JUDY WOODRUFF: Good evening.

I'm Judy Woodruff.

On the "NewsHour" tonight: matters of justice.

Whistle-blowers testify about the increasing politicization of the Justice Department, charging preferential treatment for associates of the president.

Then: roadblock to reform.

The Senate fails to agree on a police reform bill, despite nationwide momentum.

I ask Republican Senator James Lankford about why the parties could not come together.

Plus: essential work.

Employees at meat processing plants face the pressures of returning to work, despite documented risks from COVID-19.

RAFAEL, Former JBS Employee (through translator): They told the workers not to worry, everything was OK. To be honest, they were not prepared at all.

Nothing was OK. That's where many became scared, and it was kind of you either work or you don't eat situation.

JUDY WOODRUFF: All that and more on tonight's "PBS NewsHour."

(BREAK) JUDY WOODRUFF: U.S. Attorney General William Barr is under new fire tonight over claims that he puts politics before justice.

Democrats renewed the charge at a congressional hearing today.

A federal prosecutor testified that superiors pushed a lesser sentence for an ally of President Trump.

We will get all the details after the news summary.

A federal appeals court has ordered criminal charges dismissed against former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn.

Today's 2-1 ruling endorsed a Justice Department motion.

The trial judge had refused to drop the case, pending a review.

Flynn admitted lying to the FBI, and then asked to withdraw his plea.

Democrats in the U.S. Senate today blocked a Republican bill on policing practices.

It would increase incentives to ban choke holds and restrict no-knock warrants.

But Democrats want stronger mandates.

Ahead of the vote, each side accused the other of bad faith.

SEN. MITCH MCCONNELL (R-KY): No final legislation can pass without 60 votes.

If Democrats don't like the final product, it won't pass.

The only way there's any downside for Democrats to come to the table is that they would rather preserve this urgent subject as a live campaign issue than pass a bipartisan answer.

SEN. CHUCK SCHUMER (D-NY): Who is a better guardian of civil rights of African-American when it comes to police reform?

The NAACP or Mitch McConnell?

If this bill were such a good path to reform, why wouldn't civil rights organizations from one end of America to another say, go forward, maybe we will get something done?

Because they know the bill is a ruse, and nothing will get done.

JUDY WOODRUFF: The House of Representatives votes tomorrow on a more expansive Democratic bill.

The governor of Wisconsin has activated the National Guard after violent protests at the state capitol overnight.

A state senator was beaten up in the melee.

Crowds tore down statues honoring an anti-slavery leader and women's rights, and they vandalized a number of buildings.

Meanwhile, three white men in Georgia were indicted for murder today in the killing of Ahmaud Arbery last February.

And Louisville, Kentucky, has fired a white officer who fatally shot Breonna Taylor during a no-knock raid in March.

Health officials are warning that a surge in COVID-19 cases could swamp hospitals in the Sunbelt.

That follows word of nearly 35,000 new infections nationwide over 24 hours.

That is the most since April.

And, today, New York, Connecticut and New Jersey announced visitors that from nine high-risk states will have to self-quarantine for 14 days.

GOV.

PHIL MURPHY (D-NJ): This is a smart thing to do.

We have taken our people, the three of us, these three states, through hell and back.

And the last thing we need to do right now is to subject our folks to another round.

JUDY WOODRUFF: Meanwhile, federal funding for 13 community-based testing sites will end this month.

They were aimed mainly at poor and minority areas.

Federal officials said that many other testing sites are still available.

The spike in COVID cases pushed Wall Street's major indexes down more than 2 percent.

The Dow Jones industrial average lost 710 points to close at 25446.

The Nasdaq fell 222 points, and the S&P 500 dropped 81.

The U.S. Senate approved President Trump's 200th judicial nominee today.

Majority Republicans elevated a Mississippi judge to a federal appeals court, as Democrats criticized his record on voting rights.

Republicans say that all appeals court vacancies are now filled for the first time in at least 40 years.

They're still counting votes after a flood of mail-in ballots in Tuesday's primaries.

Among the major undecided races, Kentucky Democrats Amy McGrath and Charles Booker are competing to challenge Republican Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell.

And in New York, Jamaal Bowman is seeking to oust fellow Democrat Eliot Engel, who chairs the House -- U.S. House Foreign Affairs Committee.

Pharmaceutical giant Bayer will pay as much as $10.9 billion to settle lawsuits over the weed-killer Roundup.

Thousands of plaintiffs have alleged that it causes cancer.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency says that it is safe when used as directed.

Roundup is made by Bayer's subsidiary Monsanto.

And NASA is renaming its headquarters in Washington after Mary Jackson.

She was the first black female engineer at the space agency.

Her worked helped to launch the original astronauts and was featured in the book and the movie "Hidden Figures."

Mary Jackson died in 2005.

Still to come on the "NewsHour": whistle-blowers testify about the increasing politicization of the Justice Department; questions arise about NATO's future, as the president looks to move U.S. troops out of Germany; employees at meat processing plants face the risks of COVID-19; and much more.

In Washington today, the House Judiciary Committee heard new allegations of abuse from within the Justice Department.

That came from the very top.

Lisa Desjardins has the story.

LISA DESJARDINS: On Capitol Hill, a hearing on whether the agency which enforces the law is itself breaking it.

Two current Justice Department attorneys charged that DOJ leaders, including Attorney General William Barr, ordered some investigations and tried to weaken others for political reasons.

AARON ZELINSKY, Former Roger Stone Prosecutor: Roger Stone was treated differently because of politics.

LISA DESJARDINS: Including pushing for a more lenient sentence for Roger Stone, a close ally of President Trump's.

Aaron Zelinsky, the lead DOJ prosecutor in that case, said he was told to back off a tougher sentence recommendation for Stone.

He ultimately quit over the handling.

