The Trump administration faced a bevy of accusations that a Situation Room photo showing President Trump watching a raid by U.S. special operations forces in Syria that killed Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi was staged after his predecessor’s White House photographer pointed out a small detail.
On Sunday, the White House shared a photo of the president and a handful of his advisers monitoring the Saturday raid.
— Dan Scavino Jr.?? (@Scavino45) October 27, 2019
White House photographer for former President Barack Obama, Pete Souza, later noted on Twitter the raid took place at 3:30 p.m. Washington, D.C., time, but that the timestamp on the photo was marked over an hour and a half later at 17:05:24, or 5:05 p.m.
The raid, as reported, took place at 3:30PM Washington time. The photo, as shown in the camera IPTC data, was taken at “17:05:24”. https://t.co/XV0MFfFiTt
— Pete Souza (@PeteSouza) October 27, 2019
Critics were quick to pick up on Souza’s tweet and began questioning the authenticity of the photo as well.
Three of the men in this staged photo, including Trump, are pretending to look at a monitor. Two of the men are looking at the camera. And Mike Pence is looking at the guy next to him. Tell me I’m wrong. pic.twitter.com/KFqp7mURy0
— Mark Harris (@MarkHarrisNYC) October 27, 2019
Others compared the picture to the famous Situation Room photo depicting Obama watching the raid that killed Osama bin Laden in 2011, noting that one appears less staged than the other.
One of these photos is staged. @PeteSouza’s photo was taken from the corner of the room since he was trying to stay out of the way.
Everyone in the @realDonaldTrump photo is looking straight at the camera, the photographer would‘ve blocked the screen Obama et al were looking at pic.twitter.com/nFQfmQl4Pz
— Andrew Feinberg (@AndrewFeinberg) October 27, 2019
One is staged to make man with no military experience look like he’s calling the shots. The other is a real picture of how the events unfolded. Only one has genuine historic significance. pic.twitter.com/XDkOP36Meu
— Frida Ghitis (@FridaGhitis) October 27, 2019
Souza later clarified his observation, tweeting, “Just to be clear, I didn’t say it was staged. Trump himself said he didn’t arrive to the Situation Room until ‘around 5pm’. So it’s definitely possible the photo was taken during the raid.”
Just to be clear, I didn’t say it was staged. Trump himself said he didn’t arrive to the Situation Room until “around 5pm”. So it’s definitely possible the photo was taken during the raid. https://t.co/h3yx8BbLAT
— Pete Souza (@PeteSouza) October 27, 2019
He also noted that the New York Times reported “the helicopters left Iraq at 5PM (Washington time), and they reported it was about a 70-minute flight to Syria. So actual raid had to happen some time after 6:10PM.”
The latest reporting from the NYT: the helicopters left Iraq at 5PM (Washington time), and they reported it was about a 70-minute flight to Syria. So actual raid had to happen some time after 6:10PM. https://t.co/rErbPLJlpD
— Pete Souza (@PeteSouza) October 27, 2019
While the timeline is unclear, Trump’s schedule indicated that he was at his golf club in Virginia at 3:30 p.m. and arrived back at the White House at 4:18 p.m. on Saturday.
