June 4, 2020 - PBS NewsHour full episode

Mayor Muriel Bowser said on Thursday that she thinks “there is a legal question” about President Trump’s ability to call out-of-state National Guard into the District of Columbia. Bowser joins Judy Woodruff to discuss how the city has seen protests at the White House swell “ever since peaceful protesters were forcibly moved” and how she sees the federal government encroaching on D.C.’s autonomy.

President Trump's talk of using military force on people protesting police brutality against black Americans has generated a backlash among a number of former senior military officers. Nick Schifrin gets perspective from retired Army Gen. Carter Ham on why these officials, as well as some who are currently serving, are wary of sending active-duty troops into the United States.

In our news wrap Thursday, Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam announced that the statue will be removed from Richmond's well-known "Monument Avenue," and said that the state can no longer showcase a cause that sought to preserve slavery. Also, business closings and cutbacks during the COVID-19 pandemic have claimed another 1.9 million jobs, according to the latest jobs report.

Thousands of people turned out in Hong Kong to commemorate the 31st anniversary of the brutal crackdown in Beijing's Tiananmen Square, defying a ban demonstrating during the pandemic. Their aim? To rally against China's moves to impose its legal will in the semi-autonomous region with a strict new national security law. Special correspondent Divya Gopalan reports.

Fears of the coronavirus pandemic and the sharp shifts by companies to allow employees to work from home could devastate the nation’s office skyscrapers, some economists say. But real estate moguls say the office as we know it isn't dead yet. Economics correspondent Paul Solman explores how uncertainty is affecting the market.

Long lines to enter stores. Anxiety about finding food on the shelves. Boarded up businesses and barren streets. Journalist and author Dawn Turner says this pandemic has afforded everyone the chance to understand what people who live in poor communities faced long before COVID-19. Turner offers her humble opinion on why we all need to make a connection between the pandemic and the protests.

In New York City, protesters were largely peaceful on Wednesday, but as nighttime fell, police in riot gear moved in to enforce a curfew -- sometimes by force. The NewsHour’s Daniel Bush talks with Judy Woodruff about what protesters there are saying about why they are out in the streets and how leaders there are approaching the demonstrations.