AARON ZELINSKY: The acting U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia was receiving heavy pressure from the highest levels of the Department of Justice, and that his instructions to us were based on political considerations.

And I was told that the acting U.S. attorney was giving Stone a break because he was afraid of the president of the United States.

LISA DESJARDINS: For Stone, Zelinsky had recommended seven to nine years.

Ultimately, a judge disagreed, sentencing Stone to three years in prison.

Former Attorney General Michael Mukasey, who served under former President George W. Bush, said the DOJ and Barr operated with integrity.

MICHAEL MUKASEY, Former U.S. Attorney General: The Justice Department is not politicized because senior officials disagreed with the sentencing recommendations for Mr. Stone.

Prosecutors are supposed to seek justice, not to play the sentencing guidelines like some sort of pinball machine to see how many times they can ring the bell.

LISA DESJARDINS: The hearing also comes just days after Barr and Mr. Trump ousted Geoffrey Berman, the top prosecutor in Manhattan.

Judiciary's Democratic chairman, Jerry Nadler of New York, said that's part of a clear and dangerous pattern.

REP. JERROLD NADLER (D-NY): Mr. Barr's actions make clear that, in his Department of Justice, the president's allies get special treatment.

The president's enemies, real and imagined, are targeted for extra scrutiny.

LISA DESJARDINS: Also alleging misuse of power today, John Elias, a lawyer in DOJ's antitrust office.

He said Barr forced unusual and unwarranted reviews of marijuana companies.

JOHN ELIAS, Department of Justice Attorney: In response to staff concerns about these investigations, the head of the Antitrust Division, Assistant Attorney General Delrahim, acknowledged at an all-staff meeting that the cannabis industry is -- quote -- "unpopular on the fifth floor" -- unquote -- referring to A.G. Barr's offices at DOJ headquarters.

LISA DESJARDINS: Republicans on the committee pushed back, defending Barr as fixing previous problems of anti-conservative bias.

REP. STEVE CHABOT (R-OH): He's cleaning up the mess of the previous administration and restoring integrity and honor to the DOJ and the FBI.

REP. JIM JORDAN (R-OH): I mean, they're not political.

They're just right.

LISA DESJARDINS: Amidst it all, bubbling tensions, with Republicans objecting to how Nadler ran the hearing, a preview of a bigger hearing yet to come.

Attorney General Barr is expected to testify at the end of next month.

For more on today's hearing and the dismissal of criminal charges against Michael Flynn, I'm joined by Carrie Johnson, justice correspondent for NPR.

Carrie, let's just start with the hearing.

We heard these attorneys allege that Barr used DOJ's power for political reasons.

How unusual is testimony like this?

CARRIE JOHNSON, NPR: It is extremely unusual for prosecutors at this level in the Justice Department to be testifying at all, let alone when some of these matters are still ongoing, Lisa.

In the last 20 years, I feel like it's happened only one time.

So it was remarkable on that basis alone.

But the substance of their testimony was also pretty startling to people who have covered the Justice Department and worked there for many years too.

LISA DESJARDINS: This came the same day, of course, as a federal appeals court ruled with Barr and DOJ to drop charges in the Michael Flynn case.

Conservatives say that ruling proves their point about DOJ bias, but what do you think?

Is this a unique case, or is there something more to say about that ruling regarding Michael Flynn today?

CARRIE JOHNSON: Well, the Trump administration, both the White House and the Justice Department, called it a significant victory.

Nothing about this case has been normal from the beginning.

It started, of course, with the outgoing administration and FBI interviewing the new president's incoming national security adviser in the White House itself.

Remember, Michael Flynn pleaded guilty twice to making false statements.

But when he got a new lawyer, he reconsidered, wanted to reopen the case.

And these new brass over at the Justice Department, led by Bill Barr, sided with Michael Flynn, citing legal deficiencies in the case.

The federal judge who was hearing that case had some concerns about it.

And Mike Flynn appealed to the higher court.

Now the higher court has actually sided with Michael Flynn, and basically ordered the lower court judge to take that case and throw it out for good.

LISA DESJARDINS: I want to ask a bigger question here.

We essentially through all of this, Carrie, have both political parties accusing different parts of the Justice Department of having political bias.

What is your sense of what's happening in the agency?

Is there a chance that people are becoming more political in this political time?

Or is that just something politicians are saying?

CARRIE JOHNSON: Well, depending on a change in administration, parts of the Justice Department often change, right?

Different administrations have priorities about civil rights and environment and other matters.

But the kinds of issues that have been cropping up of late, with the dismissal of the U.S. attorney Geoffrey Berman in New York over the weekend, and the pattern of reinvestigating cases initially investigated and charged by the special counsel Robert Mueller, does seem to be unusual.

And we are seeing not just sitting prosecutors going to Congress and testifying, but a lot of former prosecutors signing letters.

That said, Bill Barr very much has in his corner the former Attorney General Michael Mukasey, who testified on his behalf today and said, the Justice Department is fortunate to have Bill Barr at the helm.

I think morale inside the building is pretty rough right now.

And I don't know whether we're going to see more departures in advance of the election.

We have seen some of the appointees from President Trump announce they're leaving in the coming days and weeks.

LISA DESJARDINS: Briefly, I wanted to ask about the election.

That came up at the hearing.

Of course, DOJ has very key responsibilities in overseeing and protecting the election.

What has Barr said so far about what he's going to do?

And what has he said about some people raising concerns that he may be biased in this election?

CARRIE JOHNSON: Barr is basically outraged at the way the Obama administration handled the Mike Flynn investigation and a set of surveillance issues in 2016.

And earlier this year, the attorney general, Bill Barr, basically said, in order to open an investigation at the FBI that concerns election-related issues or figures, you need the approval of the attorney general, Bill Barr.

