National Park Service personnel did not exploit the size of the crowd at President Donald Trump's inauguration, nor did agency staff discuss with the media a call from the president to acting Park Service Director Mike Reynolds that day, an Interior Department investigation has concluded.
President Trump and his staff maintained that the crowd at his inauguration was one of the largest ever -- " I looked out the field was, it looked like a million, a million and half people," the president said the day after his inauguration. -- but photos released by the Park Service showed that the crowds for both of President Obama's elections were larger.
Interior's Office of Inspector General looked into the matter after an unidentified individual complained that National Park Service "officials and employees took questionable actions during and after the 58th presidential inauguration ceremony." Specifically, the complaint alleged:
- That an NPS National Mall and Memorial Parks (NAMA) official instructed NPS employees to alter records related to crowd size estimates for the inauguration ceremony.
- That two NPS public affairs employees released information to the press, without authorization, about a January 21, 2017, phone call from President Donald Trump to Acting NPS Director Michael Reynolds.
- That one of the public affairs employees circumvented the NPS chain of command for the inauguration when responding to a request from Reynolds. (although the complainant did not know what Reynolds requested, we determined that Reynolds asked the public affairs employee to help obtain inauguration photographs after the President requested them during the January 21 phone call).
- That a NAMA employee assigned to the inauguration engaged in personal activities at work that interfered with the performance of his duties.
"We did not find evidence to substantiate any of these allegations," the OIG report released Monday concluded. "All of the witnesses we interviewed denied that the (National Mall) official instructed staff to alter reports on the inauguration or to remove crowd size information. We also found no evidence that the public affairs employees released any information to the media about the president’s phone call, or that the employee who responded to Reynolds’ request was required to go through the chain of command."
The complainant, whose identify was not disclosed under guidelines of the Privacy Act, had charged that a National Mall official had ordered staff to "scrub" attendance numbers from President Trump's inauguration. However, it long has been Park Service policy not to provide crowd estimates.
"The official told us that she instructed the staff not to include crowd size estimates in the reports because she wanted to make sure that the reports did not contain nonfactual references to crowd size," the OIG report noted. "She explained that the NPS did not have the necessary methodology in place to do an accurate crowd count and, since the Million Man March in 1995, had made it a practice not to collect or provide any crowd size information for events held at the National Mall."
Had the complainant been aware of this practice, they would not have raised the issue, the report added.
The OIG investigation also could not substantiate the charge that Park Service public affairs personnel had released word that the president had called Mr. Reynolds about the inauguration crowd.
"Reynolds and NPS National Capital Region Director Bob Vogel told us that knowledge of the phone call was widespread throughout the NPS, since the initial call from the White House came in to the U.S. Park Police operations center," the OIG report pointed out, adding that, "Reynolds stated that he did not consider his conversation with the president protected information."
The OIG report was provided to acting Director Reynolds.
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Comments
This was a case of political retribution from the start. I am glad that the OIG came to their conclusion but sad that we wasted ANY money on such a frivolous complaint.
Not much doubt where the anonymous complaint started.
I don't see how crowd size is much of an indication of anything. Is it really that suprising that in a city with a huge black population and filled with government employees that a black President from the party of big government would have a much larger turn out at their inaguration? It was a silly point made by whoever posted the petulant comment on the NPS twitter feed and it was evan sillier for the incoming adminstratoin to comment.
Republican voters just arn't the kind of people who like to mix in huge crowds in urban centers.
There was a lot of concern with violence and potential terrorism at the event, thanks Obama. I remember hearing people talk about not going out of fear and the constant coverage of the far left extremists disrupting Trumps campaign events.
Dumb - most of the "thanks Obama" for violent protests are reflective of the hateful and racist protests against President Obama for 8 years. Somehow I doubt that you "heard" those fears from enough people to explain the significantly lower turnout for one as unpopular as Trump. The only "constant coverage" of "far left extremists' disrupting Trump campaign events was on far right wing radio and Faux News. And most of what I saw was violence BY Trump supporters of the random hippie or person of color who walked into those events.
Rick, Trump was popular enough to be elected and is even more popular today. What you saw was Fake News. Nearly every Trump rally was interrupted by those of you that suffer from "Democrat Derangement Syndrome". The left is the party of violence. This certainly played into lower turnout.
