Bill Barr Defends Attack on Peaceful Protesters: 'Pepper Spray Is Not a Chemical Irritant' [View all]

Source: The Daily Beast

Attorney General William Barr on Sunday repeatedly defended on the violent show of force used by D.C. police last week to clear peaceful protesters from Lafayette Park moments before President Donald Trump’s photo-op at St. John’s Episcopal Church, ultimately playing semantics on the use of chemical munitions by law enforcement.

During a wide-ranging interview on Face the Nation, anchor Margaret Brennan pressed the attorney general on whether he felt in hindsight it was “appropriate for them to use smoke bombs, tear gas, pepper balls, projectiles at what appeared to be peaceful protesters?”

An unapologetic Barr, who was behind the order to aggressively clear the demonstrators, insisted that “they were not peaceful protesters” and that this is “one of the big lies that the media” is perpetuating.

Brennan, for her part, pointed out that three of her CBS colleagues were present and didn’t hear the so-called warnings from police or see any projectiles thrown, claims made by both Barr and the police.

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