captioning sponsored by wnet >> sreevasan: on this edition for saturday, june 20: a top u. attorney, ousted after a standoff. protests continue worldwide over growing cries for police reform. and, why the paycheck protection program is failing minority- owned businesse next, on pbs newshour weekend. >> pbs newshour weekend is made possible by: bernard and irene schwartz. sue and edgar wachenheim iii. the cheryl and philip milstein family. the jpb foundation. rosalind p. walter. barbara hope zuckerberg. charles rosenblum. we totry ive in the moment, to s not miss what'ght in front of us. at mutual of america, we

believe taking care of tomorrow canhe help you make t most of today. mutual of america financial group, retirement services and investments. >> consumer cellular offers no contrhaact wireless plansare designed to help you do more of the things you enjoy. whether you're talker, texter, browser, photographer or a bit of everything, our u.s.-based find a plan lat fits you. arn more, go to www.consumercellular.tv. addhaitional supporbeen provided by: and by the corporation r public broadcasting, a private corporation funded by the american people. and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. >> sreenivasan: good evening and thanks for joining usc thoronavirus pandemic means we are continuing to work remotely this weekend. i am in florida. others are working from their homes in several different states, and we are covering stories in person when and where it is safe to do so. in some parts of the country, there are reopenings on a gradual scale, and in other

places, it's almost back to business assual. on this busy news day, let's get started with the top stories. late last night, attorney generamal wilarr issued a press release announcing the appointment of a new u.s. attorney to head the justice department's largest district, in manhattan, and also announcing that the current u.s. attorney there, geoffrey berman, was resigning. only he wasn't. two hours later, berman issued his own statement, saying," have not resigned, and have no intention of resigning, my posit"io he also said, "i will step down when -aa presidentialointed nominee is confirmed by the senate. until then, our investigations will move forward without delay or interruption." but this afternoon, attorney general barr fired berman, sending him a letter that said "because you have declared that you have no intention o resigning, i have asked the president to remove you as of today, and he has de so." the standoff came as a new book by former white house national

security advisor john bolton is about to go on sale. bolton reportedly makes allegations mr. trump suggested interfering in cases berman supervise today, a federal judge refused the justice department's ergency request to block publication of the book, but did say bolton "likely jeopardized tional security" and could face "civil, and potentially criminal, liability." earlier today i spoke with ryan goodman, a professor at new york university's school of law and also co-editor-in-chief of justsecurity.org. ryan, at the very core of this, does the attorney general have the authority to fire someone? >> so the attorney general almost definitely does not have the authority to fire the court- appointed u.s. attorney. so he does not have the authorerity to r. berman. and that's actually according to the jt'ustice departmown settled view on this. counsel opinion in 1979.

it squaly says the president can do it, but the attorney general cannot. >> sreenivasa so is this-- are we just literally waiting for the other shoe to drop, for the presidento either tweet or announce that he wants somebody else in the job? >> i think thaty exactly the was thinking about it as well, which is that we should be intensely focused on that being the next move. it's up to the president to decide whether or not he's going to do this. and according to the justice department, he has the power. thererehree federal court opinions, including one of them happening to be from the very same district, the southern district of new york, that says the president has the power to do it, so he can do it. it's up to him. but then he has to pay the political price for it being on his shoulders. >> sreenivasan: now, mr. berman's position is-- is, "i'm going to stick around until you guys officially get a replacement, so you can have an inteim person in the position," if he is fired by the president.

but really, the vacancy that has to be filled has to go through the senate. >> so that's the part that's a littlbimore complex, and it's unsettled what the law wouldut say aho gets to replace mr. berman if he's firedan. what's remarkable is that the office of legal counsel opinions, that differ with each other. but the one opinion that says that the attorney general cannot pick mr. berman's replacement. it would have to be the senate or the district court, again, is actually written by justice samueo l alen he was at the justice department in the mid- 1980s. >> sreenivasan: mr. berman is in a court-appointed position. let's go backwards in this sort of history of this here. this spot hasn't had a senate- confirmed appointee in a number of years. >> that's right.