So we're getting to that time in the year where we're close to the political conventions and ultimately the election.

And Bill Barr has positioned himself as the decider about opening investigations.

We're going to see, I think in the next six weeks or so, whether any politically sensitive matters do get charged.

If they don't get charged by then, I expect to see any of that action happen either after the election or never.

LISA DESJARDINS: Carrie Johnson of NPR, thank you so much.

CARRIE JOHNSON: Thank you.

JUDY WOODRUFF: Today, President Trump hosted Poland's president, the first head of state visit since the pandemic began.

The Eastern European leader arrived at the White House as President Trump confirmed plans to reduce the number of troops in longtime ally Germany, a decision that has sparked bipartisan resistance.

Nick Schifrin has the story.

NICK SCHIFRIN: Today, the man who labels himself the law and order president hosted the candidate from the Law and Justice Party.

And the bromance between President Trump and Polish President Andrzej Duda is between like-minded leaders.

DONALD TRUMP, President of the United States: I do believe he has an election coming up, and I do believe he will be very successful.

NICK SCHIFRIN: Back home, Duda is playing his Trump card for his right-wing base four days before a tight election.

He's argued LGBT rights are worse than communism.

The E.U.

and Freedom House accuse him of eroding Poland's rule of law.

ANGELA STENT, Author, "Putin's World": This is a Polish president who has rolled back democracy and the rule of law in Poland, who is running an increasingly authoritarian state.

NICK SCHIFRIN: Angela Stent is a former State Department official and intelligence officer now at Georgetown's Center for Eurasian, Russian and East European Studies.

ANGELA STENT: He believes that, by coming to the United States and showing his population that President Trump values him as an ally, he can get -- deliver a U.S. commitment to Poland again to protect Poland against potential Russian threats.

NICK SCHIFRIN: For years, the U.S. has been conducting live-fire exercises in Poland to deter neighboring Russia.

There are now 4,400 American soldiers in Poland.

Today, President Trump said that number would increase.

These exercises that I visited were led by then Lieutenant General Ben Hodges.

LT. GEN. BEN HODGES (RET.

), U.S. Army: That is a powerful capability that will be very effective at help changing the calculus for Russia.

NICK SCHIFRIN: Hodges began his military career, back when communist Poland was the largest country in the Eastern Bloc.

As a lieutenant, Hodges deployed to Western Germany, one of 300,000 service members faced off with the Soviet Union.

Today, there are 35,000 troops in Germany.

Until late 2017, Hodges commanded U.S. Army Europe.

He's now at the Center for European Policy Analysis.

LT. GEN. BEN HODGES: The presence of U.S. troops in Germany benefits the United States.

Germany gives us a forward station presence that allows us to carry out our national defense strategy and to conduct operations in Africa, the Middle East, as well as all over Europe.

NICK SCHIFRIN: But President Trump wants to cut the total number of U.S. troops deployed to Germany by a third, and the number of troops who can travel through Germany in half.

DONALD TRUMP: I said, let's get it down from 50,000 to 25,000, because they're delinquent.

NICK SCHIFRIN: U.S. officials are frustrated that Germany spends 1.3 percent of its GDP on defense, below the promised 2 percent, and is resisting U.S. efforts to cancel an $11 billion pipeline with Russia.

DONALD TRUMP: They pay the country we're supposed to protect them from.

They pay billions of dollars to that country.

We're supposed to protect them.

Excuse me.

How does that work?

NICK SCHIFRIN: But the Germany reduction in forces was met with withering bipartisan opposition.

Congressional officials were not consulted.

The House Armed Services Committee's most senior Republican, Mac Thornberry, wrote, it could leave behind "a fractured, more dangerous, less stable world."

And the House Foreign Affairs' most senior Republican, Mike McCaul, and other committee Republicans wrote to President Trump: "The withdrawal of thousands of troops from Germany will place U.S. national security at risk."

LT. GEN. BEN HODGES: A 30 percent reduction of what's there now would seriously limit our ability to contribute to NATO, to -- as well as to conduct the operations we need to around this half of the world.

NICK SCHIFRIN: German and NATO officials have said they weren't consulted either.

And some military officials say the same.

LT. GEN. BEN HODGES: I spoke to people from Army headquarters, Air Force headquarters and at NATO and at U.S. European Command.

They all were caught completely flat-footed.

ANGELA STENT: This is really not how the United States should be conducting its foreign policy, and particularly on such a sensitive issue, with what was, at least once, one of its key allies in Europe.

NICK SCHIFRIN: But those who advocate a more restrained U.S. foreign policy see an opportunity.

COL. ANDREW J. BACEVICH (RET.

), Quincy Institute For Responsible Statecraft: The argument that somehow we need to be in Europe so that we can be intervening elsewhere, for example, in the Middle East or in Afghanistan, sort of begs the larger question of whether or not we should be intervening in the Middle East and whether we should be continuing to fight a war in Afghanistan.

NICK SCHIFRIN: Andy Bacevich is a historian, retired colonel and former West Point professor.

He is now president of the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft.

COL. ANDY BACEVICH: This interventionist impulse, which has been really the defining feature of U.S. national security policy since the end of the Cold War, simply has not delivered the goods.

I think pulling out of Europe, ending our security commitment should be one part of rethinking our overall security posture.

NICK SCHIFRIN: Today, President Trump said the number of troops in Germany would go down, with some going to Poland, which does meet the 2 percent goal.

DONALD TRUMP: We're going to be reducing our forces in Germany.

Some will be coming home, and some will be going to other places, but Poland would be one of those other places, other places in Europe.

NICK SCHIFRIN: But Duda worried a reduction in Germany, would send the wrong signal to Russia.

ANDRZEJ DUDA, Polish President (through translator): I do not deny that I requested the president that he not withdraw U.S. forces from Europe.

