Reuters US Domestic News Summary

The CDC reported its tally of cases of the respiratory illness known as COVID-19, caused by a new coronavirus, as of 4 p.m. ET on Oct. 14 compared with its previous report a day earlier.(https://bit.ly/3j622Lw) Trump ex-fundraiser to plead guilty in 1MDB foreign lobbying case A former fundraiser for U.S. President Donald Trump is expected to plead guilty next week to charges of illegally lobbying Trump to drop an investigation into a massive Malaysian embezzlement scandal, according to court documents filed Thursday.

Following is a summary of current US domestic news briefs. U.S. gun sales soar amid pandemic, social unrest, election fears

Andreyah Garland, a 44-year-old single mother of three daughters, bought a shotgun in May for protection in the quaint middle-class town of Fishkill, New York. She joined a new and fast-growing local gun club to learn how to shoot. She has since applied for a pistol permit and constantly hunts for increasingly scarce ammunition – making three trips weekly to a local Walmart. “They’re always out,” she said. Black U.S. House candidate in Indiana says she's being harassed, intimidated

The candidate running against U.S. Vice President Mike Pence's brother for a congressional seat in Indiana said on Thursday that people had made repeated threats and attempted to intimidate her and her campaign staff. "It's a shame ... that we are at this point in time in our country and in our state," said Jeannine Lee Lake, a Black Democratic House candidate, during a news conference on Thursday. "I will not be intimidated. I'm not going to back down. I am here to stay." Fundraising lifts Democrats in final weeks of U.S. election campaign

Democrats hoping to capture the U.S. presidency and the Senate have seen a wave of cash from small donors come their way in the final months before the Nov. 3 election. The Democratic fundraising organization ActBlue reported on Thursday that it collected $1.5 billion on its online platform from July to September, the most it has ever raised in a quarter. Trump urges big COVID-19 stimulus, McConnell disagrees as talks continue

President Donald Trump on Thursday said he is willing to raise his offer of $1.8 trillion for a COVID-19 relief deal with Democrats in the U.S. Congress, but the idea was shot down by his fellow Republican, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell. The White House proposed the $1.8 trillion in stimulus last week in negotiations with House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi. Pelosi, the top Democrat in Congress, rejected the offer and has stuck to her demand for a $2.2 trillion deal. The talks appear unlikely to produce an agreement before the Nov. 3 election. U.S. CDC reports 216,025 deaths from coronavirus

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) on Thursday reported 7,894,768 cases of the new coronavirus, an increase of 59,761 from its previous count, and said that the number of deaths had risen by 831 to 216,025. The CDC reported its tally of cases of the respiratory illness known as COVID-19, caused by a new coronavirus, as of 4 p.m. ET on Oct. 14 compared with its previous report a day earlier.(https://bit.ly/3j622Lw) Trump ex-fundraiser to plead guilty in 1MDB foreign lobbying case

A former fundraiser for U.S. President Donald Trump is expected to plead guilty next week to charges of illegally lobbying Trump to drop an investigation into a massive Malaysian embezzlement scandal, according to court documents filed Thursday. The former fundraiser, Elliot Broidy, is due in federal court in Washington, D.C., on Tuesday for a hearing on a plea deal. White supremacist pleads guilty in plot to blow up Colorado synagogue

A self-described white supremacist pleaded guilty on Thursday to federal hate crime and explosive charges for a botched plot to blow up a historic Colorado synagogue last year, prosecutors said on Thursday. Richard Holzer, 28, who was arrested in November following an undercover FBI sting, admitted to planning to bomb the Temple Emanuel synagogue in Pueblo, Colorado, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said in a statement. New coronavirus infections rise to record highs in U.S. Midwest and beyond

Wisconsin and other states in the U.S. Midwest and beyond are battling surges in COVID-19 cases, with new infections and hospitalizations rising to record levels in an ominous sign of a nationwide resurgence as temperatures get colder. Nine states, including Michigan and North Carolina, reported record one-day increases of new infections on Thursday, according to a Reuters tally. Michigan last set a record for new daily cases on April 3 in the early days of the pandemic in the United States. U.S. Justice official accuses Barr of 'scorn for apolitical prosecutors'

A recently retired federal prosecutor in California on Thursday became the third career Justice Department official to claim in a recent newspaper letter or op-ed that Attorney General William Barr has politicized the department. Phillip Halpern, a 36-year department veteran who prosecuted Republican former Representatives Duncan Hunter and Randy Cunningham in California, criticized Barr in the print edition of San Diego Union-Tribune on Thursday and said he had resigned. Coronavirus exposure risk on airplanes very low, U.S. defense study finds

The risk of exposure to the coronavirus on flights is very low, a U.S. Department of Defense study released on Thursday found, a positive sign for the airline industry as it tries to rebound from the pandemic's crushing effect on travel. When a seated passenger is wearing a mask, an average 0.003% of air particles within the breathing zone around a person's head are infectious, even when every seat is occupied, it found.