and so it's almost like a spot that's remained vacant. and there were many concerns about the fact that mr. berman was potentially associated with mr. trump in a wain which he was then installed into the position. so ths ist a person who's being thought of as being rogue or, you know, democratically appointed, if you want to tnk about it in those terms. he was put in place by the president, after the president specically interviewed him for the job, which is also very unusual. so much so thatar. berman aclly had to recuse himself from one of the investigations that potentially implicate presi and that's the strange limbo situation that we've been in for a long period of time. i so that's wended up triggsuering this u provision in federal statute that requires the court to appoint the person. so they approved berman staying in the position. >> sreenivasan: so there's at least a half dozen different investigations that the s.d.n.y. has on either associates of the

presiordenteople who could implicate tdi president in erent things. and then you've also got now john bolton, who says in his book that he told attorney general barr about conversations that the department of and attorney general barr have said on the record previously that they never knewbout. >> tha's right. so, there are other multiple allegations in the bolton book different ways, and one of them is also going circling all the way ck to e ukraine affair, where the attorney general and thjustice department said that it was a total shock to the attorney general that he was mentioned on the call, d that it came to him weeks later when there was a criminal referral of the call to the justice depart.tm ambassador bolton says that's

wrong-- that he himself, ambassador bolton, with direct evidenc barr about e call.eral and then he was mentioned on the call as the person who would be runnng along with rudy giuliani as the-- as the point of contact for working with ukraine on the biden matter. >> sreenivasan: ryan goodman of n.y.u. and the justsecurity blog. thanks so much. >> thank you. for more domestic and international news, sit www.pbs.org/newshour. >> sreenivasan: yesterday was juneteenth, a day that marks e d of slavery when, in 1865, word finally reached the last enslaved black people in texas that they were free. across the country, the holiday was celrated with a new urgency as mass protests for racial jtice ctinue. newshour weekend's christopher booker has more. >> ♪ic lift every and sing. ♪ >> ♪ev lify voice... >> reporter: in a square in downtown brooklyn, thousands of

protesters gathered as they hav been for weeks in cities around the country, demanding an end to police brutality sd systemic ram-- and, on this day, to also celebrate juneteenth >> ♪ let us march on... >> 'til victory is won. ♪ >> reporter: this rally and march was one of more than 90 organized events yesterday in new york city, and one of ndrngeds taki place across the country. in cities like san tancisco, seatle, new orleans and orlando, the events called for america to reconcile with its racism and institutional discrimination against people of color. while events varied across mee country, eturned the focus to statues that commemorate long-standing symbols of the country's oppressive past. ( crind cheering ) raleigh, north carolina, after a day of marching, protestors pullat down two stues of confederate soldiers. in washington, d.c., police didn't intervene when protesters toppled and burned a statue of confederate general albert pike, prompting president trump to tweet: "these people should be immediately arrested.

a disgrace to our country!" ( crowd chanting ) and in new york, marchers surrounded a statue of christopher columbus, which was guarded by police to prevent any attempt to topple . demands to remove statues and protests against racism and police brutality also continued overseas today. in edinburgh, protesters gathered at the statue of henry dundas, a scottish politician who played a large role in delaying the end of britain's slave trade in paris, hundreds gathered in the sitreets. and n london, thousands of protesters marched for the fourtekh consecutive espite a ban on large gatherings to prevent the spread of coronavirus. >> sreevasan: this is the day president trump has chosen for his first in-person campaign rally in more than three months. people lined up outside the b.o.k. arena in tulsa, oklahoma, wherehe president is scheduled to speak in the evening. despite recommendations from health officials, wearing face masks inside the arena will not be mandatory. this afternoon, the trump campaixign saidf its staff members working in tulsa have

tested positive for the coroalnavirus. six are reportedly in quarantine. protests against nte rally will nue tonight. yesterday, there were peaceful gatheris and rallies to lebrate juneteenth and to support demands for racial justice.. rump originally planned his rally for yesterday, but moved it to today after cricism of the choice of juneteenth. he did not change the location, which many people also find offensive. country's worst racial violence attacks. in 1921, white mobs killed more than 300 african americans in the city's greenwood district, which was also known at the time as black wall street. earlier today i spoke with kendrick marshall, an assistant editor at the tulsa world, who is covering the president's visit and the protests. first, the mayor seems to want the president here. there are a lots of supporters that have come in town st for this rally. but athe same time, you have public health offic ls saying ththis is not a great idea.

