George Floyd protests: Barr reportedly made order that led to violent removal of peaceful protesters – live

Joe Biden is seeing a fundraising surge in the midst of nationwide protests.

Biden’s campaign said they noticed an uptick in donations since protests started last week. CNBC reported that fundraisers say they each raised $200,000 to $1 million for the campaign in the last few days. One fundraiser who focuses on the finance industry said he’s seeing an increase of up to 35%.

Benjamin Wittes, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institute and an associate of former FBI Director James Comey, told CNBC that he made a rare campaign donation of $2,800 – the maximum individual contribution to the campaign – because he disapproves of the way Trump is handling the protests.

“We have a president who is energetically attacking and trying to destroy the professional national security apparatus of the country and under those circumstances I don’t feel a stance of political neutrality is appropriate,” he told CNBC.

The Lincoln Project, an anti-Trump super PAC run by a group of Never-Trump Republicans, said May was its best fundraising month since the PAC was created early in the 2020 election.

This is Lauren Aratani in New York taking over for Joan E Greve.

A Monmouth University poll showed that nearly three quarters of Americans say the country is on the wrong track – an all-time low in the seven years the poll has been administered.

When asked if the country is going in the right direction or whether it’s headed off track, 74% of respondents who answered the poll May 28 through June 1 said it was heading off track.

The poll also found a marked change in public opinion on racial disparities of police excessive force. A majority of Americans – 57% – say that police officers facing a difficult or dangerous situation are more likely to use excessive force if the culprit is black. In comparison, when the same question was asked after the police killing of Alton Sterling in 2016, 34% of Americans said excessive force would most likely be used if the culprit is black. The number of white Americans who agreed to this has also increased to 49, up from 25% of white Americans in 2016.

The acting chief of the US Park Police denied using tear gas on protesters near the White House yesterday, although he acknowledged the use of “smoke canisters and pepper balls” on the demonstrators.

“As many of the protestors became more combative, continued to throw projectiles, and attempted to grab officers’ weapons, officers then employed the use of smoke canisters and pepper balls,” USPP acting Chief Gregory T Monahan said in a statement.

“No tear gas was used by USPP officers or other assisting law enforcement partners to close the area at Lafayette Park. Subsequently, the fence was installed.”

Monahan’s statement concludes, “The USPP will always support peaceful assembly but cannot tolerate violence to citizens or officers or damage to our nation’s resources that we are entrusted to protect.”

Numerous journalists who were at the protest said the demonstration appeared to be very peaceful in the moments before law enforcement officials started to forcibly remove them.

Trump mocked Joe Biden as “politically weak” and once again referred to protesters as “thugs,” despite widespread criticism of his use of the term last week.

“Sleepy Joe has been in politics for 40 years, and did nothing,” the president said of his Democratic opponent. “Now he pretends to have the answers. He doesn’t even know the questions. Weakness will never beat anarchists, looters or thugs, and Joe has been politically weak all of his life. LAW & ORDER!”

The tweet came less than an hour after Trump’s reelection campaign sent an email referring to Biden as the “Architect of Mass Incarceration,” referencing his role in the passage of the 1994 crime bill.

“Biden hasn’t just stoked America’s racial divisions over the course of his decades in Washington,” the campaign said. “Biden was the chief architect of mass incarceration and the War on Drugs, which targeted Black Americans.”

Earlier today, Biden delivered remarks in Philadelphia criticizing Trump for his handling of the George Floyd protests. “The president of the United States must be part of the solution, not the problem. This president today is part of the problem and accelerates it,” Biden said.

Military trucks were seen driving down the streets of downtown Washington, as protesters began assembling for another demonstration in honor of George Floyd, a day after a peaceful crowd was forcibly dispersed using tear gas.

The city’s curfew is set to go into effect in about three hours, and the crowd of protesters outside of Lafayette Park, near the White House, is continuing to grow.

Clip and save this for the future: Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell declined to criticize Trump for his handling of the George Floyd protests.

A day after protesters near the White House were forcibly removed using tear gas, McConnell said of Trump, “I’m not going to critique other people’s performances.”

Asked whether he was comfortable with what occurred in Washington yesterday, McConnell again dodged the question.

“I’m relieved that there were few to no injuries last night, apparently little to no looting,” McConnell said.

A day after protesters were forcibly removed from outside the White House, demonstrators returned to 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue to condemn the killing of George Floyd.

The protesters chanted “Don’t shoot!” and “I can’t breathe!” as they laid on the ground in front of the White House, where a new fence has been erected in the wake of the demonstrations.

Democratic congressman Eliot Engel, who is facing a primary challenge, was caught on a hot mic fighting for a chance to speak at an event in the Bronx.

Engel, who has been criticized for not spending enough time in his New York district, asked Bronx borough president Ruben Diaz Jr for the microphone during a press conference after last night’s George Floyd protests.

When Diaz refused, Engel said twice, “If I didn’t have a primary, I wouldn’t care.” Diaz replied, “Don’t do that to me.”

Engel was facing primary challenges from two progressive candidates, but one of them dropped out Monday to endorse his opponent, education activist Jamaal Bowman.

The withdrawal could help Bowman consolidate progressive support, putting Engel at risk of losing the June 23 prumary.

The Guardian’s Sam Levine reports:

Kansas will ask the US supreme court to reinstate a law requiring people to prove their citizenship when they register to vote, continuing one of the most closely-watched voting rights cases in the country.

The law was drafted and championed by former Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach, a Republican known nationally for his staunch anti-immigrant views and baseless claims of widespread voter fraud.

The law was passed in 2011, went into effect in 2013, and was first blocked by a federal judge just before the 2016 presidential election. In April, a federal appeals court upheld a lower court ruling blocking the law.

While it was in effect, the law blocked more than 31,000 people from getting registered to vote. The US court of appeals for the 10th circuit noted that “at most” just 39 non-citizens got on to Kansas’ voter rolls over a 20-year period.

“Voting is only for citizens, and this Kansas law is designed to confirm the citizenship of those registering to vote. After reviewing the appeals court’s decision, we have concluded there is a reasonable basis for appeal,” Kansas attorney general Derek Schmidt, a Republican, said in a statement.

The US supreme court can choose whether to hear the case or not. If the court were to rule in favor of Kansas, it could open up the floodgates for other states to impose similar requirements.