A US government photographer told investigators that he intentionally cropped photos of President Donald Trump's inauguration to remove empty space and make the audience look larger, according to newly released documents. The admission on Friday, contained in newly released records from an investigation last year, shed new light on what happened after the National Park Service on January 20, 2017, shared a social media post comparing the crowds that attended the inaugurations of Trump and former President Barack Obama, reports CNN.

Trump claimed footage of the event did not jive with the number of people he saw from the stage. His then-press secretary, Sean Spicer, gathered reporters the following evening and claimed: "This was the largest audience to ever witness an inauguration... Period."