You are not thinking rationally.  The NYT does not know Trump's position on Iraq all those years ago.  T hey simply do not.  When there is a lack of conclusive evidence, you don't say somebody lied.  If you do, you are the liar.  The crowd stuff is more media BS.  Trump said the crowd was massive.  This is a non-statement in that it is not quantitative, i.e. it is a matter of opinion.  Regarding total audience, he may have been talking about the true total audience, i.e. including media distributed coverage.  Only a partisan hack would assert that non-quantitative and ambiguous comments are lies.  The sad thing in addition is that it doesn't matter.  The media made a non-issue an issue.  Pathetic.  And a person who is wrong is not a liar unless they know they are wrong.  Trump speaks off the cuff quite a bit and he is not particularly precise which the media tortures into lies.  But in the end, except for partisans like you, the media makes itself look bad for the pettiness.