A viral photo showing the White House with its lights off, shared by numerous Democrats during demonstrations in Washington, D.C., is at least five years old and was edited to make it seem darker, the Associated Press reported on Monday.The image can be found in Getty Image’s stock photo collection. The original photo shows the lantern on the White House portico and several lights around the fountain in the lawn as lit, while in the doctored image these lights are blacked out.Failed presidential candidate Hillary Clinton was among those who shared the image, along with Representative Bill Pascrelli (D., N.J.) and former Obama strategist David Axelrod.> Elections matter. https://t.co/77jquAhp1x pic.twitter.com/AM5Z42pzyk> > — Hillary Clinton (@HillaryClinton) June 1, 2020The New York Times reported that the White House shut its external lights off during demonstrations early Monday morning, while Daily Beast editor Molly Jung-Fast also wrote that the lights were down. In fact, the lights at the White House are turned off at 11 p.m. every night.> As someone who has done many late night live shots, the lights at the White House go off every night around 11 p.m.> > — Kaitlan Collins (@kaitlancollins) June 1, 2020The AP noted that other Twitter users claimed that the president had been moved to a bunker on Sunday night, and that the lights going off had signaled the move. This was not the case, although Trump was reportedly moved to the bunker on Friday night.Protesters and Rioters gathered outside the White House throughout the weekend, leading Washington, D.C., mayor Muriel Bowser on Monday to declare a two-day curfew beginning at 7 p.m. The president addressed the nation on Monday night with police dispersing demonstrators just outside the White House fence.”“I am mobilizing all available federal resources, civilian and military, to stop the rioting and looting, to end the destruction and arson, and to protect the rights of law-abiding Americans, including your Second Amendment rights,” Trump said in his address. “These are not acts of peaceful protest. These are acts of domestic terror.”
