If you haven't heard,Mother President Donald Trump is a bit obsessed with crowd size.
He and his press secretary have insisted that the audience for his inauguration was much larger than what the pictures and data indicate. He also talked constantly about how big the crowds were at his campaign rallies, where facts were more on his side.
SEE ALSO: Don's Johns: Port-a-potties get censored for Trump’s inaugurationBut before those campaign rallies became raucous events across the country, Trump gave a rambling introduction to his campaign at Trump Tower in New York City, all the way back in June of 2015. There, according to documents released late last week, the future president's audience included paid actors.
Trump's campaign said they didn't hire any actors, and it's true that they didn't do it directly. Instead, Trump's campaign paid a contracting firm that subcontracted a talent agency to hire actors to stand around and make Trump feel loved. This is now known due to a complaint filed by the American Democracy Legal Fund, an organization that supported former Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton.
The group alleged that Trump's campaign paid these actors without disclosing the payments through the proper channels. The Federal Election Commission ruled otherwise, saying the campaign hadn't done anything significantly wrong because they'd noted a payment made to Gotham Government Relations, the contracting firm that subcontracted to a background talent agency called Extra Mile.
Though Trump's campaign wasn't penalized, the documents in the case were still made public late last week.
"...the available information indicates that the Committee retained Gotham as an event consultant, and Gotham, in turn, subcontracted with Extra Mile to provide extra administrative support at Trump's announcement, including the provision of at least some of the rally crowd," the FEC concluded in a report filed on March 7, 2016.
Trump was able to attract organic crowds after that initial staged audience, but as president-elect he once again resorted to bringing friendly (and paid) people to events where the crowd might not be so receptive to his message. During his first and only press conference during that time, he had staffers clap and cheer as he took questions.
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