Obama White House photographer suggests situation room photo of unfolding Al-Bagdadi raid staged.

[pnwmom]

Source: Newsweek

The chief official White House photographer for former Presidents Ronald Reagan and Barack Obama suggested the Trump administration was posing for Saturday's stern-faced Situation Room picture in the wake of a U.S. military raid that resulted in the death of a major ISIS figurehead.

Pete Souza, the former director of the White House Photography Office, called the timestamp of the Situation Room picture into question Sunday morning. Souza inferred that it's very unlikely President Donald Trump, Vice President Mike Pence and several top administration officials and generals were actively monitoring the raid on ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi's compound when the photograph was taken Saturday in Washington.


Souza took the famous photograph of Obama and a shocked then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton intently watching the Seal Team 6 raid on the Abbottabad compound that killed al-Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden in 2011.

"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,'" Souza remarked on Twitter Sunday. He was replying to a tweet from White House Director of Social Media and Assistant to the President, Dan Scavino Jr.

Read more: https://www.newsweek.com/obama-photographer-baghdadi-raid-trump-situation-room-suggested-staged-timestamp-golfing-1468012

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According to a "Trump golf tracker," Trump was finishing up a golf game at 3:30, when the raid occurred.

[YOHABLO]

1. Oh we'll find out, that's for sure.

[EarlG]

2. Trump is famously squeamish

Donald Trump Shared a Hilarious Story About Not Wanting to Help a Dying Man

“I said, ‘Oh my God, that’s disgusting,’ and I turned away. I couldn’t—you know, he was right in front of me, and I turned away. I didn’t want to touch him.“

If Trump was given a choice between playing golf or watching people getting shot and exploded to death, I’m pretty sure I know which one he would choose.

[Scarsdale]

5. Unless those people were

democratic politicians, involved in his impeachment! THAT he would gleefully watch.

[Sugar Smack]

7. I read the article you posted (thanks). That was a scene straight out of Bonfire of the Vanities

by Tom Wolfe: chapter 26, "Death New York Style". The very same utterances & reactions of the filthy rich crowd in the restaurant in which an equally rich old man has a heart attack and dies in front of them and a reporter dining with him. The headline the next day reads "Kindly Finish Dying Before Madame Tacaya Arrives". It was written in back 1987, back when we had satire.

[Ohiogal]

8. That was a great book!

[Sugar Smack]

21. I love it, too. When I first read it, I thought "it's not for everyone,

a teeny bit over the top". I read it a few times since then because I've always had a taste for the absurd. But these are real people!

[C_U_L8R]

3. Apparently Trump was golfing at the time of the raid.

No one would be surprised to learn Trump is entirely full of shit.

[usaf-vet]

4. According to Trumps reply to a question about his arrival..he said 5:00 (17:00). Photo at 17:05.

This would explain the IT cable clutter in the room. The papers and clutter at the foreground in the photo. And the often remarked look of "I don't want to be here" on the 4-star Generals face. The OP started ~1.5 hours before the photo.

These can all be explained by a rushed photo with some participants either having left as the op started at 15:30 (1.5 hours before Trump arrived). The cluttered IT cables not attached to the IT equipment that was taken with those that left.

Link to tweet

[Scarsdale]

6. Well, there goes the notion of

honorable military med. Are they all too spineless to stand up to this orange mistake and say "NO I will not go along with these lies any longer" Don't any of them put countryfirst any more? Were these two the only toadies who stuck around, waiting for shithead to finish golfing?

[YDogg]

11. Which Russian's Hand is at Far Left? nt

[Botany]

20. Everything Trump is associated with is fake.

Remember "the little boy with the lawn care business" mowing the White House grass?
That young man had really never cut grass in his life. Notice all the strips of grass that he
missed when mowing the lawn. You mow with 1/2 to 1/4 of the deck over lapping the area
you just mowed to keep from getting those un-mowed strips.

BTW Why is there a random unplugged red cord on the table

[usaf-vet]

26. As to the red cables, my guess is it was from IT equipment that got unplugged when the owner left ..

.... before trump arrived ~ 1.5 hours after the OP started.

See my original post for more details

FYI I am retired from IT support and have seen many tables left in this order.

Probably attendees mumbling...... "I'm done get me out of here now! Let the IT staff clean up.

[Haggis for Breakfast]

33. Bingo.

[Farmer-Rick]

27. Yeah, when I first saw the photo I wondered why the mess down the middle of the table

That explains it. Those tables are designed to shut and hide that mess.The filthy rich don't like looking at their own messes.

If that photo had not been staged someone would be in deep shit for not hiding the mess.

[dawnie51]

9. Of course it is.....

as is the whole misbegotten mess that is Dump. It's a reality TV show, and he's the star! He's counting on HUGE ratings for this episode. When it actually is a rerun of an Obama performance, and not nearly done as professionally

[Roy Rolling]

10. Of course it was

Link to tweet

?s=21

[bitterross]

12. Is there anything that isn't staged?

One thing Trump IS good at is showmanship. Anything his office release is PR staging.

[SayItLoud]

13. Media needs to VERIFY anything tRUMP says THEN

Publish. When will they learn? Lies get front page retractions and corrections buried deep inside. Suggest establishing a 24 hour verify window. Then publish.

[Richard D]

14. I think any photographer . . .

. . . would see it was staged.

[louis-t]

15. This is his 'image rehab' tour.

[3catwoman3]

16. Most of them are looking into the camera.

No one was looking toward the photographer in the President Obama picture.

[DallasNE]

17. Syria Is About 8 Hours Ahead

So that means the raid happened a little before midnight local time. Good for the element of surprise but with higher risk.

Another look at the time had me thinking that Trump's "war room" would have been at the golf course.

[bucolic_frolic]

18. "I can see Russia from my house!"

Sara was tipped off years ago, but couldn't keep it quiet.

[thegoose]

19. No shit

This entire administration is a really bad reality show.

[ArizonaLib]

32. Awesome!

nm

[scardycat]

23. Yep soon as I saw the generals face I knew it was staged n/t

[scardycat]

24. Plus everyone is looking at something different n/t

[Pepsidog]

25. Like everything he does it's a fraud.

[lynintenn]

28. Remember the picture of the Obama situation room

No one was sitting there in suits with ties and their eyes were on the screen.

[Gothmog]

29. The picture was staged but this has been corrected

Link to tweet

[Iliyah]

30. Oh snap - LOL

Also, the General in green, he was there in the famous Nancy P. photo with t-rump, and then he was looking down and very tense. Same here but he's looking like "oh for fuck sake".

[truthisfreedom]

34. What's up with the ridiculous tangle of Ethernet cables?

Is this supposed to make them look more prepared and organized? It does it simply demonstrate the overall disarray and unpreparedness of this administration? And this room smells like KFC farts, no fucking doubt.

[Talitha]

31. This reminds me of Malaria's staged 'gardening' photo.

Except the only person Malaria humiliated was herself.

[cactusfractal]

35. "Now watch this drive!" n/t