US News Roundup: Trump wanted to deploy 10,000 troops in Washington; New York City mayor ends 8 p.m. curfew and more

Following is a summary of current US domestic news briefs.

U.S. Senator Scott says China trying to sabotage vaccine development

The United States has evidence China is trying to slow down or sabotage the development of a COVID-19 vaccine by Western countries, Republican senator Rick Scott said on Sunday. "We have got to get this vaccine done. Unfortunately, we have evidence that communist China is trying to sabotage us or slow it down," he said during an interview on BBC TV.

Washington Mayor Bowser, 'unbought and unbossed,' challenges Trump

Washington Mayor Muriel Bowser has drawn a battle line right up to the White House. Bowser, one of seven black female mayors of America's 100 largest cities, on Friday declared a small but symbolic patch of the U.S. capital - a section of 16th Street bounded by a church on one side and Lafayette Square opposite the White House on the other - "Black Lives Matter Plaza."

U.S. Democrats, black lawmakers ready response to George Floyd death

Two weeks after George Floyd's death in police custody sparked nationwide protests, Democrats led by black members of the U.S. Congress are set to introduce legislation to combat police violence and racial injustice, including making it easier to sue officers who kill. The Congressional Black Caucus, with over 50 Democratic members in the House of Representatives and Senate, will lead Monday's unveiling of legislation expected to ban police chokeholds and racial profiling, require nationwide use of body cameras, subject police to civilian review boards and impose new police protocols limiting lethal force and requiring officers to intervene when they witness misconduct.

Exclusive: In a warning sign for Trump, Republicans growing pessimistic about the country's direction

Republicans are more pessimistic about the country's direction than at almost any other time during Donald Trump's presidency, as a trio of crises – the coronavirus pandemic, an economic downturn, and mass protests over police brutality – buffets his administration. Only 46% of Americans who identify as Republicans say the country is on the right track, according to a Reuters/Ipsos poll conducted last week. It is the first time that number has fallen so low since August 2017, when a rally organized by white supremacists in Charlottesville, Virginia led to violent clashes with counter-protesters.

Black Lives Matter protests for U.S. racial justice reach a new dimension

U.S. protests sparked by George Floyd's fatal encounter last month with Minneapolis police crossed a new threshold as weekend rallies demanding racial justice stretched from Washington, D.C., to an east Texas town once a haven for the Ku Klux Klan. They also inspired anti-racism protests around the globe, as demonstrators from Brisbane and Sydney in Australia to London, Paris, and other European cities embraced the Black Lives Matter message.

Senior Trump aide apologizes for promoting racially-charged video

A senior aide to Republican U.S. President Donald Trump on Saturday apologized for promoting a racially-charged video on her Twitter feed. Mercedes Schlapp, a senior Trump national spokeswoman, said she "deeply apologized" for retweeting a video of a chainsaw-wielding man in Texas shouting at anti-racist protesters, in which he used a racial slur.

Minneapolis mayor jeered after refusing to support abolishing police department

The mayor of Minneapolis ran a gauntlet of angry, jeering protesters on Saturday after telling them he was opposed to their demands for de-funding the city police following George Floyd's fatal encounter with law enforcement. Mayor Jacob Frey, a former civil rights attorney who took office two years ago vowing to repair the police department's strained relations with minorities, was showered with angry chants of "Go home, Jacob, go home," and "Shame, shame," as he stalked away through the crowd, head bowed.

U.S. protesters call to 'Defund the Police.' What would that look like?

Nationwide protests over the Minneapolis police killing of George Floyd, the latest in a long string of high-profile slayings of black men by white officers, have featured a common rallying cry: "Defund the police." The movement predates the current protests and is driven both by anger at the militarized posture of many U.S. police departments and by the recognition they are being called on to confront social ills including addiction, mental illness, and homelessness that, advocates say, could be better addressed by spending on social services and rethinking what behaviors should be considered crimes.

New York City mayor ends 8 p.m. curfew a day early

New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio ended a nightly curfew on Sunday, a day earlier than he had planned. The curfew ran from 8 p.m. to 5 a.m. most nights and was put in place last Monday by de Blasio and New York Governor Andrew Cuomo amid protests against police brutality and intermittent looting.

Trump wanted to deploy 10,000 troops in Washington D.C., official says

U.S. President Donald Trump told his advisors at one point this past week he wanted 10,000 troops to deploy to the Washington D.C. area to halt civil unrest over the killing of a black man by Minneapolis police, according to a senior U.S. official. The account of Trump's demand during a heated Oval Office conversation on Monday shows how close the president may have come to fulfilling his threat to deploy active-duty troops, despite opposition from Pentagon leadership.