Conway contradicts White House statement on crowd size in tweet

Top adviser Kellyanne Conway tweeted a story about President Trump’s inauguration crowd size that contradicted the numbers White House press secretary Sean Spicer alleged at a news briefing over the weekend.

Spicer said Trump’s number of inauguration viewers was the “largest ever, period.” The story Conway tweeted said the ceremony had the “second-biggest” television viewership in history.

The Entertainment Weekly article Conway tweeted says Trump’s ceremony had 30.6 million viewers, behind former President Obama’s record-setting 37.8 million viewers in 2009.

Trump Inauguration Ratings Second Biggest in 36 Years https://t.co/KqmLSFkAFy via @ew

— Kellyanne Conway (@KellyannePolls) January 23, 2017

The contradictory tweet comes just after Conway defended Spicer’s false claims, saying he presented “alternative facts” at the first press briefing, where he took no questions from reporters.

“This was the largest audience to ever witness an inauguration, period, both in person and around the globe,” Spicer said on Saturday in the face of photos showing far larger crowds in 2009.

{mosads}Conway defended Spicer’s comments on NBC’s “Meet the Press” Sunday morning.

“You’re saying it’s a falsehood. And they’re giving — Sean Spicer, our press secretary, gave alternative facts to that,” she said.

NBC’s Chuck Todd responded that “alternative facts are not facts. They’re falsehoods.”

Politico first took note of Conway’s tweet.

Both Spicer and Conway’s comments were met with backlash. Social media users mocked Conway by tweeting their own “alternative facts” on Sunday.