The White House released multiple photos of President Donald Trump "working in the White House" on the first day of the government shutdown - and they're already being hilariously dragged online. Shared on Saturday (20 January) - the one-year anniversary of his inauguration - one picture showed Trump sitting at an empty table with a phone to his ear.

"President Donald J Trump talks on the phone in the Oval Office receiving the latest updates from Capitol Hill on negotiations to end the Democrats government shutdown," the caption reads.

Another photo showed the commander-in-chief walking around the building while a third showed the president talking to smiling members of his staff including his daughter Ivanka Trump, adviser and son-in-law Jared Kushner, press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders, communications director Hope Hicks and legislative affairs director Marc Short among others.

In all three photos, Trump is seen wearing his trademark "Make America Great Again" white campaign cap.

The photos come amid the ongoing federal government shutdown after Democrats and Republicans failed to agree on a spending bill and extend government funding for a month. Both sides of the aisle have blamed the other for the deadlock and subsequent shutdown.

Naturally, Twitter is having a field day with the "so obviously staged" photos and have ruthlessly responded with a slew of mocking jokes, taunts and memes at the expense of the president.

"An emerging trend is that Trump and his staff have no idea how to stage photos to make it seem like he's actually working," Huffington Post's Matt Fuller tweeted.

"This looks like a photo of a tourist who says: 'oh man take my picture like i'm working in the Oval Office!' one Twitter user wrote.

"These are so staged they're cringeworthy," someone wrote.

Many speculated what the president was discussing during the "phone call" that was captured on camera. One person said: "Calling in his order at Papa John."

One person simply said: "Fake it till you make it."

Donald Trump working Oval Office
President Donald J Trump talks on the phone in the Oval Office receiving the latest updates from Capitol Hill on negotiations to end the Democrats government shutdown, on Saturday, 20 January, 2018, at the White House in Washington, DC White House