US Domestic News Roundup: Pennsylvania Republican blasts election audit, rebukes fraud claims; Man accused of using bear spray on police pleads not guilty in U.S. Capitol riot and more

The department late Tuesday told a federal judge it had declined https://www.reuters.com/world/us/us-justice-dept-wont-defend-republican-lawmaker-capitol-riot-lawsuit-2021-07-28 a request by Representative Morris "Mo" Brooks to grant him immunity by covering him under the Westfall Act, which shields federal employees from being sued for their words or actions in the course of their employment. U.S. expected to keep border expulsions policy as Delta variant cases surge The United States is expected to delay a partial rollback of a controversial migrant expulsion policy, according to three people familiar with the matter, citing fears related to the fast-spreading Delta variant of the coronavirus.

Following is a summary of current US domestic news briefs.

Pennsylvania Republican blasts election audit, rebukes fraud claims

A Republican lawmaker in Pennsylvania has come out against his colleagues' "forensic" audit of the 2020 election, becoming the party's first statewide official to publicly call for an end to the effort and warn of electoral consequences for the party. In an op-ed on Thursday, state senator Dan Laughlin says that moves to investigate Donald Trump's loss to President Joe Biden in the state are being made "absent credible evidence of fraud" and won't change the outcome, as some voters hope.

Man accused of using bear spray on police pleads not guilty in U.S. Capitol riot

A California man accused of attacking police with bear spray and a large metal sign during the Jan. 6 U.S. Capitol assault by supporters of then-President Donald Trump pleaded not guilty on Wednesday to federal charges including riot-related felonies. Maria Jacob, a lawyer for accused rioter Sean McHugh, told U.S. District Judge John Bates during a video hearing that her client was entering not guilty pleas to all charges against him including assaulting police using a dangerous weapon and engaging in violence on the Capitol grounds or in the building.

Analysis-Biden's COVID-19 strategy thwarted by anti-vaxxers, Delta variant

When President Joe Biden entered office, his administration made clear it intended to fight the COVID-19 pandemic by focusing on getting the country vaccinated. With the Delta variant of the coronavirus now raging and a large chunk of Americans rejecting vaccines, that strategy is under scrutiny. When Biden, a Democrat, took over from Republican President Donald Trump on Jan. 20, roughly 400,000 people in the United States had died from COVID-19 and thousands more were dying every day. Inoculations had only just become available.

Emergent to resume J&J COVID-19 vaccine production at Baltimore plant

Emergent BioSolutions said on Wednesday it will resume production of Johnson & Johnson's COVID-19 vaccine at its troubled Baltimore facility, where operations were stopped in April after millions of doses were found to be contaminated. The resumption comes after J&J last week slashed its 2021 production target of its single-dose vaccine to between 500 million and 600 million doses from its original goal to produce a billion shots.

Pacific tsunami warnings lifted after big quake in Alaska

Tsunami warnings were lifted for Alaska and the rest of the Pacific after a huge earthquake of 8.2 magnitudes struck the seismically active U.S. state in the late hours on Wednesday. In Alaska, small tsunami waves measuring under a foot above the tide level were observed in Sand Point, Old Harbor, King Cove, Kodiak, Unalaska, and Alitak Bay, according to the U.S. National Tsunami Warning Center (NTWC).

Biden to ask federal workers to get vaccinated or face testing -source

U.S. President Joe Biden is expected to announce on Thursday that all civilian federal workers will need to be vaccinated against the coronavirus or face regular testing, social distancing, mask requirements and travel limits, a source familiar with the matter said. Biden, who will deliver remarks on COVID-19 at the White House at 4 p.m. (2000 GMT) on Thursday, will not mandate vaccines for federal employees and those who decide against getting a vaccine will not be at risk of being fired, the source said.

U.S. refusal to defend lawmaker in Capitol riot a signal to Trump -experts

The U.S. Justice Department's refusal to defend a Republican congressman accused in a civil lawsuit of helping to incite the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol could hamper former President Donald Trump's legal defense in the same case, experts said. The department late Tuesday told a federal judge it had declined https://www.reuters.com/world/us/us-justice-dept-wont-defend-republican-lawmaker-capitol-riot-lawsuit-2021-07-28 a request by Representative Morris "Mo" Brooks to grant him immunity by covering him under the Westfall Act, which shields federal employees from being sued for their words or actions in the course of their employment.

U.S. expected to keep border expulsions policy as Delta variant cases surge

The United States is expected to delay a partial rollback of a controversial migrant expulsion policy, according to three people familiar with the matter, citing fears related to the fast-spreading Delta variant of the coronavirus. The administration of President Joe Biden had planned to exempt migrant families arriving at the U.S.-Mexico border from the expulsion policy by July 31, while continuing to keep it for individuals, sources familiar with the discussions told Reuters earlier this month.

U.S. Senate advances roughly $1 trillion bipartisan infrastructure bill

A roughly $1 trillion bipartisan infrastructure investment bill advanced in the U.S. Senate on Wednesday, passing a key milestone that moves the emerging legislation toward formal debate and possible passage. The Senate voted 67-32 to take the first procedural step toward debating the measure that has the support of Democratic President Joe Biden.

Analysis-U.S. Supreme Court's 'shadow docket' favored religion and Trump

As midnight approached on the eve of the U.S. Thanksgiving holiday, the conservative-majority Supreme Court granted emergency requests by Christian and Jewish groups challenging COVID-19 crowd restrictions imposed by New York state. The twin 5-4 decisions in favor of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Brooklyn and two Orthodox Jewish congregations were two of 10 decisions in the past year backing religious groups chafing under pandemic-related measures that forced them to close their doors or otherwise limit usual activities.