--- title: Donald Trump: Sean Spicer Stands By False Inauguration Claim description: White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer stood by his false claims that President Donald Trump's inauguration the most-watched ceremony ever canonical: https://time.com/4643927/sean-spicer-white-house-donald-trump-inauguration-press-briefing/ author: Mahita Gajanan article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2017-01-23T20:09:36.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-10-07T07:14:32.040Z article:section: Politics og:title: Sean Spicer Stands by False Claim Over Inauguration Crowd Size og:description: He said "It was the most-watched inaugural" — and he's wrong og:url: https://time.com/4643927/sean-spicer-white-house-donald-trump-inauguration-press-briefing/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt02a96408597dd3f6/6988b6d67cdbac7062d56e29/sean-spicer-trump-inauguration.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 2560 og:image:height: 1440 og:image:alt: Sean Spicer holds a press briefing at the White House in Washington og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Sean Spicer Stands by False Claim Over Inauguration Crowd Size twitter:description: He said "It was the most-watched inaugural" — and he's wrong twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt02a96408597dd3f6/6988b6d67cdbac7062d56e29/sean-spicer-trump-inauguration.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # White House's Sean Spicer Stands by False Claim That Donald Trump's Inauguration Was the 'Most-Watched' Ever > Sponsored content. 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It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, twice a week. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-dcbrief-2026q3/newsletters?i=682cd220-685c-4a7f-b796-06b21ad2ca10&cr=time-nl-dcbrief-2026q3-v1) ## Video: Donald Trump’s First Press Briefing Was a Big Change [Watch (HLS stream): Donald Trump’s First Press Briefing Was a Big Change](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/gJmmEYQH.m3u8) (1:40)  _Published 2017-01-23. Sean Spicer arrived at his first full press briefing as the Trump Administration’s top spokesman_ by [Mahita Gajanan](https://time.com/author/mahita-gajanan/) ## Mahita Gajanan Gajanan is an editor at TIME. Jan 23, 2017 8:09 PM UTC by [Mahita Gajanan](https://time.com/author/mahita-gajanan/) ## Mahita Gajanan Gajanan is an editor at TIME. Jan 23, 2017 8:09 PM UTC White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer stood by his [false claim](http://time.com/4643724/donald-trump-first-press-briefing/) that President Donald Trump’s inauguration was the most-watched ceremony ever during his [first official press briefing](http://time.com/4643390/sean-spicer-donald-trump-press-briefing-watch-live/) on Monday. “It was the most-watched inaugural,” Spicer told reporters. After repeated pressing from reporters, Spicer said that he never meant to say that the in-person crowd at the inauguration was the largest of all time, but stood by his assertion that the ceremony’s overall audience, including television and online was the most-watched ever. “It was the total largest audience witnessed in person and around the globe,” he said. Photos juxtaposing the [crowds](http://time.com/4641381/donald-trump-inauguration-crowd/) at Trump’s inauguration with Barack Obama’s 2009 swearing-in ceremony clearly showed that Trump’s audience was not as large as he claimed it to be. According to a New York _Times_ [analysis](https://www.nytimes.com/2017/01/22/us/politics/president-trump-inauguration-crowd-white-house.html), the crowd at the National Mall was about one-third the size of Obama’s in 2009\. Further analysis from the _Times_ found that the [Women’s March](http://motto.time.com/4642671/womens-march-special-trump-inauguration/) held in Washington D.C. on Saturday to protest Trump’s inauguration was about three times the size of the inauguration crowd. Trump’s inauguration also saw lower numbers than Obama’s in television ratings—30.6 million viewers tuned in on Friday, [about 18% fewer](http://fortune.com/2017/01/22/donald-trump-inauguration-ratings-low/) than the 38 million who watched in 2009. Spicer on Saturday delivered a [five-minute statement](http://time.com/4643724/donald-trump-first-press-briefing/) to the press that contained several falsehoods and claimed the audience at Trump’s inauguration was “the largest audience to ever witness an inauguration, period, both in person and around the globe.” The controversy over Spicer’s falsehoods came to a boiling point on Sunday, when Trump counselor Kellyanne Conway [called](http://time.com/4642689/kellyanne-conway-sean-spicer-donald-trump-alternative-facts/) the press secretary’s untrue statements “alternative facts.” “It’s unquestionable,” Spicer said on Monday, citing audiences that streamed the inauguration online as well as people who [watched it on television](http://fortune.com/2017/01/22/donald-trump-inauguration-ratings-low/). “I don’t see any numbers that dispute that.” ## Transcript I know that Josh Earnest voted the most popular Press Secretary by the press corps. So, after checking my Twitter feed, I shot Josh an email last night letting him know that he can rest easy that his title is secure for at least the next few days. I think that if there's a way that we can combat ISIS with any country whether it's Russia or anyone else And we had shared national interest in that, sure we'll take it. I believe that we have to be honest with the American people. I think sometimes we can disagree with the facts. There are certain things that we may not fully understand when we come out. But our intention is never to lie to you. There are times when we believe something to be true, or we get something from an agency. Are we acting in haste because the information available wasn't complete, but our desire to communicate with the American people and make sure that you have the most complete story at the time. And so we do it. I think that it's, as I mentioned the other day, it is a two way street. There are many mistakes that the media makes all the time. They misreport something, they don't report something, they get a fact wrong. I don't think that's always [ INAUDIBLE ], you know? To turn around and say, okay. You were intentionally lying. I think we all go try to do our best job. And do it with a degree of integrity in our respective industries. And do you stand by your statement that that was the most watched inaugural address in [ UNKNOWN ]? Sure, it was the most watched inaugural. When you look at. Look. You look at just the one network alone at 16. 9 million people online. Another couple of the networks there was tens of millions of people that watched that online. Nevermind the audience that was here. 31 million people watched it on television. Combine that with the tens of millions of people that watched it online on a device. It's unquestionable. 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