US News Roundup: U.S. safety board to meet on Kobe Bryant fatal helicopter crash; As impeachment begins, New York accelerates probes of Trump's property dealings and more

As impeachment begins, New York accelerates probes of Trump's property dealings As former U.S. President Donald Trump goes to trial this week in the Senate on charges of inciting the Jan. 6 Capitol insurrection, criminal and civil investigations into his businesses are accelerating in New York.

Following is a summary of current US domestic news briefs.

U.S. safety board to meet on Kobe Bryant fatal helicopter crash

The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) meets on Tuesday to determine the probable cause of the January 2020 helicopter crash that killed retired NBA star Kobe Bryant, his daughter and seven others. The pilot's actions have been in focus in the investigation into the crash of the Sikorsky S-76B helicopter outside Los Angeles into hilly terrain.

As impeachment begins, New York accelerates probes of Trump's property dealings

As former U.S. President Donald Trump goes to trial this week in the Senate on charges of inciting the Jan. 6 Capitol insurrection, criminal and civil investigations into his businesses are accelerating in New York. Manhattan prosecutors probing Trump's real-estate business for possible insurance and tax fraud have stepped up witness interviews in recent months and hired forensic accountants, four people familiar with the criminal probe told Reuters. A separate state attorney general's civil probe into whether the business falsely reported property values got a boost on Jan. 29, when a New York Supreme Court judge ordered the Trump Organization to turn over documents.

Fox News asks for Smartmatic lawsuit over election-rigging claims to be dismissed

Rupert Murdoch's Fox News Media said on Monday it filed a motion to dismiss electronic voting systems maker Smartmatic's lawsuit that has claimed that the media group accused it of helping rig the U.S. presidential election in favor of Joe Biden. In a defamation suit filed last week, Smartmatic had alleged that Fox and other defendants invented a story that the election was stolen from Donald Trump and made Smartmatic "the villain in their story".

After deadly Capitol riot, Trump impeachment trial to open with fight on Constitution

Donald Trump's historic second impeachment trial, on a charge of inciting last month's deadly storming of the U.S. Capitol, opens on Tuesday with a debate over the constitutionality of trying a president after he has left office. Hundreds of Trump supporters stormed the Capitol on Jan. 6 after a fiery speech in which the then president repeated his false claims that his Nov. 3 election defeat was the result of widespread fraud and urging them to "fight like hell (or) you're not going to have a country anymore."

U.S. DOJ to ask 56 Trump-appointed attorneys to resign: CNN

The U.S. Department of Justice, as soon as Tuesday, is expected to ask 56 attorneys appointed by former President Donald Trump to submit their resignations, CNN reported on Monday. The move is expected to spare two top prosecutors in Delaware and Connecticut overseeing two sensitive Trump-era investigations, CNN said https://cnn.it/3jwCyJ2, citing a senior Justice Department official.

Georgia Secretary of State's office launches probe into Trump's election phone call

Georgia's Secretary of State's office opened a probe on Monday into former U.S. President Donald Trump's efforts to overturn the state's 2020 election results, a step that could lead to a criminal investigation by state and local authorities. Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger had faced calls to open a probe after Trump was recorded in a Jan. 2 phone call pressuring Raffensperger to overturn the state's election results based on unfounded voter fraud claims.

Explainer: Is Trump's post-presidency impeachment trial constitutional? The impeachment trial of former President Donald Trump on a charge of inciting last month's deadly riot at the U.S. Capitol will begin on Tuesday with arguments over whether the proceedings are constitutional. Trump's legal team has argued the trial is improper under the U.S. Constitution because Trump is now a private citizen, and 45 Senate Republicans cast votes to that effect on Jan. 26. But many legal experts disagree, and there are likely not enough votes in the Democratic-controlled chamber to halt the trial based on that argument.

Hackers try to contaminate Florida town's water supply through computer breach Hackers broke into the computer system of a facility that treats water for about 15,000 people near Tampa, Florida and sought to add a dangerous level of additive to the water supply, the Pinellas County Sheriff said on Monday. The attempt on Friday was thwarted. The hackers remotely gained access to a software program, named TeamViewer, on the computer of an employee at the facility for the town of Oldsmar to gain control of other systems, Sheriff Bob Gualtieri said in an interview.

Exclusive: Congressional Democrats set to back more than $50 billion for transportation sector Democrats in the U.S. Congress are to release a sweeping plan on Monday to provide more than $50 billion in additional assistance to U.S. airlines, transit systems, airports and passenger railroad Amtrak and create a $3 billion program to assist aviation manufacturers with payroll costs, according to documents seen by Reuters and sources briefed on the matter. The $1.9 trillion COVID-19 relief proposal will provide $30 billion to transit agencies, $14 billion for passenger airlines, $8 billion to U.S. airports, $1 billion for airline contractors and $1.5 billion to Amtrak, the draft legislation says. U.S. House committees are set to vote on the legislation on Wednesday.

COVID-19 vaccine chasers hunt, wait and hope in Los Angeles Jose Luis Espinoza had been chasing a COVID-19 vaccine for more than three weeks. He hadn't hugged his 98-year-old father in a long time, and was hoping a vaccine would change that. Last week, he struck gold in Santa Fe Springs.