SO TRUMPSTERS: DO YOU BELIEVE YOUR IDOL, OR YOUR OWN EYES?

An AP photo of the Barack Obama's inauguration in 2009 and a screen grab from the White House YouTube livestream of Donald Trump's 2017 inauguration appear to show a large difference in the number of inaugural attendees.

By Associated Press 

President Donald Trump’s speech Saturday at the headquarters of the Central Intelligence Agency turned into the latest battle in, as he put it, his “running war with the media.” He had two central complaints: that the media misrepresented the size of the crowd at his inauguration and that it was incorrectly reported a bust of Martin Luther King Jr. was removed from the Oval Office. A look at those assertions:

TRUMP: 

“I made a speech. I looked out. The field was — it looked like a million, a million and a half people.’’

The president went on to say that one network “said we drew 250,000 people. Now that’s not bad. But it’s a lie.’’ He then claimed that were 250,000 right by the stage and the “rest of the, you know, 20-block area, all the way back to the Washington Monument was packed.’’

“So we caught them,’’ Trump said. “And we caught them in a beauty. And I think they’re going to pay a big price.’’

THE FACTS:

Trump is wrong. Photos of the National Mall from his inauguration make clear that the crowd did not extend to the Washington Monument. Large swaths of empty space are visible on the Mall.

Thin crowds and partially empty bleachers also dotted the inaugural parade route. Hotels across the District of Columbia reported vacancies, a rarity for an event as large as a presidential inauguration.