Former US President Donald Trump reignited his fixation on crowd sizes, this time directing his claims at Vice President Kamala Harris. But a Getty Images photographer debunks the ex-prez’s claim, citing, “It was a large crowd.”
On Sunday, Trump alleged that photos showing a large crowd at Harris’ rally in Detroit were manipulated using artificial intelligence. He took to Truth Social to express his doubts, continue his rant and suggest that the crowd images were fabricated.
“Has anyone noticed that Kamala CHEATED at the airport?” Trump posted.
“There was nobody at the plane, and she ‘A.I.’d’ it, and showed a massive ‘crowd’ of so-called followers, BUT THEY DIDN’T EXIST! She was turned in by a maintenance worker at the airport when he noticed the fake crowd picture, but there was nobody there, later confirmed by the reflection of the mirror like finish on the Vice Presidential Plane.”
“She’s a CHEATER. She had NOBODY waiting, and the ‘crowd’ looked like 10,000 people! Same thing is happening with her fake ‘crowds’ at her speeches,” the former POTUS ranted.
“EVERYTHING ABOUT KAMALA IS FAKE!” Trump stated in another Truth Social post. He shared another distant photo from the August 7 event, again claiming that the crowd was fake.
Getty Images photographer bins Trump’s claim
Andrew Harnik, a Getty Images photographer who was present at the rally, told the Daily Beast, “It was a large crowd, and the pictures that I took that are on the Getty website speak to that.” He explained that he used a zoom lens, which can create the appearance of bringing objects closer together, but this does not alter the reality of what was in front of him. “The plane is actually a pretty far distance from the crowd,” Harnik added.
Harnik, who has covered politics for decades, including Trump’s campaigns, said that as journalists, “We keep our own opinions to ourselves and just cover what we see in front of us.”
Several outlet reports, photos, and videos from the rally clearly depicted a large gathering of supporters waiting for Harris and Minnesota Governor Tim Walz. Media outlets and the press pool captured the event from various angles, showing the crowd’s size as Harris and Walz spoke.
Harris’s senior adviser, David Plouffe, refuted Trump’s baseless claims, stating they were not merely “conspiratorial rantings from the deepest recesses of the internet” but from someone who “could have the nuclear codes and be responsible for decisions that will affect us all for decades.”