>> yeah, it's an interesting ditomy in all this, because during the early stages of the pandemic, when it was really an unknown virus to a lot of america, mayor bynum took the lead in the state in issuing shelter-in-place orders, stay at home orders, listening to the science, listening to health officials. but this was the president of the united doates comes in ld trump. with coronavirus cases soaring the lt two weeks and the alar being sound by the health officials he, he has pretty much ignored all he warnings an pretty much said this rally is going to go foard because the president is here. now, i know that any city that hosts the president is likely going to accept the invitation because he's the president, but we're in unique circumstances with coronavirus and its impact

across the country,nond especiallin oklahoma, where cases have spurred to over 1,800la within th three weeks. so, torhe mayor of tulsa, m bynum, has really put himself in a tremendously tough position so far. >> sreenivasan: also this week, you saw your police department and authorities go kind of back and forth on how they were expecting to come to this rally, either to join the president and pport him or to stand outside and protest. where does that stand now? >> well, yesterday, the police department here issued a notice that there was going to be a curfew in the area surrounding where the rally was going to be held inside the arena. and then, hours later, we got a longer establishe cwas no and apparently that came from the secret service.

apparently, whatever intentions they had,hey felt that there was no need for a cthfew and that felt like local authorities as well as federal authorities-- and the national guardnt were appa going to be here-- would be able to handle whateveranoes on during after the rally. >> sreenivasan: and this is all happening kind of in the shadow of not just juneteenth, but the 99th anversary of what ppened in tulsa. so, r, eally, tulsa, oklahos been in the news for the past month or so in ways thayou wouldn't have expected, well, a month and a day ago. >> right. yeah, you mentioned the anniversary of the-- the 1921 tulsa race massacre.an then, there was the incident by a current tulsa police major where he said that african americans should be shot more than the data suggests. and then, you had a short time

later two tulsa police officers arrest and cost to teenage ys, both african american, for jaywalking. and all of this goas on i climate that we're in where g there's protestout police lity and racism. and you have the backdrop of this rally being a mile away from where black wall street is and where the tulsa race massacre happened. and you factor all that in and it creates a very interesting dynamic here in the city right now. >> sreenivasan: kendrick marshall of "tulsa world," s so much for joining us >> thank you. coronavirus cases are othe rise in some places in the u.s., with several states reporting record high numbers of new cases this week. today, officials in florida reported the largest single-day spike since the starte pandemic, more than 4,000 new cases. at least one baseball spring training facity in florida is now closed. the philadelphia phillies' shut down its trainin players and staff tested

positive for the virus. there are multiple reports that major league baseball will close all of its spring training sites. in arizona, hospitals are reporting increases in hospitalizations from covid-19. yesterday, phoenix passed a measure requiring people to wear face masks in public after the state hit the third record in four days for new daily cases. on thursday, the centers for disea csetrol and prevention predicted coronavirus-related death spikes in 9 states in brazil, the government officially reported yesterday that the country now has more llion confirmed cases of covid-19. 50,000 people in brazil have died usfrom the vn the past three months, and the total number of cases is second only to the united states. brazil's president jair bolsonaro remains defiant and social distancing on the economy could be deadlier than the experts believe that the number of cases of covid-19 in brazil could be up to seven times higher than reported.

>> sreenivasan: the small business administration and the treasury department announced yesterday that they will begin revealing theames of some sinesses that received loans from the p.p.p., a reversal of policy. the pecaychk pron program provides federally-backed forgivable loans to businesses whose revens have taken a hit due to the covid-19 pandemic. borrors who receive less than $150,000 will not have their identits revealed. according to the center for responsible lending, most of the program's $659 billion ha already been dispersed, but little of that money has made it to black- and latino-owned businesses. many of these communities have been hit nrd by the coavirus. newshour weekend's ivette feliciano spoke with somen buess owners to learn why it's been so difficult for them this time.eral assistance during this segment is part of our ongoi sies, "chasing the

dream: poverty and opportunityic in amera." >> reporter: two years ago, bobby price began his business, principal barbers, in the north lawndale neighborhood of chicago, where he was born and rae >> my neighborhood in chicago here is a long historical community. from beinpart of the white flighin chica, to dr. king being in the neighborhood, this community has, like, en a part of some very pivotal historical moments. >> rd eporter: to bus business, price needed money. when his commercial bank turned him down for a business loan, he turned to his community for support. >> fortunately, my pastor had some friends and some men i knew who were angel investors pretty much ready to go. and so, when i made the decision, it seemed as if all the doors opened. >> reporter: with funds from community investors, ice rented a storefront in 2018 and began growing his business. last october, he got a

micro-loan to buy new equipment from a community development financial institution, a c.d.f.i., called accion in chicago. accion is one of 1,000 c.d.f.i.s serving low-wealth neighborhoods across the country and aims to fill the gap where mainstream lenders aren't present. brad mcconnell is the c.e.o. at accion in chicago. >> and our mission is to help neighborhood entrepreneurs grow. and unanforly, we find that there are just far too many instances in whnh a small bus owner in an underserved community doesn have access to e same types of wealth that is required in order to generate more epwealth. >>orter: by march, price was just starting to make a profit. buichen, the covid-19 pand hit, and business came to a complete halt. >> you know, everyone was hopeful, but the neighborhood itself pretty much shut down. >> reporter: as part of the $2 trillion stimulus bill passed in late march, congress passed

