--- title: Donald Trump Hunted for Tweeter of Inauguration Crowd Photos description: President Trump was personally involved in the quest to find out who retweeted a photo comparing his inauguration crowd with Obama's canonical: https://time.com/4764256/donald-trump-inauguration-photo-national-park-service/ author: Alana Abramson article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2017-05-02T22:13:28.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-23T04:43:01.021Z article:section: Politics og:title: Trump Was 'Directly Involved' in Hunt for Tweeter of Inauguration Crowd Photo og:description: The photo showed the crowd at Trump's inauguration alongside a larger one at Obama's og:url: https://time.com/4764256/donald-trump-inauguration-photo-national-park-service/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt8708036af736dd13/6988bd477cdbacb446d575fc/inauguration.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 2000 og:image:height: 1125 og:image:alt: inauguration og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Trump Was 'Directly Involved' in Hunt for Tweeter of Inauguration Crowd Photo twitter:description: The photo showed the crowd at Trump's inauguration alongside a larger one at Obama's twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt8708036af736dd13/6988bd477cdbacb446d575fc/inauguration.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # President Trump Was 'Directly Involved' in Hunt for Tweeter of Inauguration Crowd Photo > Sponsored content. 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Brief is TIME's Washington newsletter, written by senior correspondent Philip Elliott. It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, three times a week. It reaches 85,000 subscribers with a 37.0% open rate as of August 2026. #### 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.  by [Alana Abramson](https://time.com/author/alana-abramson/)  ## Alana Abramson May 2, 2017 10:13 PM UTC  Left: An aerial view of President Barack Obama's inauguration on Jan. 20, 2009 in Washington, D.C. Right: An aerial view of President Donald Trump’s inauguration on Jan. 20, 2017 in Washington, D.C. Left: An aerial view of President Barack Obama's inauguration on Jan. 20, 2009 in Washington, D.C. Right: An aerial view of President Donald Trump’s inauguration on Jan. 20, 2017 in Washington, D.C. National Park Service  by [Alana Abramson](https://time.com/author/alana-abramson/)  ## Alana Abramson May 2, 2017 10:13 PM UTC [President Donald Trump](http://time.com/4762385/ahca-health-care-preexisting-conditions-facts/) was “directly involved” in the quest to find the staffer from the National Park Service who retweeted a comparative photo of his inauguration crowd with that of his predecessor, former President Barack Obama. On the day of Trump’s inauguration, the official account of the [National Park Service](http://time.com/4523492/lgbt-theme-study-nps/) retweeted a photo showing a crowd for Obama’s event, compared to a smaller crowd that had gathered for Trump’s that day. The retweet was quickly taken down. According to a report[ from CBS News, ](http://www.cbsnews.com/news/trump-rogue-nps-twitter-account/)who cited emails about the exchange released through the [Freedom of Information Act,](http://time.com/4408574/foia-50-american-transparency-polls/) Trump contacted acting National Park Services director Mike Reynolds about the tweet. **READ MORE:** [There’s Now an Unofficial National Parks Account Tweeting Against President Trump](http://time.com/4648607/nps-national-park-service-twitter-donald-trump/?iid=sr-link1) “This has become a very sensitive issue, especially since the President has gotten directly involved and contacted Acting Director Mike Reynolds concerned about one of the images that was retweeted,” National Park Services’ Chief of Digital Strategy Tim Cash wrote to NPS Chief Information Security Officer Shaun Cavanaugh on January 21, according to CBS News. The Washington _Post_ [first reported](https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/trump-pressured-park-service-to-back-up-his-claims-about-inauguration-crowd/2017/01/26/12a38cb8-e3fc-11e6-ba11-63c4b4fb5a63%5Fstory.html?utm%5Fterm=.17bcbd310b0c) on the contact between Reynolds and Trump on January 26, but neither the White House nor the National Park Services confirmed it. CBS News also reports that a staffer at NPS tried to find the person who retweeted the image by tracing IP addresses, and the agency became concerned the account was compromised. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4764256/donald-trump-inauguration-photo-national-park-service/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4764256/donald-trump-inauguration-photo-national-park-service/"},"headline":"President Trump Was 'Directly Involved' in Hunt for Tweeter of Inauguration Crowd Photo","datePublished":"2017-05-02T22:13:28.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-23T04:43:01.021Z","description":"The photo showed the crowd at Trump's inauguration alongside a larger one at Obama's","url":"https://time.com/4764256/donald-trump-inauguration-photo-national-park-service/","keywords":["White House","onetime"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt8708036af736dd13/6988bd477cdbacb446d575fc/inauguration.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Alana Abramson","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/alana-abramson/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt8708036af736dd13/6988bd477cdbacb446d575fc/inauguration.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"inauguration","caption":"Left: An aerial view of President Barack Obama's inauguration on Jan. 20, 2009 in Washington, D.C. 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