Prove with 100% certainty it was "Tear Gas"?
What the feds said happened
The U.S.Park Police, one of the law enforcement agencies involved with clearing the park on Monday,denied using tear gas. But the agency acknowledged using "pepper balls," another chemical irritant that causes people to tear up and cough.
The agency also said it used "smoke canisters."
Pepper spray is a natural extract from pepper plants. Tear gas is generally what's used to describe a man-made chemical, and is often known to law enforcement as CS gas.
"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.
Trump's campaign is using the incident to suggest the media overstated what happened on Monday and is demanding corrections from outlets that used the words "tear gas" in coverage. USA TODAY was among several outlets that used the term.
"It's said that a lie can get halfway around the world before the truth can get its pants on. This tear gas lie is proof of that," said Trump campaign spokesman Tim Murtaugh. "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."
White House officials continued to raise the point Wednesday.
"No tear gas was used," White House spokeswoman Kayleigh McEnany "No one was tear-gassed. ... There's been a lot of misreporting."
What photo and video evidence showed
Nathan Baca, a reporter for CBS affiliate WUSA, posted a photograph of a gas canister he said he picked up at the protests Monday. . The canister was labeledOC gas, a form of pepper spray.