NICK SCHIFRIN: Stent worries that a move to Poland could antagonize Russia.

She's the author of "Putin's World."

ANGELA STENT: We shouldn't be needlessly provocative.

And it's not clear that moving U.S. troops to Poland is any more in the U.S. national interest than keeping them in Germany.

NICK SCHIFRIN: Congress is debating whether to block the move out of Germany.

But the Pentagon is already working on options to remove troops from a historic ally in Western Europe, and increase them in its Eastern European neighbor.

For the "PBS NewsHour," I'm Nick Schifrin.

JUDY WOODRUFF: It has been nearly six weeks since production resumed in most meatpacking plants across the country.

Many were shut down amid coronavirus outbreaks.

More than 27,000 workers have become infected, and 99 have died.

In late April, President Trump ordered plants to reopen or remain open, calling them critical infrastructure to preserve the nation's meat supply.

Special correspondent Fred de Sam Lazaro returns to one community in Minnesota where a pork processing plant is back online.

FRED DE SAM LAZARO: Here in the Fabled Valley, the Jolly Green Giant stands tall and now even masked, but it's actually pork, not peas, that reigns.

The huge meat processing plants are now nearly back at full capacity.

But things are not exactly jolly.

WOMAN (through translator): We're still going to have to keep working in fear, but we know that we need to continue working.

We have no option.

FRED DE SAM LAZARO: In Worthington, Minnesota, population 13,000, the JBS factory was shuttered by a COVID outbreak that sickened hundreds of its 2,100 employees.

The effect was felt across this region, mostly at first among hog farmers in late April.

Hundreds of thousands of their animals had to be euthanized.

DAVID BULLERMAN, Son-D-Farms: It's devastating.

I'd like President Trump to invoke the Defense Production Act of 1950.

We need to get these plants open today.

FRED DE SAM LAZARO: Echoing farmer Dave Bullerman's plea, industry executives warned, the nation's meat supply was threatened, a claim some analysts now say was exaggerated, noting that, in April, there were record pork exports to China.

DONALD TRUMP, President of the United States: I should be signing that over the next hour or so.

FRED DE SAM LAZARO: But, on April 28, President Trump did order meatpacking plants to reopen and remain open, declaring them critical infrastructure.

DONALD TRUMP: Taking the liability, which frees up the entire system.

FRED DE SAM LAZARO: The president said his move shielded companies from liability if their workers got sick.

Back in Worthington, community organizer Jessica Velasco says the plight of workers never seemed a priority.

JESSICA VELASCO, Navigate Unidos Minnesota: Folks started talking about the hog farms that were losing money.

The bigger issue than was them euthanizing all those poor hogs.

The conversation should have been, how can we support both the JBS employees and the hog producers?

FRED DE SAM LAZARO: She says the employees, predominantly refugees and immigrants, remain largely invisible and fearful.

She says many lost trust in the company because of the way it acted as more and more workers fell ill, leading the plant to shut down.

Rafael, like all workers we spoke with, asked to remain ANONYMOUS.

RAFAEL, Former JBS Employee (through translator): They told the workers not to worry, everything was OK. To be honest, they were not prepared at all.

Nothing was OK. That's where many became scared, and it was kind of you either work or you don't eat situation.

FRED DE SAM LAZARO: Rafael says he decided to quit because of a health condition that leaves them vulnerable to COVID.

These three workers returned.

MAN (through translator): Everyone feels scared.

Everyone feels like we do here.

FRED DE SAM LAZARO: JBS declined our request for an on-camera interview.

It did send a video -- parts of it time-lapsed -- of improvements made at another plant in Greeley, Colorado, where several workers died.

JBS has put some older COVID-vulnerable workers on paid furlough, and, among other steps, now requires employees to wear masks and face shields.

And it installed barriers between workstations.

Workers told us it feels safer, but not safe.

STEVEN, JBS Employee: Personally, I think that they should make it mandatory for employees to get tested, so that we know who has it and who does not.

FRED DE SAM LAZARO: The company says it tests employees who show symptoms and takes employees' temperature when they arrive.

That's no comfort to Anna, who survived a painful COVID infection just before the plant closed.

ANNA, JBS Employee (through translator): They took mine, but it never showed a temperature.

But I was already very sick.

I didn't show the symptoms.

FRED DE SAM LAZARO: Most people like her have no choice but to return to work, she says.

ANNA (through translator): We have family that we need to raise.

We don't have savings so we could just stay home.

FRED DE SAM LAZARO: Meatpacking has long attracted new immigrants who have few options.

It is an intensely tough environment, as even this JBS job posting seems to warn, standing 10 hours a day, doing repetitive tasks in very high temperatures or very low temperatures, with unpleasant odors.

It's something labor historian Peter Rachleff says most Americans avoid.

PETER RACHLEFF, Labor Historian: The work force in meatpacking has almost always been people who are within one generation of having lived in agriculture, people who are able to work in that kind of blood and guts kind of environment.

REV.

JAMES CALLAHAN, St. Mary's Catholic Church: If it was not for the immigrant community, this community would just fold up and die.

FRED DE SAM LAZARO: Father James Callahan says immigrants sustain much of Worthington's economy today, but he says this small town is not immune to the rancorous immigration debate, recalling comments he's heard since the pandemic began.

REV.

JAMES CALLAHAN: Blaming the immigrant community for the spread of the virus, blaming people from the Asian communities for carrying it, I mean, a woman who said to me she was never going to eat in a Chinese restaurant again.

I mean, how absurd is that?

FRED DE SAM LAZARO: Are you finding a lot of that?

REV.

JAMES CALLAHAN: Not a lot, but enough where it becomes disturbing.

FRED DE SAM LAZARO: He worries that meatpacking plants in Minnesota and elsewhere continue to see coronavirus spikes.

