints

The White House refused to address the nationwide protests against his presidency on Saturday while doubling down on President Donald Trump’s claims that his Inauguration drew far more people than was reported and that “the media” is deliberately sowing divisions.

Press Secretary Sean Spicer took to the White House podium in the press briefing room to castigate reporters Saturday and tell them the White House would hold the media “accountable.”


“Yesterday, at a time when our nation and the world watched the peaceful transition of power — and as the president said, the transfer and balance of power from Washington to the citizens of the United States, some members of the media were engaged in deliberately false reporting,” Spicer said.

He cited a tweet that incorrectly stated the bust of Martin Luther King, Jr. had been removed from the Oval Office — which was quickly corrected by the reporter — and photographs that showed Trump’s Inauguration crowd was far smaller than Barack Obama’s 2009 inauguration. Trump also brought up both episodes in a speech to the CIA earlier Saturday.

Spicer blamed “floor coverings” used to protect the grass for highlighting areas that were empty, and blamed heightened security for limiting the amount of people on the Mall.

“Inaccurate numbers involving crowd size were also tweeted,” Spicer said. “No one had numbers. … By the way this applies to any attempts to try to count the number of protesters today in the same fashion.”

Spicer went on to say that “this was the largest audience to ever witness an inauguration, period. Both in person and around the globe.”

He did not provide any evidence to back up that claim.

In fact, available data and photographs indicate the crowd was smaller than at past inaugurations. Metro ridership as of 11 a.m., for example, was higher at inauguration ceremonies in 2005, 2009 and 2013 — and at Saturday’s Women’s March — than for Trump’s inauguration.

Spicer left the lectern without taking any questions.