June 16 Black Lives Matter protest news

Martin Gugino, the 75-year-old protester who was pushed to the ground by two Buffalo, New York police officers earlier this month, has a fractured skull and is not able to walk, his lawyer said in a statement provided to CNN Monday evening.

CNN has not been able to speak with Gugino directly, but in her press statement, Zarcone passed along a message from the senior protester: “I think it’s very unnecessary to focus on me. There are plenty of other things to think about besides me.”

Gugino is focused on getting better and he remains in the rehabilitation, Zarcone tells CNN Tuesday afternoon.

“Barring something unusual and unforeseen, I don't expect much change at all this week,” she said.

Watch here:

President Trump signed an executive order today for police reform that he says will encourage police departments nationwide to adopt the "highest professional standards to serve their communities."

This measure, however, comes after past efforts in his administration to scale back programs to reform police departments.

In September 2017, the Justice Department, then led by Jeff Sessions, announced that it was significantly scaling back a program created during the Obama administration to help reform police departments after controversial incidents such as police-involved shootings. Read more about that move here.

WATCH:

Speaking before signing an executive order on police reform, President Trump touted black unemployment rates.

Some context: Earlier this month, Trump invoked George Floyd's memory to tout the jobs report, which showed a drop in overall unemployment — but also highlighted lingering racial disparities in the US economy.

"Hopefully, George is looking down right now and saying, 'There's a great thing that's happening for our country,'" Trump said on Friday. "There's a great day for him. It's a great day for everybody. There's a great day for everybody. This is a great, great day in terms of equality."

Facts First: Trump's comment about "equality" is out of sync with reality — the jobs report says white unemployment dropped, but black unemployment ticked up slightly, and was already at a disproportionately high level. As for Trump's comments regarding Floyd having a "great day," activists and pundits have already begun weighing in on the wisdom and propriety of that comment. Floyd died on May 25, killed in police custody in what has been ruled a homicide.

Read the full fact check here.

President Trump said he just held a meeting with several families of black Americans who have been killed by police.

Relatives of Botham Jean, Antwon Rose, Jemel Roberson, Atatiana Jefferson, Michael Dean, Darius Tarver and Cameron Lamb and Everett Palmer were all in attendance he said.

Relatives of Ahmaud Arbery, who was fatally shot  in a neighborhood outside Brunswick, Georgia, were also at the White House, Trump said.

President Trump said he will be signing an executive order that encourages "police departments nationwide to adopt the highest professional standards to serve their communities."

"These standards will be as high and as strong as there is on Earth," Trump said. "The vast majority of police officers are self-less and courageous public servants and they are great men and women."

The President then went on to defend police officers.

"Nobody needs a strong trustworthy police force more than those who live in distressed areas and no one is more opposed to the small number of bad police officers — and you have them — they are very tiny. I use the word tiny. It's a very small percentage, but you have them. But nobody wants to get rid of them more than the overwhelming number of really good and great police officers," Trump said.

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President Trump is about to sign an executive order on police reform in the White House's Rose Garden.

The following individuals were expected to attend, according to the White House:

The White House

The Trump administration

Members of Congress

Other attendees

President Trump said that he "strongly" opposes efforts to defund or dismantle police departments during his Rose Garden announcement of a new executive order on policing.

He called those efforts "radical."

WATCH:

President Trump is expected to soon sign a modest police reform order.

The executive order is expected to establish a national certification system for law enforcement agencies and a database to better track excessive uses of force by police officers nationwide, a source familiar with the matter told CNN.

The key provisions in a current draft of the executive order included modest directives with broad-based support intended to encourage higher standards among police departments while leaving the prospect of more significant police reform to Congress.

A source briefed on the text of the order said it is relatively muted when it comes to sweeping police reforms that have been discussed by members of both parties recently. The order mainly leans on lawmakers to do the heavy lifting, as the President has privately expressed caution about alienating police officers by going too far.

Remember: Trump has yet to comprehensively address issues of police reform or even acknowledge systemic racism in America and has not been heavily involved in drafting the executive order. Instead, the President has directed his energy on delivering a tough-talking law-and-order message and falsely portraying peaceful protesters as mostly violent.

Meanwhile, on Capitol Hill: Democrats and Republicans on Capitol Hill are working to advance two competing bills, with the Democratic legislation going further in several respects by banning chokeholds and no-knock warrants. White House officials have been coordinating with South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott, the sole black Republican senator, who is spearheading the GOP's legislative effort.

Breonna Taylor family attorney Sam Aguiar released a strongly worded statement Tuesday morning saying that all of Taylor’s family has been asking from the Louisville Metro Police Department (LMPD) is for them to “Tell Us the Truth.”

Taylor was killed in March after officers forced their way inside her home and exchanged shots with her boyfriend, according to a lawsuit filed by her mother. The officers were executing a search warrant in a narcotics investigation, the Louisville Metro Police Department has said, when they entered Taylor's apartment just before 1 a.m. on March 13.

Aguiar points out that LMPD has denied the family’s repeated open records requests and that open records requests filed into the matter are being denied pending an appeal with the attorney general’s office.

Aguiar says that last Friday marked the deadline for the Louisville Metro Coroner’s Office to produce an autopsy in regards to Taylor’s death and the deadline for the mayor to produce all of his communications in regards to the investigation surrounding Taylor’s death.

Aguiar accuses the mayor’s office of providing all requested information regarding Taylor’s death investigation to counsel for the city and withheld it from Taylor’s family legal representation.

Aguiar continues by calling these actions taken by mayor Greg Fischer’s office “above the law” and says they’ve gone on far too long in this administration, “contrary to the mayor’s office’s beliefs, the city is not exempt from the rules governing our justice system.” 

The attorney says that Louisville ignored the Taylor’s family’s requests for an independent investigation and “only succumbed after national outrage and urging” by Gov. Andy Beshear.

Aguiar ends the statement by saying Taylor’s mother, Tamika, “deserves the truth” and that “the city deserves the truth.”

CNN has reached out to city of Louisville officials, Louisville Metro Police for comment and the Kentucky Attorney General’s office for comment.