
A visibly upset White House press secretary Sean Spicer made journalists wait an hour on Saturday for a five-minute tongue lashing about 'deliberately false reporting' that he said has already become commonplace in the 30-hour-old Trump presidency.

Spicer blasted the White House press corps over a pair of tweets, criticized their coverage of President Donald Trump's afternoon visit with CIA employees, and upbraided them for their editors' decisions to report unconfirmed crowd-counts from Friday's inauguration.

'This was the largest audience to ever witness an inauguration – period! – both in person and around the globe,' Spicer claimed.

He insisted that no official numbers are available, despite some news outlets' reporting that the total audience in Washington, D.C. was approximately 250,000.

'No one had numbers,' Spicer declared, 'because the National Park Service, which controls the National Mall, does not put any out.'

White House press secretary Sean Spicer gave reporters a five-minute tongue lashing on Saturday about 'deliberately false reporting' that he said has already become commonplace in the 30-hour-old Trump presidency

Attack: The new president spoke at CIA headquarters where he was meeting leaders of the intelligence community - but spoke about how many watched him, saying the claim it was 250,000 was 'a beauty'. He may not have been aware the figure was provided by his own National Park Service

Trump tweeted on Sunday that his inauguration was watched by 31 million - almost 11 million more than Obama's second inauguration in 2013. He fails to mention that Obama's first inauguration was viewed by millions more, both in person, and in TV ratings with 38 tuning in for the 2009 event

Nielson, a global information company which tracks the viewing audience of all inaugurations, released its final numbers on Donald Trump's White House induction - at 30.9 million viewers.

The number is an impressive amount - though not nearly enough to earn him the title of 'largest audience to ever witness an inauguration'. In fact, based off of television audiences alone, it ranks him as the fifth most viewed inauguration ceremony since the numbers began being tallied, and seven million less than Obama's first inauguration in 2009.

The pugnacious Trump spokesman boasted that at least 720,000 were present, walking reporters through the crowd capacities of areas along the length of the National Mall, which stretches from the U.S. Capitol to the Washington Monument.

'From the platform where the president was sworn in, to Fourth Street, holds about 250,000 people,' he said.

'From Fourth Street to the media tent is about another 220,000. And from the media tent to the Washington monument, another 250,000 people.'

'All of this space was full when the president took the oath of office,' Spicer told reporters.

Aerial photos from Friday appear to refute this claim, but the press secretary maintained that the digital images that traveled around the world were little more than a trick of the eye.

'This was the first time in our nation's history that floor coverings have been used to protect the grass on the Mall, he said, referring to white-colored areas that appeared in photos. 'That had the effect of highlighting any areas where people were not standing, while in years past the grass eliminated this visual.'

'This was also the first time that fencing and magnetometers went as far back on the [Mall], preventing hundreds of thousands of people from being able to access the Mall as quickly as they had in inaugurations past.'

Despite Spicer's claims, photographs from Obama's inauguration in 2013 clearly show workers laying mats to protect the lawn on the National Mall.

Spicer did not cite any evidence for the claim that 'hundreds of thousands' were unable to enter security checkpoints.

A U.S. Secret Service spokesperson did not respond to a request for comment on Saturday evening.

In addition, photographs of the National Mall from Obama's 2013 inauguration show white tarpaulins covering large swaths of the Mall, refuting Spicer's claim that 'floor coverings' seen Friday were a new phenomenon.

Further down the mall: This was the view towards the Washington Monument, taken from a platform a few hundred yards from the East Portico of the Capitol

‹ Slide me › The historic National Mall during Trump's inauguration (left). At Obama's 2009 inauguration (right) there was an estimated 1.8million people in attendance despite the below freezing weather. How many actually turned up for Trump is now in dispute

Spicer blasted the White House press corps over a pair of tweets, criticized their coverage of Trump's afternoon visit with CIA employees, and upbraided them for decisions to report unconfirmed crowd-counts from Friday's inauguration

Workers were pictured laying down special mats to protect the lawn for Barack Obama's inauguration in 2013. Trump's press secretary had claimed on Saturday that mats were used for the first time in 2017

Spicer also noted that Washington's Metro mass-transit system recorded 420,000 riders on Friday, 'which actually compares to 317,000 that used it for President Obama's last inaugural.'

