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President Trump denies knowing about an intelligence report that said Russia paid a bounty to the Taliban to kill U.S. troops serving in Afghanistan.<\/p>\n
USA TODAY<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n The month of June saw\u00a0coronavirus cases<\/a> once again on the rise,\u00a02020 presidential campaigns barrel\u00a0ahead and the country reckoning protests against police brutality and racism.\u00a0<\/p>\n President Donald Trump kept an edge on\u00a0supporters’ enthusiasm<\/a> but drew criticism on issues from his first major rally since pandemic lockdowns to the clearing of protesters for a photo op with a Bible, while former Vice President Joe Biden locked down delegates needed for the Democratic nomination.<\/p>\n As we head into the rest of the summer, here is a look back at what happened in June of 2020, the\u00a0<\/strong>month that contained a year’s worth of major political news events, which will likely be pivotal for the months ahead and become contentious campaign issues.<\/p>\n .\u00a0<\/p>\n Trump drew criticism from both sides of the aisle after protesters were forcibly cleared<\/a> ahead of his walk to St. John’s Church, near the White House, for a photo opportunity\u00a0on June 1.\u00a0<\/p>\n The area around the church and in Lafayette Park had been the site of large\u00a0protests against\u00a0racial discrimination and police brutality in the wake of George Floyd’s death after a Minneapolis police officer knelt on his neck for almost\u00a0nine minutes. Trump’s handling of the situation drew rebukes<\/a> from former top\u00a0administration officials including former Defense Secretary James Mattis, former Chief of Staff John Kelly and\u00a0Joint Chiefs Chair Mark Milley.\u00a0<\/p>\n After the photo op, secret service\u00a0announced\u00a0none of their\u00a0officers used tear gas or pepper spray before walking\u00a0it\u00a0back days later\u00a0in a statement, tweeting that “After further review, the U.S. Secret Service has determined that an agency employee used pepper spray on June 1st, during efforts to secure the area near Lafayette Park.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n CLOSE \n Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer is calling for an investigation into the Trump administration’s firing of the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York Geoffrey Berman. (June 22)<\/p>\n AP Domestic<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n Geoffrey\u00a0Berman, Manhattan’s chief federal prosecutor,\u00a0was fired<\/a>\u00a0by\u00a0Trump last month\u00a0after refusing to resign.\u00a0Pressure for Berman to resign came from Attorney General William Barr, despite\u00a0Barr\u2019s recent glowing\u00a0assessment\u00a0of Berman.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n Berman\u2019s refusal to resign<\/a>\u00a0came after the attorney general announced that Berman would be stepping down in order to make room for\u00a0Trump\u2019s\u00a0new nominee, Jay Clayton, who currently chairs the Securities and Exchange Commission.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n In a statement after Barr\u2019s\u00a0announcement, Berman said that \u201cI have not resigned and have no intention of resigning… I will step down when a\u00a0presidentially appointed\u00a0nominee is confirmed by the\u00a0Senate. Until then, our investigations will move forward without delay or\u00a0interruption.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n Through his tenure,\u00a0Berman\u00a0has pursued\u00a0several\u00a0high-profile investigations into Trump\u00a0administration\u00a0allies, including the president\u2019s ex-personal lawyer Michael Cohen and current\u00a0attorney\u00a0Rudy\u00a0Giuliani as well as\u00a0the\u00a0funding operations of the Trump inaugural\u00a0committee.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n Although the firing of Berman\u00a0was\u00a0ordered by\u00a0Trump, he seemed to\u00a0distance\u00a0himself<\/a> from the\u00a0dismissal, saying that the\u00a0decision\u00a0to remove Berman was\u00a0Barr\u2019s and\u00a0telling reporters that he wasn\u2019t \u201cinvolved.\u201d<\/p>\n Biden finally locked up enough delegates<\/a>\u00a0needed\u00a0to officially become\u00a0the Democratic\u00a0nominee\u00a0in early June, reaching 1,991 pledge delegates after primaries in\u00a0Maryland, Indiana, Rhode Island, New Mexico, Montana, South Dakota and Pennsylvania.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n While\u00a0Biden was already the\u00a0presumptive\u00a0nominee after Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., suspended his\u00a0campaign, this\u00a0marked a major milestone in\u00a0Biden\u2019s\u00a0path to the nomination. The DNC announced later in June the convention in Milwaukee would be scaled down and dispersed throughout the country, but Biden still plans to accept the nomination in person in Milwaukee.\u00a0<\/p>\n President Trump continued his re-election campaign with a rally<\/a>\u00a0in Tulsa, Oklahoma late this month. Health experts called for it to be canceled<\/a> due to the risks of holding a mass gathering during the\u00a0pandemic, especially as coronavirus rates spiked in Tulsa. The Trump campaign went ahead\u00a0with the encouragement<\/a> of Oklahoma’s governor.<\/p>\n The campaign boasted that it received\u00a0more than a million ticket requests\u00a0for the rally, but according to an estimate from the Tulsa Fire Department’s fire marshal, only 6,200 people showed up. The BOK Center, where the rally took place,\u00a0has capacity for 19,000 people.<\/p>\n Since the rally, at least eight Trump campaign staffers and\u00a0two Secret Service agents\u00a0have tested positive for the coronavirus. Trump made news at the rally for saying he wanted to “slow the testing down,” too.