US Domestic News Roundup: Trump's campaign machine is bleeding cash for legal expenses; 2024 rivals Trump, DeSantis to court Republican activists in California and more

Following is a summary of current US domestic news briefs.

Trump's campaign machine is bleeding cash for legal expenses

Donald Trump's political operation has helped pay the legal expenses of more than a dozen people contacted by prosecutors investigating the former president, tying up millions of dollars that otherwise could be used for his 2024 White House bid. Reuters has identified 13 potential witnesses or co-defendants who were represented by law firms that received payments from a political group run by Trump, based on interviews and a review of court records and campaign finance disclosures. The payments were disclosed in campaign finance reports as general payments to law firms rather than specific payments to individuals.

2024 rivals Trump, DeSantis to court Republican activists in California

Presidential rivals Donald Trump and Ron DeSantis will court Republicans on Friday in California, a glittering prize in the race for the party's 2024 nomination and home to many wealthy donors. Trump, the former president and runaway frontrunner to be the party's nominee in the November 2024 general election, and Florida Governor DeSantis are speaking to activists and donors at a convention organized by the California Republican Party in Anaheim, 25 miles (40 km) south of Los Angeles.

Michigan judge to rule whether teen shooter could face life without parole

A Michigan judge on Friday was set to rule on whether a teenager who fatally shot four classmates and wounded six other people at his high school outside Detroit two years ago is eligible for a sentence of life in prison without parole despite his young age. At a hearing at Oakland County Circuit Court, Judge Kwame Rowe will announce his decision on the possibility of parole for Ethan Crumbley, who was 15 years old when he carried out the mass shooting at Oxford High School.

Long-serving US Democratic Senator Dianne Feinstein dead at 90-media

Dianne Feinstein, a long-serving Democratic U.S. senator from California and gun control advocate who spearheaded the first federal assault weapons ban and documented the CIA's torture of foreign terrorism suspects, has died at 90, U.S. media reported on Friday. Feinstein's office did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the news, first reported by the Punchbowl news outlet.

Donald Trump will not seek to move his Georgia election case to federal court

Donald Trump will not seek to move a criminal case alleging he conspired to reverse his 2020 presidential election loss in Georgia from state to federal court, his lawyers said on Thursday, a development that could simplify the former U.S. president's path to trial. Trump, the frontrunner for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination, and 18 others are charged with pressuring Georgia election officials to overturn his 2020 loss in the state to current President Joe Biden, a Democrat.

Strikes could idle more Detroit Three auto plants Friday

United Auto Workers union President Shawn Fain is expected to launch walkouts at more Detroit Three auto factories Friday, barring last-minute progress in bargaining that has moved slowly since last week. UAW members, Wall Street investors, industry executives and the White House are watching to see whether Fain shuts down powertrain factories or plants that assemble the pickup trucks and large SUVs that Ford, General Motors and Stellantis rely on for most of their North American and global profits.

Republican anti-Trump money splits: Spend now, or wait until 2024?

A split is emerging among Republican anti-Donald Trump groups desperate to prevent the former president, who is dominating the party's presidential nomination battle, from reaching the White House again. Some are still spending to stop him becoming the Republican candidate, while others have concluded it is inevitable he will be the nominee and have moved on to try and prevent him from winning the November 2024 general election, according to interviews with key groups spending against Trump and interviews with a half-dozen donors.

Migrants are being raped at Mexico border as they await entry to US

REYNOSA, Mexico Sept 29 (Reuters) - When Carolina's captors arrived at dawn to pull her out of the stash house in the Mexican border city of Reynosa in late May, she thought they were going to force her to call her family in Venezuela again to beg them to pay $2,000 ransom. Instead, one of the men shoved her onto a broken-down bus parked outside and raped her, she told Reuters. "It's the saddest, most horrible thing that can happen to a person," Carolina said.

Hardline Republican holdouts push U.S. government closer to shutdown

The U.S. federal government was two days from a partial shutdown on Friday, as a handful of hardline House Republicans refused to support a bipartisan stopgap spending bill meant to give lawmakers more time to negotiate a full-year deal. The National Park Service will close, the Securities and Exchange Commission will suspend most of its regulatory activities and hundreds of thousands of federal workers will be furloughed beginning at 12:01 a.m. ET on Sunday (0401 GMT) if Congress does not pass a spending package that can be signed into law by President Joe Biden before then.

Appeals court will not delay Donald Trump civil fraud trial

A New York appeals court on Thursday refused to delay Donald Trump's scheduled Oct. 2 civil fraud trial, after the former U.S. president accused the trial judge of wrongly refusing to throw out most of the case. In a brief order, a five-judge panel of the Appellate Division, a mid-level appeals court in Manhattan, denied Trump's motion to postpone the trial.