Rick, no doubt there are racists out there - on both sides of the color spectrum. However, the vast majority of the protests against Obama had nothing to do with race. It was about policy. But, like most of your ilk, you are unequipped or unwilling to debate policy and instead fall back on unfounded personal attacks. Trump has not said or done anything racist nor has he endorsed racist acts by others - unlike Obama's support for the real racist, Rev. Wright.
ecbuck is playing the game again. I guess Donald dosent support racists? Bannon?
OK argalite, show us where Trump has supported a racist act by Bannon.
Only a guy with small hands (and an enormous ego) must convince others of an incorrect size.
EC:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/donald-trump-racist-examples_us_56d4...
Beach:
http://thehill.com/policy/healthcare/339882-poll-63-percent-disapprove-o...
http://www.pbs.org/newshour/rundown/poll-independent-voters-sour-trumps-...
http://host.madison.com/wsj/news/local/govt-and-politics/new-marquette-p...
https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/poll-shows-us-tumbling-in-worlds-re...
http://www.newsweek.com/good-news-trump-least-popular-president-approval...
https://www.bloomberg.com/view/articles/2017-06-27/how-low-can-trump-go
http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/statements/2017/jun/19/donald-tr...
Absolutely nothing is being gained here (nor much of anywhere else in America these days) by endlessly arguing over the same territory again and again. Continuing to do so isn't very intelligent and does absolutely nothing to help anyone.
How about trying to look for things that might unite us instead of seeking and promoting divisions?
Here's a wise article by Peggy Noonan -- a conservative.
http://www.peggynoonan.com
Here in Utah, we're working to create and begin using an alternate party. United Utah is for Disgusted Democrats and Repulsed Republicans. It's for those of us who want to recognize that something like 70% of all Americans are not on either end of the radical scale.
The problem is that many Americans have simply given up and have stopped voting. The last election had the lowest voter turnout of any in a very long time. Trump may have received enough votes to tip the Electoral College in his direction, but he was actually elected by a very small percentage of voters who were eligible to vote. Something less than 18%. Hardly a stunning victory. Had Hillary won, it would have been something around 19% of those who SHOULD have voted. That's pathetic.
How about using something sensible to try to counter the extremism on BOTH sides?
Perhaps we can agree that the swampy cesspool does need to be drained. I'm convinced it needs to start in Congress and 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.
It could be done if we can convince moderate Americans to get out and vote.
United Utah Party . . . . how about a United America Party?
Kurt, I am not going to go through every allegation but will start with the first two in the first article to show how off base the claims are/
1) Attacked Muslim parents - Actually they attacked him first and he responded. Not to mention Muslim is not a race.
2) Charged with racial discrimination in renting. The problem with that is that your intenet is to discriminate based on economics. However, if the outcome is disproportiate to race, the government will charge you with racial discrimination. It has nothing to do with race, it has to do with economics. Janet Reno going after banks in the1990s was similar and a major contributor to the housing collapse.
If you want to personal cite other items, I will be glad to respond, but don't have the time to addressed a googled laundry list of false accusations and fake news.
You asked, EC, and all of these stories were in many other newspapers, as well. If you recall the NYTimes stories on the rental practices of the Trumps it was quite clear it had little to do with economics.
https://www.nytimes.com/2016/08/28/us/politics/donald-trump-housing-race...
Even Paul Ryan called Trump a racist after he referred to a federal judge as a "Mexican," despite the fact he was born in the United States.
http://www.politifact.com/wisconsin/article/2016/jun/08/donald-trumps-ra...
Kurt, no thanks for the fake news links. We are not falling this crap anymore. You guys have lost all credibilty. Those are the same polls that had Hillary and Ossof winning by a mile.
Calling someone "Mexican" no matter where they are born is not racist. That is part of the problem, those that want to attack Trump, or anyone else that isn't an Alinsky disciple, throw out the racist attack for acts that have nothing to do with racism. They have so diluted the term it has no meaning. And after all the evidence of fabrication by the NYT you still view them as a reliable source?
Well, ec, pass that on to Ryan. And Beach, show us the polls that support your contention about Trump's popularity, and while you're at it, those showing support for McConnell's health care bill.
