Writer: Jessica McKenzie

Former Defense Secretary James Mattis publicly denounced President Trump over misusing military and police to clear protesters so he could do a Bible photo op at St. John's Episcopal Church a block from the White House. Now, the American Civil Liberties Union and Black Lives Matter D.C. have filed a lawsuit over the incident.

Outraged by the death of George Floyd in police custody in Minneapolis, vast numbers of demonstrators there and across the country have mounted daily demonstrations to protest police brutality. While the vast majority of protests have been peaceful, at least eight people have died, and after most demonstrators have gone home for the day, nighttime looters have destroyed scores of businesses.

Covid-19 deaths in the U.S. passed 100,000 this week, and stand at about 102,000. Although the death rate appears to be slowing, the CDC now projects the toll to top 123,000 by June 20.

With U.S. deaths from Covid-19 nearing 100,000, the toll has been greater in politically blue counties than in red, exacerbating differences in policy and ideology as political leaders chart a path to reopening the country. But with cases surging in some red counties across the country, the pattern may be changing.

Woulda Coulda Shoulda: The U.S. could have averted some 36,000 deaths from coronavirus if cities and states had instituted social distancing or stay-at-home orders a week earlier in March, according to estimate. Some 54,000 deaths could have been avoided had social distancing begun two weeks earlier on March 1.

After suspending U.S. support for the World Health Organization in April, President Trump now is threatening to cut off funds permanently and to end U.S. membership in the organization, which he has accused of a pro-China bias. Trump has blamed China and the WHO for not doing enough to prevent the global spread of the coronavirus, but critics accuse him of seeking to distract Americans from the high U.S. death toll.

The coronavirus has sickened more than 1.4 million people in the U.S. and killed more than 86,000. The number of new infections is increasing in three states, dropping in 23 states, and staying about the same everywhere else.

As the U.S. coronavirus death toll passed 81,000, the government's top immunologist Dr. Anthony Fauci told a Senate panel that reopening the country too soon could lead to ''needless suffering and death,'' and set back "our quest to return to normal.” Yet on Monday, the President declared at a Rose Garden press conference: “We have met the moment and we have prevailed.”

Unemployment hit 14.7 percent in April, a rate not seen since the Great Depression. The unemployment rate for black workers is even higher, at 16.7 percent. Some analysts said these numbers are still an undercount. With many businesses reopening and employees return to work, many are fearful about contracting Covid-19.

A key model now projects the U.S. toll from coronavirus to reach nearly 135,000 deaths by early August, saying that's due partly to ''changes in mobility and social distancing policies'' as states relax stay-at-home orders and allow non-essential businesses to reopen.