White Press Secretary Berates Journalists for Inauguration Coverage

BALTIMORE (WJZ)-- White House press secretary Sean Spicer berated journalists Saturday for their coverage of attendance at President Trump's inauguration, sources say.

"Some members of the media were engaged in deliberately false reporting," Spicer said. "Inaccurate numbers involving crowd size were also tweeted. "No one had numbers...because the National Park Service does not put any out."

"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," Spicer said. "This was the first time in our nation's history that floor coverings were used to protect the grass on the mall...That had the effect of highlighting any areas where people were not standing while in years past, the grass eliminated this visual."

"I get up this morning, I turn on one of the networks and they show an empty field. I said, 'Wait a minute, I made a speech,' I looked out, the field was, it looked like a million, million-and-a-half people," President Donald Trump said at a visit to Langley Saturday. "They showed a field where there were practically nobody standing there, and they said Donald Trump did not draw well."

"It looked honestly, it looked like a million-and-a-half people, whatever it was, it was, but it went all the way back to Washington Monument," Trump said. "I get this network and it showed an empty field,and it said we drew 250,000 people, now that's not bad but it's a lie. The 20-block area all the way back to the Washington Monument was packed."

About 30.6 million people watched the inauguration, according to the Nielsen ratings, a smaller number than the 38 million who watched Mr. Obama's first inauguration in 2009.

Follow @CBSBaltimore on Twitter and like WJZ-TV | CBS Baltimore on Facebook