Inauguration crowds: photos versus the claim
WHEN & WHERE WAS IT SAID?
When: Jan 21, 2017
Where: Speech at CIA headquarters, Langley, Virginia
Original context / reporting ↗The crowd looked like a million-and-a-half people
WHAT HE SAID (WORD FOR WORD, SADLY)
He said one network showed "an empty field" and that the crowd "looked like a million-and-a-half people" and "went all the way back to the Washington Monument."
WHEN AND WHERE (THE RECEIPTS HAVE A CALENDAR)
Speech at CIA headquarters, Jan. 21, 2017.
WHAT THE RECORD SHOWS (BRING SNACKS)
- A Reuters photo taken at 12:01 p.m. from the Washington Monument shows the crowd did not reach the monument.
- Metro recorded about 193,000 trips as of 11 a.m. versus about 513,000 in 2009, and about 570,557 for the full day versus about 1.1 million in 2009.
- Crowd experts said the 2017 crowd was clearly smaller than 2009: one estimated about a third. The National Park Service does not issue official counts.
WHY THIS MATTERS
Photos and fare cards do not have opinions.
Contemporaneous photographs and transit figures contradict claims that the crowd reached the Washington Monument or exceeded the 2009 inauguration.
Finding: MisleadingTechnically words. Technically.
Sources & further reading
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Editorial note: each article reports only details found in the linked sources. Where a source does not give a venue, date or exact wording, we say so instead of guessing. Quotations may need further editorial verification against primary recordings or transcripts.