The lawsuit says McDonald was "repeatedly struck by the shields of multiple officers, which left bruises on his body," was struck even as he left the protest and suffered symptoms "related to inhaling tear gas. We don't just have a right to be there, we have an obligation," Amelia Brace, an Australian reporter who was repeatedly hit by officers during the clearing, told members of the committee. It is crucial to democracy that journalists be allowed to do their job freely and safely. Before Trump's visit to the church, the security perimeter outside the White House was expanded. Journalists on the scene and protesters reported seeing chemical irritants deployed and said they experienced symptoms such as coughing and watering eyes as authorities sought to move the protesters back.
McDonald is part of a lawsuit against the Trump administration filed with other protesters and the Washington chapter of Black Lives Matter, alleging the administration violated protesters' First Amendment rights. "I should not have been forced to move and be attacked with tear gas and flash bangs since I was peacefully protesting for change," McDonald told the panel. The Interior Department's inspector general's office opened an investigation. Chair of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Mark Milley said it was a "mistake" to participate in the walk to the church.Police move demonstrators away from St. John's Church across Lafayette Square near the White House on June 1 in Washington. Kishon McDonald, a protester and Navy veteran who said he was injured that day by law enforcement, told the panel he'd never been involved with protests before that day and felt a duty to do so. "I was coughing, her eyes were watering, and we were trying to help people as the police – in full riot gear – drove people toward us," she wrote.A Reuters video showing a portion of the standoff shows none of the provocation described by Park Police until after police moved forward. Rep. "The Trump administration is still scrambling to explain how this happened, often contradicting itself," he said. Rob Bishop, R-Utah, the top Republican on the committee, called the hearing a "distraction" that wouldn't bring forth facts. The U.S. Park Police and Secret Service violently routed protesters from Lafayette Square last month without apparent provocation or adequate … Before appearing before the committee, Budde condemned Trump's visit to the church without the church's permission and called the photo opportunity "antithetical to the teachings of Jesus and everything that our churches stand for. "In terms of what they do clinically, they do many of the same things," she said. "For nearly an entire day, the whole of the press corps frantically reported the 'news' of a tear gas attack on ‘peaceful’ protesters in Lafayette Park, with no evidence to support such claims. "Some people do use these terms interchangeably, but they are different products," said Dr. Kelly Johnson-Arbor, co-medical director of the National Capital Poison Center. "Nowhere does the Bible condone the use of violence against the innocent, especially those who are standing up for justice." But others point to a technical distinction between the two. And that is certainly something we should expect in the world's greatest democracy. Such a combination with smoke canisters would create clouds of a chemical irritant that would cause tearing.The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention suggests that "Riot control agents (sometimes referred to as 'tear gas') are chemical compounds that temporarily make people unable to function by causing irritation to the eyes, mouth, throat, lungs, and skin," the CDC's website reads, mentioning pepper spray specifically. A U.S. Army National Guard officer who witnessed the operation to expand the security perimeter at Lafayette Square in Washington on June 1 will testify in Congress on Tuesday that he thought the tactics used by Park Police to disperse the protesters “an unnecessary escalation of the use of force.” Adam DeMarco, a major for […] Throughout the hearing, Republicans showed several videos of protests, including one of police officers being beaten and another of police facing off with protesters amid a fire burning in Lafayette Square the night before the area was cleared. "Former Trump Defense Secretary James Mattis called the event a "bizarre photo op" in a scathing statement.