Reuters US Domestic News Summary

Trump campaign loses legal fights in Georgia and Michigan, vows Nevada lawsuit President Donald Trump's campaign lost court rulings in the closely-contested states of Georgia and Michigan on Thursday, even as it vowed to bring a new lawsuit challenging what it called voting irregularities in Nevada.

Following is a summary of current US domestic news briefs. Police arrest 10 in Portland, 50 in New York on night after U.S. vote

Police in the city of Portland made arrests and seized fireworks, hammers and a rifle after late night demonstrations, as Oregon Governor Kate Brown activated the state's National Guard in response to "widespread violence" on the night after voting in the U.S. presidential election. Portland Police said it arrested ten people in the demonstrations after declaring riots in the city's downtown area while the New York Police Department (NYPD) said it made about 50 arrests in protests that spread in the city late on Wednesday. Biden edges closer to White House win as Trump mounts legal challenge

Democrat Joe Biden moved closer to victory in the U.S. presidential race on Thursday as election officials tallied votes in the handful of states that will determine the outcome and protesters took to the streets. Incumbent President Donald Trump alleged fraud, filed lawsuits and called for recounts in a race yet to be decided two days after polls closed. Trump campaign loses legal fights in Georgia and Michigan, vows Nevada lawsuit

President Donald Trump's campaign lost court rulings in the closely-contested states of Georgia and Michigan on Thursday, even as it vowed to bring a new lawsuit challenging what it called voting irregularities in Nevada. In the Georgia case, the campaign alleged 53 late-arriving ballots were mixed with on-time ballots. In Michigan, it had sought to stop votes from being counted and obtain greater access to the tabulation process. Seventeen U.S. states report record increase in COVID-19 cases

Seventeen out of 50 U.S. states reported record one-day increases in cases of the novel coronavirus on Thursday, a day after the country set a record with nearly 105,000 new infections reported on Wednesday, according to a Reuters tally. The outbreak is spreading in every region but is hitting the Midwest the hardest, based on new cases per capita. Previously, the most states that reported records for new cases in a single day was 16 on Oct. 30, according to Reuters data. Federal watchdog probing Trump campaign's use of White House: lawmaker

The U.S. Office of Special Counsel has opened an investigation into allegations that the Trump campaign's use of the White House as an Election Day command center violated federal law, Democratic Representative Bill Pascrell said on Thursday. In a statement, Pascrell said the federal watchdog responded on Thursday to his call for a probe, telling him a special unit "has opened an investigation into these allegations to determine if the Hatch Act was violated." Glum U.S. House Democrats lament 2020 election losses

Some U.S. House of Representatives Democrats on Thursday blamed Tuesday's election losses on colleagues who embraced defunding police departments and "socialist" policies, according to sources familiar with a phone call they held. Democrats went into this week's congressional elections, in which all 435 House seats were up for grabs, with high hopes of significantly building on their majority control of the chamber. Trump lawsuits unlikely to impact outcome of U.S. election, experts say

President Donald Trump called in his lawyers to shore up his dimming re-election prospects, but legal experts said the flurry of lawsuits had little chance of changing the outcome but might cast doubt on the process. As Trump's paths to victory narrowed, his campaign on Thursday was ramping up legal challenges and said it was planning to file its latest case in Nevada. General Dynamics awarded Columbia class submarine construction contract: Pentagon

General Dynamics Corp was awarded a $9.47 billion contract for the construction of Columbia class submarines, moving the U.S. Navy's top procurement priority out of the early-construction phase, the Pentagon said on Thursday. The contract for the nuclear-powered ballistic missile submarines covers the move to full construction of the first ship in the class, the USS Columbia, as well as continued advanced construction of the second ship, the USS Wisconsin, the Navy said. Trump campaign sues Philadelphia election officials, seeks Republican oversight of ballot counting

U.S. President Donald Trump's campaign on Thursday sued Philadelphia County's Board of Elections, seeking an emergency injunction barring it from counting ballots so long as Republican observers are not present as it said was required under Pennsylvania law. Trump's campaign said election officials are "intentionally refusing to allow any representatives and poll watchers for President Trump and the Republican Party." The lawsuit was filed with the federal court in Philadelphia. Judge orders U.S. postal service to do twice daily sweeps for states still receiving ballots

A judge on Thursday ordered twice daily sweeps at U.S. Postal Service (USPS) facilities serving states with extended ballot receipt deadlines as votes were still being counted in U.S. election battleground states. Some states, including still undecided Nevada and North Carolina, are counting ballots that are received after Election Day Tuesday. Plaintiffs lawyers in a lawsuit said the Postal Service delivered roughly 150,000 ballots nationwide on Wednesday. Of those, roughly 8,000 or 9,000, were delivered after Tuesday even though they had been mailed by Sunday.