The New York Times issued a correction Wednesday about the size of the audience that came to President Donald Trump’s rally in Tennessee earlier this week — after being slammed in a tweet by the commander-in-chief himself over that very issue.
“An earlier version of this article cited an incorrect figure for the number of people attending President Trump’s rally,” read the amendment to the bottom of the piece by Julie Hirschfeld Davis. “While no exact figure is available, the fire marshal’s office estimated that approximately 5,500 people attended the rally, not about 1,000 people.”
The paper let Trump know about it on Twitter too.
We have updated the article to reflect the fire marshal’s estimate of the crowd’s size. https://t.co/u3y6Aarcio pic.twitter.com/iPynTX9NWV
— NYTimes Communications (@NYTimesPR) May 30, 2018
Trump, long sensitive to coverage of the size of crowds attending his public appearances, raised the issue himself on Twitter and blasted the Times for underestimating the turnout.
“The Failing and Corrupt @nytimes estimated the crowd last night at “1000 people,” when in fact it was many times that number – and the arena was rockin,’ Trump wrote on Wednesday. “This is the way they demean and disparage. They are very dishonest people who don’t “get” me, and never did!”
https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1001834394359877633
Though it’s hardly a secret that President Trump freely makes false statements about matters both large and small, it turns out he was right about this one.
On Twitter, Davis herself also copped to the error, but couldn’t resist her own jab at Trump.
“President @realDonaldTrump is correct about his crowd last night,” the Times journalist wrote. “My estimate was way off, and we have corrected our story to reflect the fire marshal’s estimate of 5,500 people. When we get it wrong, we say so.”
President @realDonaldTrump is correct about his crowd last night. My estimate was way off, and we have corrected our story to reflect the fire marshal’s estimate of 5,500 people. When we get it wrong, we say so. https://t.co/AX2JkAMyh4 https://t.co/2LbfmkiSti
— Julie Davis (@juliehdavis) May 30, 2018