He did not mention the possibility that many of those riders were navigating around the Washington metropolitan area in advance Saturday's women's march – an anti-Trump event.

However The New York Times claims there were 782,000 riders on Washington’s subway system on Inauguration Day in 2013, compared to 571,000 riders this year, according to figures from the Washington-area transit authority.

But he warned against 'any attempts to try to count the number of protesters today' by using aerial photos.

Most TV networks concluded on Saturday that the feminist marchers outdrew the president in Washington. In addition, simultaneous marches in dozens of other cities boosted likely participation number well over 1 million.

But Trump's inauguration was seen on television from wire to wire by a far larger number of people around the globe, fascinated by the billionaire who rose to power with an improbable populist message, and followed through on Friday by pledging a return of federal government power 'to the people.'

Another unfortunate comparison: First the National Park Service tweeted this unflattering comparison of 2009 and 2017, as well as criticism of the new White House for deleting parts of its website on gay rights and climate change - then on Saturday it tweeted a large apology. A Washington insider told DailyMail.com: 'You can translate that as 'please don't cancel our budget.''

Trump (pictured leaving the CIA) launched his own attack on the 'dishonest' media earlier in the day at CIA headquarters

Trump's comments prompted outrage from former CIA Director John Brennan, according to his former deputy chief of staff

The new president launched his own attack on the 'dishonest' media earlier in the day at CIA headquarters, telling employees of the spy agency that reported attendance numbers for his swearing-in dramatically undershot the truth.

His declaration suggested that he believes one unnamed television network may have aired an overhead image shot long before the ceremony began.

'We had a massive field of people. You saw that. Packed,' he told the CIA workers.

'I get up this morning, I turn on one of the networks, and they show an empty field. I said, 'Wait a minute! I made a speech! I looked out. The field was – it looked like a million, a million and a half people!''

'It looked honestly – it looked like a million and a half people,' Trump said. 'Whatever it was, it was. But it went all the way back to the Washington Monument.'

'And I turn on the thing, and by mistake I get this network, and it showed an empty field. And it said we drew 250,000 people.

'Now, that's not bad,' Trump continued, 'but it's a lie.'

'We had 250,000 people literally around - you know, in the little bowl we constructed. That was 250,000 people. The rest of the, you know, 20-block area back to the Washington Monument was packed. So we caught them. And we caught them in a beauty. And I think they're going to pay a big price.

Former CIA director John Brennan said he was 'deeply saddened and angered' at Trump's remarks made at CIA headquarters, according to his former deputy chief of staff.

'Former CIA Director Brennan is deeply saddened and angered at Donald Trump's despicable display of self-aggrandizement in front of CIA's Memorial Wall of Agency heroes,' Nick Shapiro said in a statement.

'Brennan says that Trump should be ashamed of himself.'

Washington Post political reporter Karen Tumulty was one of many to tweet about Spicer's press conference on Saturday

Brian Fallon, who would have been White House press secretary if Hillary Clinton had won, criticized Sean Spicer's press conderence

Donald Trump is sworn in as the 45th president of the United States by Chief Justice John Roberts on Friday morning

How Trump saw it:This was the view from the East Portico of the Capitol shortly before the Obamas arrived. The Trumps followed them for the swearing in

Pictured: At Barack Obama's 2009 inauguration, attendance at the National Mall was filled with hundreds of thousands of people gathered to witness America's first African-American president being sworn in

In his afternoon diatribe, Spicer also took issue with a Time magazine reporter's erroneous report that the president had removed a bust of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. from the Oval Office after former president Barack Obama departed.

He called it 'a particularly egregious example' of false reporting.

'After it was pointed out that this was just plain wrong, the reporter casually reported, tweeted out, and tried to claim that a Secret Service agent must have just been standing in front of it,' Spicer said.

'This was irresponsible and reckless.'

Trump had also teed up the issue, identifying the reporter by his first name as he addressed the CIA audience in Virginia.

'It was right there!' the president said of the King bust. 'But there was a cameraman that was in front of it.'

Trump said he 'would never' remove the bust of the late civil rights leader from his office 'because I had great respect for Dr. Martin Luther King.'

'But this is how dishonest the media is,' he jabbed.

'Now, big story. But the retraction was like, where? Was it a line? Or do they even bother putting it in?'

'But I only like to say that because I love honesty,' said Trump. 'I like honest reporting.'