Secret Service admits to using pepper spray at June 1 protest

The U.S. Secret Service reversed its previous claim that its agents hadn’t used tear gas to disperse protesters in Lafayette Square on June 1, saying in a statement Saturday that “one agency employee” had used pepper spray on one demonstrator.

“After further review, the U.S. Secret Service has determined that an agency employee used pepper spray on June 1, during efforts to secure the area near Lafayette Park,” the statement reads. “The employee utilized oleoresin capsicum spray, in response to an assaultative individual.”

A few days after the incident in which those peacefully demonstrating against police brutality were forcibly cleared some 30 minutes before President Donald Trump visited a nearby church for a photo-op, the agency said it found no evidence its personnel had used tear gas or pepper spray.

The U.S. Park Police, as well as the White House, also denied the use of tear gas — contradicting accounts from protesters and reporters covering the event who described being hit with gas that burned their eyes and projectiles, like rubber pellets, that left welts on their skin.