Criticism over 'staged' photos of Trump at work while hospitalised
Sign up now: Get ST's newsletters delivered to your inbox
WASHINGTON • Two pictures purportedly showing coronavirus-stricken US President Donald Trump working at the hospital throughout the day turned out to have been taken just 10 minutes apart, based on the photos' metadata. And a document that he appeared to be signing was apparently a blank sheet of paper.
The findings are the latest examples of misinformation emerging from the President's campaign.
The White House (WH) released last Saturday night the photos of Mr Trump appearing to be working hard in two places at two different times. One of the images showed Mr Trump in a plain white shirt, seated at the head of a long table sifting through papers. The other had him in a dark suit jacket at a round table, writing on a document.
His daughter Ivanka shared one of the pictures on Twitter, writing: "Nothing can stop him from working for the American people. RELENTLESS!" But Mr Jon Ostrower, editor-in-chief of aviation news site The Air Current, noted that data embedded in the images showed they were taken around the same time.
"The photos released by the WH tonight of the President working at Walter Reed (National Military Medical Centre) were taken 10 minutes apart at 5.25.39pm and 5.35.40pm ET Saturday, according to the EXIF data embedded in both (Associated Press) wire postings that were shared by the White House this evening," he tweeted.
White House reporter Andrew Feinberg also tweeted that upon zooming in on one of the images, Mr Trump "appears to be signing his name to a blank sheet of paper". Both posts quickly went viral on social media, with readers accusing the Trump administration of staging the photos.
