A couple weeks back, we noted how a Media Research Center post embraced the Park Service’s explanation that no tear gas was used when Lafayette Square was cleared of protesters so President Trump could do his Bible-clutching photo op in front of a church near the square — even though that story fell apart almost immediately. Turns out the MRC pushed that story a couple other times as well.
In a June 2 post, Kyle Drennen complained about the media “hyping the ‘outrage’ over President Trump visiting the church” and reports that tear gas was used on protesters, further huffing: “The Park Police dispute that version of events, denying that they used tear gas and claiming that they were unaware of the President’s plan to exit the White House and walk across Lafayette Square to St. John’s.” He closed by complaining, “If journalists want to criticize the timing and optics of Trump visiting a church, they should at least be as outraged by rioters who set that church on fire a day earlier.”
Maybe Drennen should question his swallowing a false narrative before attacking others.
In another post the same day, Curtis Houck ranted about a “juvenile diatribe” on CNN that noted the flashbang grenades going off and tear gas in the air,” huffing in response: “As we later found out, the use of tear gas was a complete lie.”
The following day, Houck grumbled that “CNN chief White House correspondent and resident quack Jim Acosta predictably inserted himself into Wednesday’s press briefing, taking up over four minutes lamenting about Monday night’s events in D.C.’s Lafayette Park and refusing to denounce violence against police officers. And just as predictably, White House Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany made him look like a fool.” He claimed Acosta was trying to “filibuster” when he responded to McEnany’s (false) denial that no tear was was used by pointing out that “chemical agents were used,”and he gave a pass to McEnany’s falsehood by delcaring, “Thankfully, McEnany put a stop to it and laid out the timeline and rationale for clearing Lafayette Park.”
A June 5 post by Ryan Foley included a transcript from “Late Nigh with Seth Myers” that includes the McEnany-Acosta exchange and another CNN clip pointing out the false tear-gas claim. But Foley doesn’t mention it in his post; instead, he attacks Meyers for criticizing Republican Sen. Tom Cotton’s notorious New York Times op-ed calling for military force to stop “looting and rioting.”
That’s the only time — buried in a transcript — that the falsehood of the tear-gas narrative is noted. None of the other posts have corrected the record, and their promotion of the Trump administration’s false narrative remains.