also put on standby. a senior administration official told our cbs' david martin that in a meeting at the white house on monday morning, the president demanded that 10,000 active-duty troops be ordered into american streets. is that accurate? >> no, that's completely false. that's completely false. sunday night-- >> brennan: the president did not demand that? >> no, he did not demand that. >> brennan: what happened? >> i came over on monday morning for a meeting. the night before had been the most violent, as one of the police officials told us, the d.c. police, it was the most violent day in washington in 30 years, something that the media has not done a very good job of covering. and there had been a riot right along lafayette park. i was called over and asked if i would coordinate federal civil agencies, and that the defense department would provide whatever support i needed or we needed to protect federal property at the white house, federal personnel. the decision was made to...

to allow the fire department to come in to save st. john's church. >> brennan: there were chemical irtants. >> pepper spray is not a chemical irritant.