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Investigative Report of Questionable Actions Allegedly Taken by NPS Officials During the 2017 Presidential Inauguration

Report Information

Date Issued
Report Type
Investigation
External Entity
National Park Service
Description
We initiated an investigation after receiving a complaint concerning questionable actions allegedly taken by National Park Service (NPS) officials and employees during and after the 58th presidential inauguration ceremony at the National Mall on January 20, 2017. The complainant alleged the following:
 
  • That an NPS National Mall and Memorial Parks (NAMA) official instructed NPS employees to alter records related to crowd size estimates for the inauguration ceremony 
  • That two NPS public affairs employees released information to the press, without authorization, about a January 21, 2017 phone call from President Donald Trump to Acting NPS Director Michael Reynolds
  • That one of the public affairs employees circumvented the NPS chain of command for the inauguration when responding to a request from Reynolds (although the complainant did not know what Reynolds requested, we determined that Reynolds asked the public affairs employee to help obtain inauguration photographs after the President requested them during the January 21 phone call)
  • That a NAMA employee assigned to the inauguration engaged in personal activities at work that interfered with the performance of his duties
 
We did not find evidence to substantiate any of these allegations. All of the witnesses we interviewed denied that the NAMA official instructed staff to alter records for the inauguration or to remove crowd size information. We also found no evidence that the public affairs employees released any information to the media about the President’s phone call, or that the employee who responded to Reynolds’ request for photos was required to go through the chain of command. Regarding the final allegation, the NAMA employee’s supervisor and an official who oversaw operations at the inauguration both said that the NAMA employee fulfilled his responsibilities as assigned during the event.
 
We provided our report on this investigation to the Acting NPS Director.
 
Joint Report
No
Agency Wide
Yes
Local File
AllegedQuestionableNPSActionsatInauguration_Public.pdf
Oversight Report File
https://www.doioig.gov/sites/doioig.gov/files/AllegedQuestionableNPSActionsatIn…