Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) backpedaled during an appearance on MSNBC’s Morning Joe that authorities may not have used tear gas, as former Vice President Joe Biden claimed during an event in Philadelphia.
“Maybe they didn’t have tear gas, I don’t know,” Pelosi said, describing the clearing of Lafayette Park on Monday; she admitted she had family present when the incident occurred.
My daughter, Alexandra — filmmaker, journalist — was there that night, and she called me, and she said, “Mom, you wouldn’t believe it, these people were demonstrating peacefully, and all of a sudden this barrage of security came through, using clubs to beat people, and these explosive little bullets that explode into stuff that burns your eyes.” Maybe they didn’t have tear gas, I don’t know, but they had the elements of it. For peaceful demonstrators to make way, make way, for the president to walk through. What is this, a banana republic?
Before the President walked outside the White House law enforcement cleared protesters who the US Park Police said in a statement, “became more combative, continued to throw projectiles, and attempted to grab officers’ weapons. Officers then employed the use of smoke canisters and pepper balls.”
At approximately 6:33 pm, violent protestors on H Street NW began throwing projectiles including bricks, frozen water bottles and caustic liquids. The protestors also climbed onto a historic building at the north end of Lafayette Park that was destroyed by arson days prior. Intelligence had revealed calls for violence against the police, and officers found caches of glass bottles, baseball bats and metal poles hidden along the street.
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As many of the protestors became more combative, continued to throw projectiles, and attempted to grab officers’ weapons, officers then employed the use of smoke canisters and pepper balls. No tear gas was used by USPP officers or other assisting law enforcement partners to close the area at Lafayette Park.
During a speech on Tuesday Biden said:
When peaceful protestors dispersed in order for a president, a president from the doorstep of the people’s house, the White House, using tear gas and flash grenades in order to stage a photo-op at one of the most historic churches in the country or at least in Washington, DC, we can be forgiven for believing the president is more interested in power than in principle.
Since the military has been deployed to Washington DC things have been significantly quieter.
