[Infowarrior] - Report: POTUS pressured Park Service to back up inauguration crowd claims

[Richard Forno]

Report: Trump pressured Park Service to back up inauguration crowd claims

By Nikita Vladimirov - 01/26/17 08:11 PM EST 152

http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/news/316427-wapo-trump-pressured-park-service-to-back-up-his-claims-about

President Donald Trump pressured the Park Service to produce additional photographs that supported his claims about the record-setting size of his inauguration crowd, the Washington Post reported on Thursday.

Three individuals with the knowledge of the conversation told the newspaper that Trump called the acting National Park Service director Michael Reynolds on Saturday, and personally requested new aerial photographs.

According to the report, the president believed that other photographs of the event may prove his claim that there were more people at the inauguration than what was previously reported by the press.

Sources told the Post additional pictures that were subsequently sent to the White House did not substantiate Trump's claim that about the size of the crowd.

Sources also told The Post that Trump was not happy with the department's retweets comparing the crowd size of his inauguration with President Obama's inauguration in 2009.

While the National Park Service did not want to discuss the report, the White House deputy press secretary told the newspaper that the phone call illustrates that the president's management style is to stay "accessible, and constantly in touch.”

“He’s not somebody who sits around and waits. He takes action and gets things done ... That’s one of the reasons that he is president today, and Hillary Clinton isn’t,” Sarah Huckabee Sanders said.

Trump has been highly critical of the media coverage he received after the inauguration, and has accused the news outlets of lying about the actual size of the crowed at the National Mall.

On Saturday, the White House press secretary Sean Spicer also doubled down on Trump's claims of having the largest-ever inauguration audience while berating the media in a fiery press conference.