Rumors were abound Thursday that President Trump had ordered the National Mall webcam turned off before his retooled July 4 celebration at the Lincoln Memorial:
They turned off the webcam on the Washington Monument overlooking the Mall ? pic.twitter.com/Hep7izTLiV
— Alex Cole (@acnewsitics) July 4, 2019
@maddow, @lawrence, @ABC, @CBS, @NBC, @CNN All three web cams I searched for the Washington Monument and National Mall (where you might view crowds for Trump's ego fest) are mysteriously not working now… https://t.co/Dkt9s2AgKs
— Alan Eggleston (@AlanEggleston) July 4, 2019
Showing sparse crowds National Mall Web Cams were abruptly shut down just before Trump’s $95 million ego fest. https://t.co/5m1I9QYDUK
— Christopher Alberto (@ChrisAlbertoLaw) July 5, 2019
However! Reached by phone, a representative of EarthCam, the New Jersey company that ran the National Mall camera, tells Washingtonian the camera has been turned off for months and has not been operated by any other entity since. The National Park Service confirms the monument cam is down but expands the timeline it’s been off: Since September 2017, says NPS spokesperson Mike Litterst. The Washington Monument has been closed for repairs since August 2016.
EarthCam tells Washingtonian the company is on the hunt for new locations in the DC area. So, to be completely accurate, yes, the camera was taken down before Trump spoke, if by “before” you mean “a long time before.”
Andrew Beaujon joined Washingtonian in late 2014. He was previously with the Poynter Institute, TBD.com, and Washington City Paper. He lives in Del Ray.
