{"slug":"trump-inauguration-crowd-lies","title":"Inauguration Crowd Lies: The First Day and the War on Truth","date":"2017-01-21","lastUpdated":"2017-01-22","description":"On the day after his inauguration, Trump dispatched Press Secretary Sean Spicer to deliver a demonstrably false statement about crowd size, claiming his inauguration had 'the largest audience to ever witness an inauguration, period.' Photos, Metro ridership data, and aerial comparison images showed Trump's crowd was substantially smaller than Obama's 2009 inauguration. The incident inaugurated a pattern of official government lying that defined the first term.","summary":"Trump demanded his Press Secretary go before the press to insist crowd comparisons showing his inauguration was smaller than Obama's were dishonest — a claim contradicted by photographic evidence, aerial comparisons, Metro ridership figures, and National Park Service estimates. Counselor Kellyanne Conway defended Spicer by coining the phrase 'alternative facts.' The incident, on the first full day of the administration, set the template for four years of routine government deception.","category":"rule-of-law","severity":"major","ongoing":false,"sources":[{"url":"https://www.nytimes.com/2017/01/21/us/politics/trump-white-house-sean-spicer-press-briefing.html","title":"Trump Sends Press Secretary to Lie About Inauguration Crowd Size","publisher":"The New York Times"},{"url":"https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/how-trumps-team-framed-an-argument-that-began-with-crowd-size/2017/01/22/b3dca350-e0e9-11e6-a419-eefe8eff0835_story.html","title":"'Alternative facts': The White House defines its approach","publisher":"The Washington Post"},{"url":"https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/trump-administration/trump-tells-cia-crowd-size-claims-media-s-fault-n709601","title":"Trump tells CIA crowd size story is media's fault","publisher":"NBC News"}],"draft":false,"status":"published","tags":["disinformation","alternative-facts","first-term","rule-of-law","press-secretary"],"relatedEntries":[],"timeline":[{"date":"2017-01-20","title":"Inauguration","summary":"Trump is inaugurated as the 45th President. Aerial photographs, Metro ridership data, and National Mall crowd estimates later show the inauguration crowd was substantially smaller than Obama's 2009 inauguration."},{"date":"2017-01-21","title":"Trump visits CIA — complains about crowd","summary":"In his first official visit as president, Trump speaks at CIA headquarters. Standing in front of the agency's memorial wall — a solemn setting honoring fallen officers — Trump complains at length about media reporting on crowd comparisons, framing it as deliberate dishonesty."},{"date":"2017-01-21","title":"Spicer delivers false statement at first briefing","summary":"Press Secretary Spicer opens the first White House briefing with a combative false statement about inauguration crowds, claiming it was 'the largest audience to ever witness an inauguration, period' and attacking photographers who captured aerial images."},{"date":"2017-01-22","title":"Conway: 'alternative facts'","summary":"On NBC's Meet the Press, Kellyanne Conway defends Spicer by saying he had offered 'alternative facts' — a phrase that becomes the defining shorthand for the administration's approach to empirical reality and is immediately entered into cultural vocabulary."}],"location":{"name":"Washington, D.C.","lat":38.8951,"lng":-77.0366},"custom":{"era":"first-term","posture":"reported","warCrimeClassification":"enabling","internationalLaw":[],"iccRelevance":false,"victims":"Public trust in government information; democratic accountability dependent on shared factual reality","structuredPerpetrators":[{"name":"Donald Trump","role":"President of the United States","institution":"White House"},{"name":"Sean Spicer","role":"Press Secretary","institution":"White House"},{"name":"Kellyanne Conway","role":"Counselor to the President","institution":"White House"}],"updateLog":[{"date":"2017-01-22","summary":"Updated with Conway 'alternative facts' appearance."}]}}