So far, Father Callahan has presided over funerals in three-COVID related deaths of JBS workers, two of them since the plant reopened.

For the "PBS NewsHour," this is Fred de Sam Lazaro in Worthington, Minnesota.

JUDY WOODRUFF: As we reported earlier, the Republican version of a police reform bill stalled in the Senate today, after Democrats said it did not go far enough.

To talk about that and what comes next, I'm joined by Senator James Lankford of Oklahoma.

He is one of the Republicans who worked on the bill.

Senator Lankford, welcome back to the "NewsHour."

We have seen protests in thousands of cities and towns across the country after the death of George Floyd, almost all of them calling for police reform.

But when it comes to Washington, it fails.

What happened?

SEN. JAMES LANKFORD (R-OK): It's a great frustration today.

Speaker Pelosi in the House put together a bill that they want to have as police reform.

We pulled together a bill from the Senate side to have police reform.

The Senate rules are very different than the House.

Obviously, the majority in the House can put whatever bill they want to.

It doesn't have to be bipartisan.

In the Senate, it does.

And so the way that we manage that is, before we get on a bill, you have to have 60 votes.

Then you amend it.

Once all the amendments are done, you have another 60 votes to make sure both sides are heard.

And then you actually pass it with 51 votes.

So, today was a procedural vote to say, we brought 15 different items altogether to be able to start the debate.

We want to be able to open it up, open it up for amendments, and to say, let's amend it until we're done.

And then, when we're done, and we all agree that we're done on amending it, then we can move to final passage.

Democrats today said, no, we want to do the Pelosi bill, or not do a bill at all.

And that was the frustration that we had, and the surprise, quite frankly, of Republicans, because we had quite a few items that are in this bill that are very similar to the bill from Speaker Pelosi, things like ending choke holds, increasing dramatically the use of body-worn cameras, increasing transparency, getting additional reporting from all over the country.

So, there's a lot of things that are in it, including additional training and things that are similar.

So, it was a surprise they didn't want to even try to amend it.

JUDY WOODRUFF: Well, several things to pick up on there, Senator.

Senator Kamala Harris called it -- quote -- "crumbs on the table."

Democrats are saying it didn't go far enough in terms of banning choke holds, banning no-knock warrants, that it didn't address this very sensitive issue of qualified immunity.

So, there really was distance between Democrats and Republicans on this, on this legislation.

SEN. JAMES LANKFORD: So, I'd say, about 70 percent of it, we have wide agreement on.

Thirty percent of it, we don't.

But the thing is, in the Senate, you open it up for debate.

There were 20 amendment options that were allowed to say, let's have up to 20 amendments on this.

And they said, no, we don't want to even amend it.

We don't want to discuss it.

We want to only do the one that's in the House.

That's the problem that we dig into on this.

So it's become a political issue, more than anything else.

Quite frankly, we do ban choke holds on it.

We just do it a different way.

Choke holds can only be banned for federal folks, obviously.

Then you have to be able to take funds away in other ways, because we don't have jurisdiction to be able to tell what a local police department can do.

So, we ban one type of funding.

They ban another type of funding on it, but it has the exact same result.

So, it's always seemed odd to me for them to say, you don't ban choke holds, when we certainly do.

We don't get into the issue of qualified immunity.

You're correct.

We want to be able to hold police officers criminally accountable.

If they do something criminal, they end up in prison, just like anyone else who violates a crime.

The whole issue about qualified immunity is, after they have had a criminal offense, then we're also going to go back to their family and to take away their home and to take away their pension away from their family after the police officer is in prison.

We think there's a better way to be able to provide accountability to the police department, where that individual faces criminal penalties on it, but it may not also civilly punish their family as well.

So we just have a disagreement on... (CROSSTALK) SEN. JAMES LANKFORD: ... to solve it.

JUDY WOODRUFF: Excuse me, Senator.

Weren't there -- aren't there Democrats -- Senator Braun of Indiana, for example, says he's prepared to look at this issue qualified immunity.

Senator Lindsey Graham said he's prepared to look at it.

You have other Democrats saying, we're prepared to sit down and negotiate, but we weren't even involved.

We weren't asked to be involved by Republicans when this was drawn up.

SEN. JAMES LANKFORD: Actually, that'd be kind of peculiar, because there was a lot of conversation about this.

We still go back to the same thing.

When Speaker Pelosi pulled together her bill in the House, she certainly didn't include Republicans in that conversation.

We're pulling together a proposal from the Senate, which we actually did have multiple conversations with multiple Democrats in the process, and pulled items from the Democrats' bill from the House as well to be able to include in this one.

So, it ends up being a political game that people get very frustrated with, because, from the outside, it says, why can't we make progress?

Quite frankly, today, we were very frustrated as well, because we blocked off this week and next week to be able to open up the bill to amendments and changes.

And anything that they want to be able to - - excuse me -- anything that they want to be able to add to it or to be able to make changes on, we're welcome to be able to engage in debate it, put it on the floor and let's discuss it.

That's why we blocked off two weeks' time.

But, as of today, they said, no, they don't want to even debate it.

That's the frustrating part to say, there's a lot on the table on body cams and everything else where we have wide agreement on.

Let's at least move on what we can agree on and then keep going.

JUDY WOODRUFF: So, Senator, what do you say to Americans looking at all this and asking, where does this go?

Is it -- is it dead?

SEN. JAMES LANKFORD: I hope it is not.

There was a movement to move to the National Defense Authorization, which is also an important.

That was what was scheduled originally this week and next week.

Speaker McConnell moved that to the end of July.

But since this failed, it just got moved back up again.

That means the next time we can take up this bill is now in the end of July to be able to deal with this.

So, our hope was to have this done by July the Fourth.

