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Trump’s campaign manager deletes Air Force One photo after being told it’s from 2004

'@realDonaldTrump won the #Daytona500 before the race even started,' says Brad Parscale despite using photo from wrong president's visit

Kate Ng
Monday 17 February 2020 15:12 GMT
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The photo first tweeted by Brad Parscale, before he deleted it, showed Air Force One taking off with former US president George Bush aboard in 2004
The photo first tweeted by Brad Parscale, before he deleted it, showed Air Force One taking off with former US president George Bush aboard in 2004 (Getty Images)

Donald Trump’s campaign manager has deleted a tweet featuring a photo of Air Force One at the Daytona 500 motor race on Sunday - after social media users pointed out that the image was taken in 2004 during a different president’s visit.

Brad Parscale posted the photo on Twitter which showed stands packed with people watching the aircraft, and said: “@realDonaldTrump won the #Daytona500 before the race even started.”

But the photo was actually taken during former president George W Bush’s visit to the annual race held by Nascar in 2004 and can be found with its original details on Getty Images.

Photographer Jonathan Ferrey, who captured the moment 16 years ago at Daytona Beach in Florida, told CNN: “I have a lot of talented colleagues photographing the Daytona 500 this year.

“I am unfortunately not there today, but apparently I won the Daytona 500 photography before the race even started.”

Mr Parscale deleted the tweet three hours later after Twitter users pointed out he had used an old photo.

He then tweeted the same caption again with an updated photo from the race on Sunday, which was taken by photographer Mark J Rebilas.

However, the blunder had been immortalised on social media, with hundreds of users criticising Mr Parscale for “lying” and mocking the number of empty seats in the more recent photo.

One user said: “Dude, this is shameful. Crowd size continues to elude you. A dog show gets more crowd.”

Another said: “Brad, you forgot to Photoshop people into the many, many empty seats.”

Mr Trump is the only president other than Mr Bush to have made a visit to the Daytona race. After a flyover in Air Force One, Mr Trump was taken for a lap around the track in the presidential limousine to open the race.

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