Last weekend, Michelle Malkin cited a post from the GoE website claiming that

the first unofficial NPS [National Parks Service] estimate of the Eagle turn-out today… 30,000

She then went on to accuse the New York Times of lying about the pro-war march’s turnout numbers.

Well, if this email is for real, it looks like it was the Flock of Seagulls who were lying:

Via Sadly, No!

Dear Mr. […]:

I am the spokesperson for the National Park Service in Washington, D.C. I never issued any statement of any kind about anything related to this past weekend’s events, let alone anything about crowd size. In fact, I was never asked that question by anyone.

Anyone who gives any crowd size number or figure for this past weekend is making the figure up and does not have any authorization whatsoever to attribute those figures to the National Park Service. Since I never issued any such statement nor was ever the question raised in the first place, it is impossible to attribute any figures to the National Park Service for this past weekend’s events.

Lastly, Congress prohibits the National Park Service from giving or providing any crowd estimate for any permitted event on the National Mall.

I hope this is of help and clarification for you.

Bill Line
Communications & Tourism Officer
National Park Service
National Capital Region
1100 Ohio Drive, SW
Washington, D.C. 20242

Since Sadly, No! posted the email from Mr. Line, the National Parks Service attribution has disappeared from the GoE blog post but they are still claiming an “unofficial estimate” of 30,000. Exactly who is doing the estimating, they don’t say…

-marymary

Related:
It was A Flock of Seagulls or something
“Everybody will be filming this… so don’t do what you want to do”