--- description: An investigation found no evidence that the National Park Service altered estimates of the crowd size at President Trump's inauguration title: No, The National Park Service Didn't Alter Photos of Trump's Inauguration Crowd image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt59f9b79fe9527401/6988b780e20a8710d1a93e92/inauguration-crowds-obama-trump-reuters.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [Politics](/section/politics/) ## Politics Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close * [Donald Trump](/tag/donald-trump/) ## Donald Trump Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # No, The National Park Service Didn't Alter Photos of Trump's Inauguration Crowd  by [Katie Reilly](/author/katie-reilly/)  ## Katie Reilly Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Jun 27, 2017 4:21 PM CUT  A combination of photos taken at the National Mall shows the crowds attending the inauguration ceremonies to swear in U.S. President Donald Trump at 12:01pm (L) on Jan. 20, 2017 and President Barack Obama sometime between 12:07pm and 12:26pm on Jan. 20, 2009, in Washington, D.C. A combination of photos taken at the National Mall shows the crowds attending the inauguration ceremonies to swear in U.S. President Donald Trump at 12:01pm (L) on Jan. 20, 2017 and President Barack Obama sometime between 12:07pm and 12:26pm on Jan. 20, 2009, in Washington, D.C.Lucas Jackson (Left) and Stelios Varias (Right)—Reuters  by [Katie Reilly](/author/katie-reilly/)  ## Katie Reilly Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Jun 27, 2017 4:21 PM CUT National Park Service (NPS) officials didn’t alter estimates of the [crowd size](http://time.com/4693224/trump-inauguration-size-official-photos/ "undefined") at President Trump’s inauguration, according to the results of a months-long investigation. The [report](https://www.doioig.gov/reports/investigative-report-questionable-actions-allegedly-taken-nps-officials-during-2017 "undefined"), released Monday by the Inspector General for the Department of the Interior, addressed the controversy that consumed the early days of Trump’s presidency. The investigation began in February, when the Inspector General received a complaint alleging that a National Mall and Memorial Parks official had instructed NPS employees to alter records of crowd-size estimates. The agency also investigated claims that NPS public affairs employees had released unauthorized information to the press about a phone call between Trump and Acting NPS Director Michael Reynolds. “We did not find evidence to substantiate any of these allegations,” the report said. “All of the witnesses we interviewed denied that the NAMA official instructed staff to alter records for 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.” The tension began on Inauguration Day, when the National Park Service retweeted a post [comparing the crowd size](http://time.com/4641381/donald-trump-inauguration-crowd/ "undefined") at Trump’s inauguration to the larger crowd at former President Barack Obama’s 2009 inauguration. The tweet was later removed, and the U.S. Department of Interior was temporarily [ordered to suspend operations](http://fortune.com/2017/01/21/interior-department-twitter-donald-trump-inauguration/ "undefined") of its Twitter accounts. In the days that followed, White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer [falsely said](http://time.com/4643927/sean-spicer-white-house-donald-trump-inauguration-press-briefing/ "undefined") Trump’s crowd was “the largest audience to ever witness an inauguration, period,” and the Washington _Post_ reported that Trump personally called Reynolds and [ordered him to produce additional photos](http://fortune.com/2017/01/27/president-trump-park-service-inauguration-photos-crowd/ "undefined") of the crowd size. A more recent report by [CBS News](http://www.cbsnews.com/news/trump-rogue-nps-twitter-account/ "undefined"), which cited National Park Service emails, found that Trump was [“directly involved”](http://time.com/4764256/donald-trump-inauguration-photo-national-park-service/ "undefined") in the search for the person who retweeted the side-by-side comparison. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4834745/national-park-service-trump-inauguration-crowd-size-report/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4834745/national-park-service-trump-inauguration-crowd-size-report/"},"headline":"No, The National Park Service Didn't Alter Photos of Trump's Inauguration Crowd","datePublished":"2017-06-27T16:21:57.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-23T16:20:12.435Z","description":"Disputes over the crowd size became controversial early in Trump's presidency","url":"https://time.com/4834745/national-park-service-trump-inauguration-crowd-size-report/","keywords":["Donald Trump","White House","onetime"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt59f9b79fe9527401/6988b780e20a8710d1a93e92/inauguration-crowds-obama-trump-reuters.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Katie Reilly","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/katie-reilly/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt59f9b79fe9527401/6988b780e20a8710d1a93e92/inauguration-crowds-obama-trump-reuters.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"A Picture and Its Story: Crowd controversy: The making of an Inauguration Day photo","caption":"A Picture and Its Story: Crowd controversy: The making of an Inauguration Day photo","creditText":"Lucas Jackson (Left) and Stelios Varias (Right)—Reuters","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/donald-trump/","name":"Donald Trump"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4834745/national-park-service-trump-inauguration-crowd-size-report/","name":"No, The National Park Service Didn't Alter Photos of Trump's Inauguration Crowd"}}]}] ```