--- title: Kellyanne Conway: Sean Spicer Used 'Alternative Facts' description: Kellyanne Conway said White House press secretary Sean Spicer used "alternative facts" to describe inauguration crowds canonical: https://time.com/4642689/kellyanne-conway-sean-spicer-donald-trump-alternative-facts/ author: Mahita Gajanan article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2017-01-22T16:26:05.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-10-07T07:14:24.417Z article:section: Politics og:title: Kellyanne Conway Defends White House's Falsehoods as 'Alternative Facts' og:description: Press Secretary Sean Spicer falsely said the inauguration crowd was the 'largest' ever og:url: https://time.com/4642689/kellyanne-conway-sean-spicer-donald-trump-alternative-facts/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltbc3fa3c2e0c72153/6988b6b32dce0150649ebfec/kellyanne-conway.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 2560 og:image:height: 1440 og:image:alt: Vice President-Elect Mike Pence Speaks At Inaugural Event At D.C.'s Union Station og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Kellyanne Conway Defends White House's Falsehoods as 'Alternative Facts' twitter:description: Press Secretary Sean Spicer falsely said the inauguration crowd was the 'largest' ever twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltbc3fa3c2e0c72153/6988b6b32dce0150649ebfec/kellyanne-conway.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Kellyanne Conway Defends White House's Falsehoods as 'Alternative Facts' > 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=d57b0e2e-f00d-440a-ba19-4cc193a67812&cr=time-nl-dcbrief-2026q3-v1) ## Video: Kellyanne Conway Defends White House’s Falsehoods as ‘Alternative Facts [Watch (HLS stream): Kellyanne Conway Defends White House’s Falsehoods as ‘Alternative Facts](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/ZvcQ7JR4.m3u8) (1:26)  _Published 2017-01-22. President Donald Trump‘s counselor Kellyanne Conway said White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer used “alternative facts” when he falsely called the crowds at Trump’s swearing-in ceremony “the largest audience to ever witness an inauguration."_ by [Mahita Gajanan](https://time.com/author/mahita-gajanan/) ## Mahita Gajanan Gajanan is an editor at TIME. Jan 22, 2017 4:26 PM UTC by [Mahita Gajanan](https://time.com/author/mahita-gajanan/) ## Mahita Gajanan Gajanan is an editor at TIME. Jan 22, 2017 4:26 PM UTC President [Donald Trump](http://time.com/4642323/womens-march-washington-donald-trump-inauguration/)‘s counselor [Kellyanne Conway](http://time.com/4641016/kelly-anne-conway-memes/) said White House press secretary Sean Spicer used “alternative facts” when he falsely called the crowds at Trump’s swearing-in ceremony “the largest audience to ever witness an inauguration, period, both in person and around the globe.” Spicer on Saturday gave a five-minute statement to the press [riddled with falsehoods](https://www.nytimes.com/2017/01/21/us/politics/trump-white-house-briefing-inauguration-crowd-size.html?hp&action=click&pgtype=Homepage&clickSource=story-heading&module=a-lede-package-region®ion=top-news&WT.nav=top-news) and claimed photos showing clearly that the audience for Barack Obama’s 2009 inauguration was [significantly larger](http://time.com/4641381/donald-trump-inauguration-crowd/) than Trump’s on Friday was an attempt by the media to “minimize enormous support that had gathered on the National Mall.” Appearing on NBC’s _Meet the Press_, Conway staunchly defended Spicer, and said his untrue statements were “alternative facts.” When asked by host Chuck Todd why Spicer used his first appearance in front of the press to proclaim falsehoods, Conway said Todd was being “overly dramatic” about the statement. “You’re saying it’s a falsehood, and they’re giving— Sean Spicer, our press secretary, gave alternative facts to that,” she said. Todd countered Conway: “Alternative facts are not facts. They are falsehoods.” Watch the exchange below. > [](https://twitter.com/MeetThePress/status/823184384559878144) ## Transcript This was the largest audience to ever witness an inauguration period. Both in person and around the globe. These attempts to lessen the enthusiasm of the inauguration are shameful and wrong. [ INAUDIBLE ]. [ SOUND ]. Good evening, thank you guys for coming. I know our first official press briefing is gonna be on Monday, but I wanted to give you a few updates on the President's activities. Photographs of the inaugural proceedings were intentionally framed in a way, in one particular tweet, to minimize the enormous support that had gathered on the National Mall. This was the first time in our nation's history that floor coverings have been used to protect grass in the mall. That had the effect of highlighting any areas where people were not standing, while in years past the grass eliminated this visual. This was also the first time that fencing and magnetometers went as far back on the wall preventing hundreds of thousands of people from being able to access the mall. As quickly as they had in inaugurations past. Inaccurate numbers including crowd size were also tweeted, no one had numbers. Because the National Park Service, which controls the National Mall, does not put any out. By the way this applies to any attempts to try to count the number of protestors today in the same fashion. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4642689/kellyanne-conway-sean-spicer-donald-trump-alternative-facts/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4642689/kellyanne-conway-sean-spicer-donald-trump-alternative-facts/"},"headline":"Kellyanne Conway Defends White House's Falsehoods as 'Alternative Facts'","datePublished":"2017-01-22T16:26:05.000Z","dateModified":"2026-10-07T07:14:24.417Z","description":"\"Alternative facts are not facts. 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