While publicly he called his inauguration the biggest-ever, behind closed doors it appears Donald Trump knew Barack Obama had him beat.
It's emerged the US President asked a US government photographer to edit photos of his inauguration ceremony to make the crowd appear bigger.
- Trump's inauguration bigger than Obama's, spokesman claims
- Donald Trump's crowd not so big, compared to Obama's
The embarrassing revelation came in documents released under the US Freedom of Information Act, which is similar to New Zealand's Official Information Act, to UK newspaper the Guardian.
According to the documents, early in the morning of January 21, 2017 - the day after Mr Trump was sworn in - the President called the acting director of the US National Parks Service (NPS), Michael Reynolds, to ask for pictures that showed less empty space.
Then-White House spokesman Sean Spicer "called NPS officials repeatedly" for more flattering photos, the Guardian reports.
An unnamed NPS photographer quoted in the documents said he was asked to "edit a few" to make the crowd look bigger, which he did by "cropping out the sky and cropping out the bottom where the crowd ended".
Meanwhile, photographs comparing the size of Mr Trump's crowd with that which turned out to see Mr Obama sworn-in as US President in 2009 were circulating on social media and making headlines worldwide.
That afternoon, a fired-up Mr Spicer infamously - and wrongly - told reporters at the White House Mr Trump's was the "largest audience to ever witness an inauguration - period".
The NPS clearly disagreed, tweeting a comparison of the two Presidents' inaugurations clearly showing Mr Trump's was a fraction the size of Mr Obama's. The tweet was later deleted.
Mr Trump's difficulties with the truth have continued since that day. Since becoming President, he has made more than 4700 false claims, according to The Washington Post - an average of eight per day. He's averaged more than 15 a day over the last three months.
Mr Trump's worst day was July 5 this year, says the Post, when he made 79 false claims.
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