The House is coming back into session for a couple days at the end of this month.

We were hoping to be able to get this out, have the House version passed, to be able to conference it, and, before we get to July the Fourth, to be done with this portion of it.

We think the American people want to see progress in this.

And this was the time to do it.

For whatever reason, the Democrats are now saying, as of the end of the day today, they want to go back to committee.

They want to have multiple hearings.

And that delays this process significantly again.

So, not only could we not good debate on the floor on it today.

If they want to go back to committees, then we're now into September before this can move again.

So, the hope is, let's keep everybody talking and moving, but I -- but we can't get everybody to the table or force everyone to the table.

We can just set things on the table and say, let's have that dialogue.

JUDY WOODRUFF: Senator, quickly to a few other important issues.

One is the surging number of COVID cases around the country, especially across the South and the Southwest.

Where does Oklahoma stand right now?

SEN. JAMES LANKFORD: Yes, our cases have increased dramatically in about the last 10 days.

We had about seven or eight weeks of decline, decline, decline, decline every week.

We went through phase one, phase two and phase three, continued to see declines all through that process.

And then the last 10 days, it's popped back up again.

I talked to one of the scientists and medical professionals very early in the process, and they said dealing with a virus like this is like putting both hands on a helium balloon and holding it down.

You know you can hold it down, but, at some point, if you let it go, it's going to rise again.

So, until we get a vaccine, we're going to have to manage this as much as we can.

And I think we will have periods of it, reinforcing to people, wear a mask, continue to do handwashing, continue to keep distancing physically from other people.

We're -- we have got to be able to keep people that are high risk away.

But, in Oklahoma, we have seen our numbers rise, especially among the young.

Our mortality rate has not increased.

Our hospitalization has increased.

But we're still less than 200 hospitalization in the entire state.

So, it's not been a huge increase, like what we have seen in other states.

But we have got to be able to pass this message on, especially to the young.

JUDY WOODRUFF: You say people should wear a mask, and yet, when President Trump held a rally in Tulsa on Saturday night, which you attended, mask wearing was not required.

Are you OK with that?

SEN. JAMES LANKFORD: So, mask wearing is not required in our state right now.

It's recommended.

I did wear a mask Saturday night.

I was at the rally.

There were quite a few folks that were around that were wearing a mask at the rally.

But it's an optional thing.

They were distributed individuals as they came in.

So every individual was given that option to be able to do that.

There's hand sanitizers everywhere.

There were temperature checks as you came in.

So they're trying to monitor it.

Our state also has 80 different testing sites.

And the word was put out early on, if you're planning on attending the rally, you can stop by any one of those 80 testing sites and to be able to get a test before you go as well.

So, people have to take responsibility.

JUDY WOODRUFF: And just finally, Senator, President Trump in the last few days has used the term kung-flu to refer to the COVID virus.

As you know, a lot of people are saying, that's racist.

Are you comfortable with his use of that?

Do you use that term?

SEN. JAMES LANKFORD: I don't use that term.

I also don't see it as racist.

I also see a lot of issues in the world that are a lot bigger when -- than what terms somebody uses to be able to identify this virus.

So, there's a lot of really important, really big issues that we should deal with.

That one, I just think, is a distraction.

JUDY WOODRUFF: Senator James Lankford of Oklahoma, we thank you.

SEN. JAMES LANKFORD: Thank you.

JUDY WOODRUFF: After the pandemic brought spring training to a stop mid-March, Major League Baseball has just announced it will resume with a shortened season next month.

Amna Nawaz reports.

AMNA NAWAZ: That's right Judy.

Baseball is back, with a twist.

The agreement with the league comes after 40 MLB players and staff tested positive for the coronavirus in recent days.

Here's what we know: Players will report to spring training on July 1.

The regular season will start on July 23 or 24.

Instead of the typical 162-game season, teams will play just 60 games.

And the proposed schedule includes mostly divisional play to mitigate team travel.

Beyond baseball, other leagues have made moves to get back to the game.

The 2019-2020 NBA season will restart July 30 in Orlando, Florida.

And the National Hockey League is moving forward with a multitiered plan to restart its 2019-2020 season.

Qualifying rounds for the Stanley Cup tournament kick off July 30.

We explore the many changes in the world of sports now with John Feinstein, a sportswriter and author who follows all of this closely.

And he joins us now.

Welcome back to the "NewsHour," John.

Let's talk first about baseball.

There was a very public volley of proposals and bickering back and forth in baseball between the players and the league.

What were some of the main sticking points there?

And how far does this agreement go to address those concerns?

JOHN FEINSTEIN, Sportswriter/Author: Well, Amna, basically, they never did agree.

They had a tentative agreement in place on March 26.

The owners decided that wasn't good enough.

They wanted the players to take further cuts in their salaries.

And it become a very ugly negotiation on both sides, which finally ended with Major League Baseball commissioner Rob Manfred saying, OK, we're going to go to the agreement of March 26, and only play 60 games.

The players had actually proposed at one point playing 114 games.

The more games there are, the more they get paid.

The owners wanted to play fewer, so they could pay them less.

It's a major issue going forward, because the CBA is up after next season.

But, for right now, because they bickered so much about the money, they still haven't completely figured out how they're going to deal with the virus and testing and what happens when people test positive, which they're going to, and whether they're going to be able to even have a 60-game season, even with empty stadiums.

AMNA NAWAZ: Let me ask you now about basketball too.

The WNBA was supposed to start in mid-May.

They postponed that plan.

As we mentioned, the NBA is moving forward with a restart, fewer teams, though, at a single site.

But there are a lot of concerns from the players, not just about safety, but also that, if they get back to the game now, they're taking attention away from the national protests against police brutality and systemic racism.

What do you make of all those concerns?

Do you see those restart plans moving forward?