Well, ec, pass that on to Ryan. And Beach, show us the polls that support your contention about Trump's popularity, and while you're at it, those showing support for McConnell's health care bill.
You guys have created a disaster with Obamacare and now the adults have to fix it. It's not easy thing and I'm glad to see congress working the way it should with healthy debate in trying to get something that will work.
Dummy - you are beyond discussion. If i want to hear identical comments all I have to do is to drop my IQ down to two digits and start listen9ing to right wing talk radio. Go away.
Why do the left always attack? Your inability to debate tells me your IQ is a lot lower than two digits. Have you ever wondered why there is no left wing radio? Because they have nothing intelligent to say...
Right here in these comments is a great example of what ails America today. Take a moment to read all the comments. Is there any dialogue? Is there really any constructive argument? Or is most of it simply trying to outshout someone on the other side?
At Craters of the Moon two weeks ago, I met a retired newspaper editor from New Zealand. He told of the shocking differences he has noticed in the US over time. His last visits were just after 9/11 and again in 2009. He said that what struck him most was the degree of what he called "hatefulness" in so much of our public discussion. He said that everywhere he looked, in all the TV he watched, in signs on lawns, and conversations with Americans along the way, he was hearing something that to his way of thinking is a pending disaster for all of us -- and perhaps even the rest of the world. "It is completely different than anything I've seen before as I've visited here. The sense of optimism and cooperation we used to see is gone. It's frightening."
As he and his wife had driven to Craters from Idaho Falls that morning, they had turned the radio on and had heard a man he described as one of the "most awfully hateful, boastful, egotistical and bizarre" people he had ever heard. At first, they mistook him for Trump and were "completely sickened to think the leader of any country would say such things." Then they learned the man's name was Rush.
They simply couldn't understand how Americans allow such things. I mentioned our freedom of speech and he responded by saying that there is freedom of speech in New Zealand. "But we really value truth and reasonableness. Those were completely lacking in this man's presentations." He said that people in New Zealand take pride in being reasonable and honest in all their dealings. "Certainly we disagree frequently. Often heatedly. But when we finish arguing, we retreat to the pub and end the day with friendly regard for one another." That's why, he said, people like Rush Limbaugh would find no audience in New Zealand.
His wife expressed what she said is a fear they've encountered everywhere they've traveled in the past year. (They are on a two-year round the world retirement trip.) She told me that everywhere they've gone from Indonesia through India, Europe, UK and some of Canada, they've found people in those places alarmed and appalled by what they are hearing and witnessing from us and our leaders. "Americans don't seem to understand why we are alarmed, and don't seem to understand how much what happens in America affects everyone around the world. You are losing a lot of friends."
I've heard similar things from visitors from China, Germany, Israel, and Canada.
We are destroying our own country from the inside.
Lee, what happened since 2009? Obama was elected and his legacy is a weakened and divided country. He rekindled a racial divide that had been steadily disappearing in American society, demonized the police, governed with his "pen and phone", 8 years of economic stagnation, gave billions to Iran which supports terrorists, his refusal to enforce immigration laws and destroyed our healthcare system. I could go on and on...
I say your Rush story is not true, just made up delusions. Yeah, I listen to him when I get a chance and never heard anything like you want to "believe".
Trump has a tough road ahead to heal America from Obama's disastrous legacy.
Ok, beach. Just how did Obama create such a racial divide? Simply by being black? The pictures of Tea Party rallies I've seen feature their effigies hung in mock lynchings. It might piss his opponents off but he always responded in calm words. Which side incited the racial dividew?
Note - the above was an attempt at rational discourse.
Rick, are you denying the racial divide widened under Obama? Don't you not think his reactions to Trevon Martin, Michael Brown, Ferguson, Baltimore, Dallas, Boston, Black Lives Matter et al, always taking the side of the Blacks even when they were clearly in the wrong might have had something to do with it? Don't you think his worshiping at the alter of Rev Wright might have had something to do with it? You will probably claim the widening occured because he was Black. But then it was white people that elected him to office and it appears to me the divide has widen not because whites have become more anti black but just the opposite.
Kurt, I am sure many people have already told Ryan, which perhaps is why he hasn't repeated the charge.
Ok, folks, some things never change despite our best hopes, so we're going to close down the comments here before they go much lower.