Reuters US Domestic News Summary

Following is a summary of current US domestic news briefs. Trump pardons former U.S. soldier convicted of killing Iraqi prisoner

President Donald Trump on Monday pardoned former U.S. Army Lieutenant Michael Behenna, who was imprisoned for five years for killing an Iraqi prisoner in 2008. Behenna, a platoon leader in the 101st Airborne Division, was convicted of unpremeditated murder and sentenced to 25 years after killing Ali Mansur Mohamed, a suspected al-Qaeda member. Georgia governor to sign heartbeat abortion ban, joining a U.S. movement

Georgia's Republican governor on Tuesday is expected to sign a bill outlawing abortion if a doctor can detect a fetal heartbeat, part of a concerted effort to restrict abortion rights in states across the country. Governor Brian Kemp praised the bill when it passed the state legislature in March and has scheduled a signing ceremony at 10 a.m. ET (1400 GMT), which would make him the fourth governor to sign such a law since mid-March. Man sentenced to 16 years in prison for plot to blow up Chicago bar

An Illinois man was sentenced on Monday to 16 years in prison for attempting to set off what he thought was a car bomb outside a downtown Chicago bar in 2012, a federal prosecutor said. Adel Daoud, 25, of the Chicago suburb of Hillside, pleaded guilty in November while maintaining his innocence under the terms of an "Alford plea" to one count of attempting use of a weapon of mass destruction and one count of attempting to destroy a building by means of an explosive, court documents showed. Mueller report justifies obstruction charges vs Trump: ex-U.S. Justice Department officials

Almost 500 former U.S. Justice Department officials said on Monday in a joint statement that the Mueller report's findings would justify obstruction charges against President Donald Trump if he were not currently occupying the White House. U.S. Attorney General William Barr has said he found insufficient evidence in Mueller's report to conclude that Trump obstructed justice. Special Counsel Robert Mueller himself made no formal finding one way or the other on that question. Accused sex cult founder could face former 'slaves' at New York trial

Former self-help guru Keith Raniere goes on trial on Tuesday on charges of running a secretive New York sex cult that recruited female "slaves" who were then starved, branded with his initials and blackmailed into having sex with him. Federal prosecutors have charged Raniere, 58, with using his cultlike Nxivm group, which claimed to offer members unique insights into life, as a front for crimes including sex trafficking, child pornography and sexual exploitation of a minor. Ex-lawyer Cohen reports to prison, blasts Trump for 'injustice and lies'

Michael Cohen, President Donald Trump's former personal lawyer, took a parting shot at his former boss - denouncing "xenophobia, injustice and lies" - before reporting to a U.S. federal prison on Monday to begin a three-year sentence. Cohen, who once vowed to "take a bullet" for Trump but now calls him a "con man," checked into the Federal Correctional Institution in Otisville, New York, about 70 miles (110 km) northwest of New York City, to serve his sentence for arranging hush payments to two women who said they had sexual encounters with Trump, financial crimes and lying to Congress. Virginia's use of solitary confinement in prisons challenged in court

Virginia's prison system has violated the constitutional rights of inmates by holding them in solitary confinement for years, according to a lawsuit filed on Monday that alleges the practice can result in hallucinations and suicidal thoughts. The class-action complaint was filed in U.S. District Court in Richmond, Virginia, by the American Civil Liberties Union on behalf of a dozen prisoners who have been in solitary confinement for two to 24 years. But the practice is widespread and often used as punishment for minor infractions of prison rules.

U.S. Democrats edge toward court battles over Mueller, Trump's taxes U.S. congressional Democrats edged closer on Monday to fighting two legal battles - one over the Mueller report and one over President Donald Trump's tax returns - after administration officials stonewalled lawmakers' requests for those documents. The House Judiciary Committee set a vote for Wednesday on whether to cite Attorney General William Barr with contempt over his refusal to provide the panel with a full, unredacted version of Special Counsel Robert Mueller's Russia investigation report and underlying evidence from the probe.

U.S. Treasury's Mnuchin refuses to release Trump's tax returns to Congress U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin on Monday denied a leading House Democrat's request for President Donald Trump's tax returns, setting the stage for a lengthy court battle between lawmakers and the Trump administration. In a May 6 letter, Mnuchin told House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Richard Neal that he would not comply with the Democrat's April 3 request, saying it lacks "a legitimate legislative purpose."

Trump awards highest U.S. civilian honor to Tiger Woods When Tiger Woods won the Masters on April 14, President Donald Trump declared he was going to award him the Presidential Medal of Freedom, and ordered his aides to schedule the event as soon as possible. On Monday, Trump got what he asked for. At a ceremony in the sun-splashed White House Rose Garden, Trump made the 43-year-old Woods the fourth, and youngest, professional golfer to receive the nation's highest civilian honor, after Arnold Palmer, Jack Nicklaus and Charlie Sifford.