Photo: AFP
President Donald Trump's Director of Communications Steven Cheung was ridiculed on social media over his claims about high turnout at the Washington, D.C. military parade.
On Saturday (June 14), Cheung falsely claimed that over 250,000 people were in attendance for Trump's military parade in D.C., which commemorated the 250th anniversary of the Army and marked the president's 79th birthday.
“Amazing. Despite the threat of rain, over 250,000 patriots showed up to celebrate the 250th anniversary of the @USArmy,” Cheung posted to X. “God Bless the USA!”
Reporter Vaughn Hillyard, who was present for the parade, debunked Cheung's crowd size claim.
“That’s just not accurate, that’s not even close to accurate,” Hillyard told hosts of MSNBC’s "The Weekend" on Sunday (June 15). “Just the eye of any individual who is here on the ground or looking at images or video knows that there were not 250,000 people, but that can be the White House’s position here."
Photos and footage of the event showing sparse turnout at the event were compared to images from the "No Kings" anti-Trump rallies across the country, which were attended by millions of Americans.
Social media users mocked Cheung for his false claim, comparing it to the time Sean Spicer, Trump's former press secretary, exaggerated the number of people who attended the president's first inauguration in 2017.
"Even a blind person knows it wasn’t 250,000 people out there. You’re a worse liar than @seanspicer," journalist Roland Martin said.
Grok, X’s in-house AI fact-checking tool, also debunked misinformation surrounding the military parade's crowd size.
“Claims of over 250,000 attendees at the U.S. Army’s 250th anniversary parade in Washington, D.C., on June 14, 2025, appear exaggerated,” the program responded to a tag in the comments.
“Official permits allowed for up to 200,000 for the parade and 50,000 for the festival, but news reports suggest actual attendance was lower than expected,” it conitnued. “No official figures confirm the 250,000 claim, and sources like PBS and KTLA indicate turnout fell short of 200,000. Exact numbers remain unverified as of now.”
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