Once again another false narrative amplified by the media is debunked…
(Claire Russel, Liberty Headlines) After President Trump’s Monday night address, Democrats and the mainstream media quickly condemned the president after reports surfaced that Park Police had used tear gas on “peaceful” protesters to clear the area.
Officials, however, clarified that no tear gas was used, and that protesters deliberately antagonized law enforcement.
“As many of the protesters became more combative, continued to throw projectiles, and attempted to grab officers’ weapons, officers then employed the use of smoke canisters and pepper balls when protesters did scatter from the area,” U.S. Park Police Chief Gregory Monahan said in a statement.
Monahan said officers pushed the line away from the White House, but they did not know the president planned to visit St. John’s Episcopal Church across the street.
He said the smoke canisters deployed by officers did not have an “uncomfortable irritant” in them as some reporters have claimed.
Democrats who ran with the lie — typical of false narratives advanced by Antifa-associated individuals and groups — didn’t bother to fact check it first.
Failed presidential candidate Hillary Clinton accused Trump of using “the American military to shoot peaceful protesters with rubber bullets & tear gas them. For a photo op.”
Tonight the President of the United States used the American military to shoot peaceful protestors with rubber bullets & tear gas them.
For a photo op.
This is a horrifying use of presidential power against our own citizens, & has no place anywhere, let alone in America. Vote.
— Hillary Clinton (@HillaryClinton) June 2, 2020
Similarly, Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., and presidential candidate Joe Biden accused the president of intentionally harming innocent civilians.
The President of the United States tear-gassed peaceful protestors in order to clear the way for a useless photo-op outside the White House—just after vowing to activate the military against our own people.
Lives and our democracy are in danger.
— Elizabeth Warren (@ewarren) June 2, 2020
And the media ran several false headlines:
“Park Police Tear Gas Peaceful Protesters To Clear Way For Trump Church Photo-Op,” NPR stated.
“Protesters Dispersed With Tear Gas So Trump Could Pose at Church,” said the New York Times.
Despite corrections from Park Police and Justice Department officials, not a single Democratic politician or media outlet has retracted the claims.
Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, defended the president and reminded Americans that the real problem was the terrorists who “firebombed” historic St. John’s church.
“I am glad the president, yesterday, led by going to St. John’s Church, a historic church in our capital city that was firebombed by terrorists.
It was important for [@realDonaldTrump] to be there and say ‘we will not be cowed by terrorists.'”
— @TedCruz pic.twitter.com/qK6ELQfsyD
— Washington Examiner (@dcexaminer) June 2, 2020
“I am glad the president, yesterday, led by going to St. John’s Church,” Cruz said. “It was important for him to be there, and to say ‘We will not be cowed by terrorists.”