JOHN FEINSTEIN: I think the restart plans will move forward, Amna.

There are some players who have said they they're going to opt out.

Natasha Cloud of the world champion Washington Mystics in the WNBA has said she's not going to play because she wants to be involved in what's going on culturally right now.

There are other players who have talked about that.

But they're going to play.

They're going to play in one place.

The NBA will be at Disney World in Orlando, Florida, which is right now in the middle of another outbreak.

And the women are going to play in Bradenton, Florida, at the IMG Academy.

There are going to be shortened seasons, the WNBA only 22 games.

The NBA was almost 90 percent of the way through its season.

And rather than just say, OK, we're going to start with our playoffs, they're going to bring 22 teams, instead of 16, to Orlando, for one reason, Amna.

And that reason is that Zion Williamson would not have been on a team, the New Orleans Pelicans, that qualified for the playoffs.

They want to get him on ESPN as many times as possible.

That's why we're going to see the end of the regular season before they start the playoffs.

AMNA NAWAZ: We should note too every professional league is sort of figuring this out as they go, as is the rest of the country.

If you look at what women's soccer is doing, they're already back to playing.

Men's soccer says they're going to restart soon.

Hockey, as we mentioned, still very much figuring out, taking a much more sort of conservative approach.

The rest of the country has changed, John.

Do you see sports in the U.S. ever being what it was?

JOHN FEINSTEIN: That's a question I don't think any of us can answer yet, Amna, because we don't know how extensive this is going to be.

We're seeing now in a lot of places that states opened up too soon, and the disease is spiking again, Florida notably being one of those states.

I think that it's going to take a long time.

If there is a football season, it's going to be with empty stands.

The NFL makes so much money off of television, they can afford to play without paying spectators, paying ticket -- season ticket holders.

College football.

Do you justify bring students to play -- back to campus to play football, if the rest of your campus isn't open?

That's a question they're all facing right now.

And that's a $4 billion question, because the TV money is so huge in college football.

So, it's one of those deals where, if somebody says to you they know the answers, Amna, either they're a lot smarter than me, or they're lying to you.

Take your pick.

AMNA NAWAZ: A lot we still don't know, and a lot of sports fans out there waiting for those answers as well, of course, at the same time hoping everyone stay safe.

John Feinstein, back with us to talk all things sports, thanks so much for being with us.

JOHN FEINSTEIN: Thanks, Amna.

JUDY WOODRUFF: As the pandemic wears on and protests over racial inequity pick up, young people may be looking to books to learn more and find some distraction from the tough realities of the world.

Jeffrey Brown talks to a leading writer and advocate for young people's literature about how summer reading lists may reflect the times.

The conversation is part of our ongoing arts and culture series, Canvas.

JEFFREY BROWN: As the Library of Congress' ambassador for young people's literature, 36-year-old Jason Reynolds is used to sharing his passion for reading and writing.

JASON REYNOLDS, National Ambassador for Young People's Literature: I know, these days, we look on the Internet for this kind of stuff, but this thing is like the greatest thing ever made.

JEFFREY BROWN: This is one of the regular talks he does on social media for his Write, Right, Rite project.

And in normal, non-pandemic times, he meets often with students around the country.

He's author of 13 books for young people that have sold more than 2.5 million copies.

His most recent, "Look Both Ways: A Tale Told in Ten Blocks," was a National Book Award finalist.

He's also recently co-written "Stamped: Racism, Antiracism, and You," an adaptation for young readers of Ibram Kendi's National Book Award-winning history "Stamped From the Beginning."

I spoke with Jason Reynolds recently at his Washington, D.C., home and began by asking what he looks for in books to understand the world in such unusual and difficult times as these.

JASON REYNOLDS: I mean, I'm always searching for human stories.

I think, ultimately, human beings are human beings' greatest inspirations and greatest influences.

And I recognize that, right now, we're sort of inundated with brilliant pieces of nonfiction, whether it be academic tomes or essay work.

And I think those things are important.

But, for me, I'm seeking empathy.

I'm seeking for something to attach itself to the chemical nature of who I am and change me as a person.

And the best way to do that, for me, is through fiction.

JEFFREY BROWN: Think about young people seeing now the death of George Floyd, the protests going on, all the world kind of exploding around them.

What do you recommend?

JASON REYNOLDS: Number one, there's a book called "Black Imagination," and it's by a woman named Natasha Marin.

It's not technically a book for young people, but I do think young people could gain a lot from it.

It's simply just a collection of notes and moments by people who are not famous, but just saying how they feel about what it means to be black and the beauty of blackness.

There's another book, a collection of short stories that I absolutely love and I'm honored to be a part of called Black Enough."

It was edited by Ibi Zoboi.

I think one of the most important things we can do right now is humanize blackness and humanize culture, right?

I think we -- right now, people are looking at black people as sort of like petri dish specimens.

And the reality is, is that we're just human beings living normal lives.

And that book shines a light on that.

And then I think Eloise Greenfield, "Honey, I Love."

This is for the little kids.

I think this might be one of the best picture books, even though it's sort of a picture book, sort of not, collection of poems for little kids that I -- it's just the best.

The illustrations are beautiful, Eloise Greenfield, "Honey, I Love."

JEFFREY BROWN: All right.

What about the pandemic, which is still with us, which has, for young people, of course, uprooted their lives, just as for the rest of us?

JASON REYNOLDS: You know, there's a book called "Dry" by Neal Shusterman, because I was thinking about this.

What would I want young people to read during the pandemic?

And there aren't a lot of books specifically, at least that I know of, about pandemics for young people.

But "Dry" is an interesting story because it's about what happens when the natural world turns its back, or what happens when we actually start to use up the resources and all of the sudden there is no more water, right?

And so what happens to us as people?

Where do we go?

What kind of nature comes out of us?