<\/p>\n Multiple Trump advisers<\/a> and Republican strategists<\/a> characterized\u00a0the rally as a misfire in the days following it.\u00a0White House Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany\u00a0disputed reports that the president was displeased with the turnout, however, saying Trump was\u00a0“very pleased” with the event.<\/p>\n Trump’s shaky return to the campaign trail was followed by\u00a0polls <\/a>showing that he currently trails presumptive Democratic nominee Joe Biden in six crucial swing states, ones\u00a0that Trump\u00a0had won in 2016.\u00a0<\/p>\n The Supreme Court made two major decisions this month concerning human rights cases. The Court granted LGBTQ\u00a0people federal protections<\/a> in the workplace\u00a0and prevented the Trump administration<\/a> from rescinding DACA. In both instances, conservative justices sided with the court’s liberal minority. Conservatives in Congress and the president criticized both decisions and vowed to appoint more conservative justices to the court.\u00a0<\/p>\n The Supreme Court\u00a0unanimously upheld the constitutionality<\/a> of the Financial Oversight and Management Board for Puerto Rico, which was created in 2016 in response to Puerto Rico\u2019s debt crisis.<\/p>\n In a 5-4 ruling, the court also struck down state restrictions on abortion clinics<\/a>. The court ruled a Louisiana law, which required\u00a0doctors who perform abortions to have nearby hospital admitting privileges, to be unconstitutional. The law was considered likely to close most of the state’s abortion providers.\u00a0<\/p>\n In a 7-2 ruling, the court\u00a0decided<\/a>\u00a0the federal government has the authority to allow a proposed $7.5 billion natural gas pipeline to cross under the Appalachian Trail, removing a key obstacle from the project going forward.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n Hours after the court ruled on DACA, Trump sent out a tweet<\/a> calling for “new Justices,” followed up with another<\/a> saying he would\u00a0release a list of potential conservative Supreme Court nominees by Sept.1.\u00a0<\/p>\n The Democrat-led House of Representatives\u00a0passed two key bills that were met with resistance from congressional Republicans this month.\u00a0<\/p>\n In the wake of Floyd’s death \u2014 and weeks of\u00a0protests nationwide<\/a> decrying police brutality\u00a0\u2014 the House approved<\/a> a sweeping police reform package that would ban chokeholds and end qualified immunity for police officers accused of misconduct.<\/p>\n The House approved the\u00a0package on the heels of blocking one<\/a> proposed by the\u00a0Senate, which Democrats argued did not go far enough. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., has already said the Republican-controlled chamber would not take up the legislation.\u00a0<\/p>\n The House also\u00a0passed a bill<\/a> that would make Washington, D.C., its own state.\u00a0No Republican voted for the bill, and\u00a0it is unlikely to advance through the Senate. This was\u00a0the\u00a0first time a Washington statehood bill has passed in either chamber of Congress.\u00a0<\/p>\n CLOSE \n As coronavirus cases in some states start to rise again, make sure to remember these safety tips.<\/p>\n USA TODAY<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n Several U.S. states have reported record coronavirus cases as the pandemic continues,\u00a0trending upward<\/a> in about half of them. Earlier this week, top infectious disease expert Dr. Anthony Fauci told Congress<\/a> that new infections could increase to 100,000 per\u00a0day if the country doesn\u2019t get its surge of cases under control, saying that several states may have moved \u201ctoo quickly\u201d and did not follow\u00a0proper\u00a0guidelines for safe reopening.\u00a0<\/p>\n Vice President Mike Pence received\u00a0criticism for writing an op-ed<\/a> in the Wall Street Journal, declaring that there was\u00a0no\u00a0“second wave” of cases as several states were working to roll back plans to reopen.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n States like Arizona, California\u00a0and Delaware began\u00a0re-closing some bars and\u00a0restaurants<\/a>\u00a0as others, like\u00a0Arkansas,\u00a0Maine, Nevada and New Mexico, delayed any further phases.<\/p>\n According to multiple news sources, U.S. intelligence officials said Russian operatives secretly offered cash payments<\/a> to Taliban-linked militants to kill coalition troops \u2014 including Americans \u2014 in Afghanistan last year.\u00a0Russia and Afghanistan have denied the reports.<\/p>\n The New York Times and Associated Press reported in late June that Trump was briefed on the intelligence assessment and took no action after. According to the Times, the briefing took place in late March, though Trump and Director of National Intelligence John Ratcliffe\u00a0deny<\/a> that Trump was ever briefed.\u00a0<\/p>\n Facing ongoing\u00a0scrutiny of his response, Trump called<\/a> the “Russia Bounty” story a “hoax,”\u00a0as his administration continues to brief<\/a>\u00a0members of Congress\u00a0about the intelligence.<\/p>\nChemical irritants used against DC\u00a0protesters for Trump\u00a0photo op\u00a0<\/strong><\/h2>\n
Trump fired\u00a0Manhattan’s\u00a0chief federal prosecutor\u00a0<\/strong><\/h2>\n
<\/img><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\nJoe Biden got enough delegates to be the nominee<\/strong><\/h2>\n
Trump resumed his re-election campaign<\/strong><\/h2>\n
SCOTUS affirms human rights protections, opposes environmentalists\u00a0\u00a0<\/strong><\/h2>\n
House passes contentious police reform, DC statehood bills<\/strong><\/h2>\n
COVID cases spiked throughout the country<\/strong><\/h2>\n
<\/img><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\nIntelligence report says Russia put bounty on U.S. troops<\/strong><\/h2>\n
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