The Rundown: Protestors Take To the Street For Sixth Day

Protesters took to the streets for a sixth day Sunday after the death of George Floyd, and as in previous days, the largely peaceful demonstrations against police brutality across the country took a dark turn in some places, particularly as night fell, with looting, vandalism, fires set, and confrontations with police. This despite curfews being put in place in many cities and thousands of National Guard soldiers deployed in 15 states, including in Minneapolis, where Floyd died after a police officer kneeled on his neck for more than eight minutes.



Police fired tear gas and stun grenades into a crowd of chanting protesters last night in Lafayette Park across from the White House. After that, some set a fire in the street, which engulfed a building that has a maintenance office and bathrooms. A fire was also set in the basement of nearby historic St. John's Episcopal Church, but it was quickly put out by firefighters. National Guard soldiers were deployed to help deal with the situation. Meanwhile, AP reported that as people also demonstrated in Lafayette Park on Friday night, Secret Service agents briefly rushed President Trump to an underground bunker at the White House. He, his wife Melania and their son Barron were reportedly there for about an hour.

Extremist Infiltrators: Federal and state officials are looking into evidence that far-left and far-right groups may be infiltrating the protests with the aim of turning peaceful demonstrations violent. Trump and Attorney General Bill Barr over the weekend blamed anarchists and members of antifa, an umbrella name for far-left militant groups that turn out to resist neo-Nazis and white supremacists at demonstrations. Barr said the FBI would use its regional joint terrorism task forces to identify what he called "criminal organizers," and Trump threatened to name antifa a terrorist group. However, experts on extremist groups are also seeing evidence of members of the far-right involved, such as white supremacists, members of the Proud Boys, and of the "Boogaloo movement, who want a second civil war.

Special Prosecutor Named: Minnesota Governor Tim Walz said Sunday that he's named state Attorney General Keith Ellison as a special prosecutor to look into Floyd's death. Walz acted at the urging of Floyd's family members and leaders in Minneapolis. Meanwhile, attorney Benjamin Crump, who's representing Floyd's family, said Derek Chauvin, the officer who had his knee on Floyd's neck, said Chauvin may have known Floyd since they apparently both worked as security at the same nightclub, and called for him to be charged with first-degree murder. Chauvin and the three officers who'd been with him were fired the day after Floyd's death last Monday, and Chauvin was arrested Friday and charged with third-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter.

Trump, Biden Respond: ABC News reported Sunday that there's a growing divide in the White House over whether Trump should address the nation from the Oval Office. The report said some, including his son-in-law and senior adviser Jared Kushner, think there's no political benefit to it since when Trump has done it a few times in the past it hasn't turned out that well. But others, including White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows, believe it's a chance for Trump to show he's a strong leader and unifier. Trump did not appear publicly yesterday, but tweeted during the day, including accusing the media of, quote, "doing everything within their power to foment hatred and anarchy," and urging Democratic mayors and governors to, quote, "get tough," saying, "The World is watching and laughing at you and Sleepy Joe."

(NY Times graphic)

➤PEOPLE PROTESTING IN OTHER COUNTRIES AFTER FLOYD'S DEATH: After seeing the video of a Minneapolis police officer kneeling on George Floyd's neck before he died and the protests that have been going on for days across the U.S., people in some other countries have now also been demonstrating in support. Thousands protested in London Sunday at Trafalgar Square, and then marched to the U.S. Embassy, chanting "No justice, no peace!" and other slogans. Demonstrators also gathered at the U.S. Embassy in Denmark, and on Saturday at the U.S. Embassy in Berlin, Germany. Also in Germany, a player in the Bundesliga soccer league, Jadon Sancho, removed his jersey after scoring a goal to show the message "Justice for George Floyd." His teammate, Achraf Hakimi, also raised his jersey to show a similar message after scoring later in the game. In another Bundesliga match, Marcus Thurman took a knee after scoring his first goal in support of the U.S. protests, a reference to former NFL quarterback Colin Kaepernick's controversial kneeling protests of police brutality during the national anthem.

➤PROTESTS RAISE FEARS OF SPREADING CORONAVIRUS: As protesters have been taking to the streets for days across the country after the death of George Floyd, it's raised fears that they could be spreading the coronavirus and lead to new outbreaks. Although many protesters are wearing face coverings, many others aren't, and social distancing was widely not being practiced. Additionally, protesters are shouting, chanting and singing, which experts have said helps spread the virus even more. The protests are also coming as states are continuing to reopen, which already was raising the risk of an increase in Covid-19 cases.

There have been more than 104,300 deaths from the coronavirus in the U.S. as of last night (May 31st), according to Johns Hopkins University's count, and more than 1,789,000 confirmed cases.

➤MLB PLAYERS PROPOSE 114-GAME SEASON, NO MORE PAY CUTS: MLB players have proposed a 114-game regular season, 32 more than the 82 in the league's proposal, with no additional pay cuts beyond what they agreed to in March, according to media reports last night (May 31st). The regular season, which has been delayed by the coronavirus, would start on June 30th under the players' proposal and end on October 31st, nearly five weeks later than September 27th, which is in the league's. Both would increase the number of postseason teams to 14 from 10. Players would get about 70 percent of their salary under their proposal, while the league's offer has a sliding scale under which star players would get less than 23 percent of their salary and those making the MLB minimum would get about 47 percent.

➤NASCAR'S KESELOWSKI GETS SECOND WIN OF THE SEASON: NASCAR driver Brad Keselowski got his second win of the season Sunday, coming in first at Bristol Motor Speedway in Tennessee after leaders Chase Elliott and Joey Logano collided in front of him with one lap to go. As with all of NASCAR's races since it returned from its 10-week coronavirus shutdown two weeks earlier, there were no fans in the stands.

➤NHL TO TEST DAILY WHEN PLAY RETURNS: The NHL plans to test players every day for the coronavirus if and when play resumes. Deputy Commissioner Bill Daly said daily, league-wide testing would allow an infected player, coach or staffer to be immediately isolated, and may not necessarily mean that play would have to be suspended again. The NHL announced last week that it won't play the 189 games that were left in the regular season, but will instead go straight to the playoffs with 24 teams instead of 16. Play could resume in late July or early August, with the Stanley Cup Final in September or possibly later.