the paycheck protectionam, or p.p.p. the program provided $359 billion worth of fensrally-backed business l which would be forgiven if the borrower spent 75of the funding on payroll within eight weeks. the treasury department's small business administration runs the program. while t federal governmen guarantees the p.p.p. loans, it's the banks that actually put up the cash, the same banks thay bo price tried and failed to get capital from when he first started his business. price applied for a p.p.p. loan when it was announced through chase bank. to the bank for clarification about the program's stipulations, he had litt success. >> there was no answer, no replies, no e-mails. the largest questions were like, what were the expectations of paying it back? how to make it a grant, you know, instead of a loan? it just wasn't clear.

>> we filled out the applications, we did all the work,in and we thought we wer queue, but we weren't. >> reporter: rodney brown is executive director of the new covenant community development corporation ichicago. the n son-profit helpll business owners apply for p.p.p. s, but brown says ma didn't have t documents needed in order to qualify. >> what we found was some of them had not filed taxes. some of them did not have a buness plan. they didn't understand what a financial statement was. they-- some had even been paying employees maybe in cash, not keeping records. so, we had to help them with all those things. >> reporter: brad mcconnell ath accion says aner obstacle for his clients was the requirement to sp pend 75% of the.p. funds on payroll in order to qualify for loan forgiveness. >> payroll just isn't a specifically large part othe way that a business thinks about its expenses, if you're dealing with very, very few staff. when the smill business istration defines a small 500 or less in the number ofhas

employeeshat they have, then >> reporter: typically, businesses owned by people of colorha are more likely t few to no employees and spend more money on other expenses like rent or utilities, according to the center for responsible lending. the s.b.a. didn't collect demographic data on who applied for and received p.p.p. loans, but ay national online sur 500 black abu latinx small ness owners conducted for color of chge and unidos u.s. found that only 12% of those who applied for the paycheck protection program loans received the funds ey asked for. eliuth guzman was initially turned down for a p.p.p. loan she hoped would keep her two-year-old catering business loat. she says she had trouble getting the help she needed fm her bank so eventually filled out the application on her own. >> i was disappointed because

reason for-- why was the reason i didn't get the-- the paycheck protection. >> reporter: researchers at thet r for responsible lending say mainstream lenders prioritized their biggest clients, large to mid-sed businesses, which are primarily white-owned. as a e result, itial $359 billion dried up in two weeks. and in a report released last month, the s.b.a. office of the inspector general found that minority-owned businesses may not have received the loans as intended because the s.b.a. failed to "provide guidance to lenders about priorizing borrowers in underserved." marke to address concerns regarding the ppraychecection program, in late may, congress passed legisg lation lowere required amount that businesses to 60%.end on payroll from 75% it also extended the esme that busis can use their funds to qualify for loan forgiveness from ght weeks to 24 weeks.

the small business ministration declined an interview with pbs newshour weekend, but in an ail the s.b.a. said it is "actively engaged in outreach to the c.d.f.i. lending communities. to dae te, thstitutions have approved over $15 billion," and that "the s.b.ais providing mate 1rials languages other than english to help small busines rs recover." porter: eventually, eliuth guzman sought the help of accion second round of p.p.p. funding. >> i really hwa somebody that walking me through the process. and a week later, i-- i got the call from the bank. and, in a couple of days, they had transferred the money to my business account. >> reporter: bobby price also sought the help of a local community organization to fill out his second p.p.p. loan application. >> the relationshs of the organizations and the community just made it happen, because they understood that a lot of us, especially small businesses,

re having a hard time. >> reporter: this time, price was approved for $8,000, which he believes will be enough to carry him through as he attempts to adapt his business to the new normal. >> sreenivasan: that's all for this editioof pbs newshour weekend. for the latest news updates visit www.pbs.org/newshour. i'm haanri sreeniv thanks for watching. stay healthy, and have a good night. captioning sponsored by wnet captioned by med access group at wgbh access.wgbh.org >> pbs newshour weekend is made possible by: bernard and irene schwartz. sue and edgar wachenheim iii. the cheryl and philip milstein ilam the jpb foundation.

rosalind p. walte barbara hope zuckerberg. charles rosenblum. we try to live in the moment, to not miss what's right in ont of us. at mutual of america, we believe taking care of tomorrow can help yomake the most of today. mutual of america financial group, retirement services and investments. additional support has been provided by: and by the cporation for blic broadcasting, a private corporation funded by the american people. and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. you're watching pbs.

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