The U.S. Marine Corps publicly called out The Hill and a Washington Post reporter for pushing false information about the use of a Marine One helicopter at a rally for President Trump in Florida.
The Hill published the following story, "Trump campaign event use of Marine Corps helicopter raises ethics questions," on Wednesday where it takes issue with a video Trump posted on his Twitter account. The footage shows Marine One arriving at a rally with supporters.
According to The Hill, Trump "appeared to use a Marine Corps helicopter to hover over a large crowd of cheering supporters, raising questions about the ethics of using the military aircraft for such purposes."
Greg Miller, a national security correspondent for the Post, also raised concern if Marine One was being improperly used. He also snarked if this was a new way to give Trump supporters COVID-19.
Is Marine One really swooping over rally crowds to whip up supporters of the president?
— Greg Miller (@gregpmiller) October 28, 2020
(Or is this a new way to disperse covid droplets?) https://t.co/hvKbtIl1VZ
The answer was really quite simple, due to the angle of the camera, it gave a false impression as the helicopter was not hovering over the crowd as it was landing in an open area.
"The entire flight was conducted in accordance with U.S. Navy and U.S. Marine Corps regulations, operating procedures, and safety protocols," Marine Corps spokesman Capt. Joseph Butterfield told The Hill. "Marine One landed a safe distance from the crowd, which the camera angle in the video . . . does not appear to fully capture."
On the official account for the Marines, the military branch responded to The Hill and Miller to correct the record.
The flight did not fly over (or hover over) the assembled crowd. The entire flight was conducted in accordance with @USNavy and Marine Corps regulations, operating procedures and safety protocols. Marine One landed a safe distance from the crowd.
— U.S. Marines (@USMC) October 29, 2020
The flight did not fly over (or hover over) the assembled crowd. The entire flight was conducted in accordance with @USNavy and Marine Corps regulations, operating procedures and safety protocols. Marine One landed a safe distance from the crowd.
— U.S. Marines (@USMC) October 29, 2020
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