As the Lafayette Square protest-when law enforcement aggressively removed peaceful protesters on June 1 before a White House photo-op-increasingly becomes a major scandal for the Trump administration, the Secret Service on Saturday finally admitted using pepper spray on protesters on June 1, after denying it earlier this month.
Law enforcement responds during a protest near Lafayette Park ahead of President Trump's trip to St. ... [+] 
The Secret Service said one agent used pepper spray "in response to an assaultive individual" during the protest, correcting an earlier statement on June 5 saying that the agency didn't use tear gas or pepper spray at all.
The agency said the corrected statement was made "after further review."
The Trump administration has been facing scrutiny for its handling of the protest because President Donald Trump walked through the area for a photo-op at St. John's Church after demonstrators were cleared from the square.
The U.S. Parks Police also originally denied that tear gas was used, and the agency also walked back their original statement while arguing about the semantics of what is considered "tear gas."
The ACLU said in a statement the Secret Service announcement is "yet another federal agency is pulling back yet another lie meant to cover up the administration's unlawful firing of tear gas and other weapons outside the White House on June 1."
"The employee utilized oleoresin capsicum spray, or pepper spray, in response to an assaultive individual," the agency said in the statement.
The U.S. Parks Police, another law enforcement agency on the scene, also initially denied that it used tear gas on protesters, saying in statement that it deployed smoke canisters and pepper balls, which contain an irritant powder. Though the Trump campaign asked media outlets, including Forbes, to retract stories reporting the use of tear gas, the Parks Police eventually admitted that chemical agents similar to tear gas were used. Though tear gas often refers to the chemicals chloracetophenone and chlorobenzylidene malononitrile, the CDC says that "tear gas" can be used as an umbrella term for various "riot control agents," which includes pepper irritant.
The ACLU and Black Lives Matter activists filed a lawsuit against the Trump administration last week over the incident, claiming that law enforcement violated First Amendment rights by using tear gas on peaceful protesters. More than 1,250 former Justice Department employees are also calling on a probe into Attorney General Bill Barr's role in making the decision to clear the protesters from the area. The White House maintains the attorney general ordered an expansion of the security perimeter earlier in the day, but Barr denies knowing about the photo-op and giving "tactical commands."
Over 1,250 Ex-DOJ Officials Request Probe Of Attorney General William Barr (Forbes)
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