Who do we become when we have to fight for natural resources?

And I think a lot of us are up against that right now, because the pandemic has forced us to be up against it in an interesting way.

So, I would suggest that.

And I also would suggest a collection of poems by this brilliant poet named Ilya Kaminsky.

The collection is "Deaf Republic."

Now, again, this isn't necessarily categorized for young people, but I do think that young people can grapple with some of these poems.

The poems are sort of addressing what happens in a world where no one can hear.

And I think, right now, for a lot of us locked in our homes, that's kind of what it feels like.

JEFFREY BROWN: We're coming into summer.

It's the time we think of usually as sort of escape reading.

And I wonder if you can even think about escaping, because of the heavy things that we have just been talking about.

JASON REYNOLDS: I think that there are books that are about escape and that you -- that we can look to, books like Lamar Giles' "The Last Last-Day-of-Summer."

I think it's a brilliant book about young kids who are spending the summer in Virginia and go on sort of a whodunit magical fantasy.

And I think it's important that we allow and create opportunity for young people to escape and to escape into worlds that are not like their own.

I also think there are ways that we can have summer escape books, escapist books, that also sort of bump up against our reality.

So, there are books like "A Song Below Water" by Bethany C. Morrow.

This is a fantasy novel, because I don't think we talk enough about fantasy and sci-fi.

I think we live in a world that is sort of touching fantastic elements and sort of the future of sci-fi and what the world looks like as it constantly changes.

And this book is about sirens, right, this idea of the siren song and about two young women who use the siren song and how they used it to change their community.

It's beautiful and it's brilliant.

And then, lastly, Elizabeth Acevedo's "Clap When You Land."

And this isn't a book that's going to sort of catapult you into some other world, per se, but it is a book that I think is an important read, just because it's about love and family and struggle and reconciliation.

And who doesn't want to read about that?

JEFFREY BROWN: All right, some reading for our time for young people and all of us.

Jason Reynolds, thank you very much.

JASON REYNOLDS: Thank you.

JUDY WOODRUFF: We want to close tonight remembering one of our own, a man at the heart of the "NewsHour" family.

Few people have had as much of an influence on the "NewsHour" as Les Crystal.

Always behind the camera, Les led the way to transforming this program.

He came to us after a 20-year career at NBC, where he served as executive producer of "The Nightly News" and then president of NBC News.

He joined Jim Lehrer and Robin MacNeil in 1983 to expand the half-hour "MacNeil-Lehrer Report" into the "MacNeil-Lehrer NewsHour," the first national nightly newscast to do so.

LES CRYSTAL, Former Executive Producer, "PBS NewsHour": The half-hour had been very successful, but I think the appetite had been there to do more than just a single subject.

JUDY WOODRUFF: The show won countless awards, a Peabody and Emmys, during his tenure.

Les had a deep commitment to public media.

As executive producer of the show, he guided generations of journalists to tell the most important stories.

He was driven to get to the truth and tell stories from across the globe that were often ignored.

To us, he was a great boss, smart, kind and generous with his wisdom and time.

Linda Winslow was the show's deputy executive producer during Les' tenure.

She succeeded him as executive producer.

LINDA WINSLOW, Former Executive Producer, "PBS NewsHour": He had an amazing ability to relate to other people as human beings, not as whatever their job description said they were.

And the entire "NewsHour" staff was one big extended family, as far as Les was concerned.

He shared our joys.

He attended our weddings.

He made our babies smile.

And he mourned our losses.

He was, in a word, a real mensch.

And I'm going to miss him dearly.

JUDY WOODRUFF: A loving husband, father and grandfather, Les helped create the "NewsHour" family.

Together with Jim and Robin, they instilled a passion for getting to the heart of the news that remains the core of the program today.

JEFFREY BROWN: Les was a role model as a journalist, as a leader, most of all as a decent human being.

He took me under his wing long ago, first as a mentor, then as a colleague, and for many years as his friend.

ELIZABETH FARNSWORTH, Former Chief Correspondent, "The NewsHour With Jim Lehrer": How would I describe Les Crystal?

Sweet, calm, supportive, determined.

Les expected the best from us.

And, because of his own kindness and his skill, we wanted to give him the best.

JUDY WOODRUFF: And he was the consummate editor.

PAUL SOLMAN: He was infuriatingly scrupulous, poring over scripts like a medieval scribe.

He could be in the middle of five conversations and phone calls.

He'd take yours, and yours was the only call in the world.

I mean, who loves their boss?

But -- and I'm not exaggerating -- in the case of Les Crystal, everybody did.

JUDY WOODRUFF: Les' demeanor defined his leadership style.

CHARLAYNE HUNTER-GAULT, Special Correspondent, "PBS NewsHour": It's hard to separate the professional Les from the personal, because he was always calm.

He was always a rock of stability, whether it was a stressful time, when we were in a war zone and he was giving us instructions, or whether we were just sitting and chatting.

He was always the same: strong, rock of stability and just wonderful.

JUDY WOODRUFF: When Les stepped down as executive producer, he took on the role of president of MacNeil/Lehrer Productions.

In this job, and even after officially retiring, he devoted his life to ensuring the financial backbone to keep the "NewsHour" strong.

He was a dear friend to me and everyone he touched at the "NewsHour."

Les Crystal died after a long struggle with brain cancer and then pneumonia.

He was 85 years old.

It's hard to say goodbye to him.

We are overwhelmed with memories today.

And to Toby, Les' wife, to his three children, Brad, Alan and Liz, and his grandchildren, we send all of our love.

The "NewsHour" wouldn't have become the "NewsHour" without Les Crystal.

I'm Judy Woodruff.

Join us online and again here tomorrow evening.

For all of us at the "PBS NewsHour," thank you, please stay safe, and we'll see you soon.