Reuters US Domestic News Summary

Logs turned over to the House of Representatives panel investigating the attack showed no calls placed to or by Trump between 11:17 a.m. and 6:54 p.m. while his supporters violently rioted at the Capitol as lawmakers were set to certify Trump's 2020 election loss, the news outlets reported. Biden makes lynching a U.S. hate crime, signs Emmett Till law President Joe Biden on Tuesday signed into law the first federal legislation to make lynching a hate crime, addressing a history of racist killings in the United States, after the Senate passed the bill earlier this month.

Following is a summary of current US domestic news briefs.

Exclusive-Two former U.S. officials help ethics probe of Trump ally Clark, source says

The top two U.S. Justice Department officials in the waning days of Donald Trump's presidency are cooperating with a Washington legal body's ethics probe of their former colleague Jeffrey Bossert Clark, who tried to help Trump overturn his 2020 election loss, according to a person familiar with the matter. Jeffrey Rosen, who served as acting attorney general, and Richard Donoghue, his former acting deputy, each have given voluntary interviews in recent months to the District of Columbia Office of Disciplinary Counsel, which is investigating Clark for possible misconduct, according to the source, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

U.S. top court's Thomas should recuse himself from Capitol riot cases, Schumer says

U.S. Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer on Tuesday said Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas should recuse himself from any cases about the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol by Donald Trump's followers. Schumer became the most high-ranking Democrat to make that request of the conservative justice after the Washington Post and CBS News reported on text messages showing that Thomas's wife Virginia Thomas, a conservative activist who goes by Ginni, urged Mark Meadows, Trump's then-chief of staff, to work to overturn Democrat Joe Biden's November 2020 election win.

Kentucky Senate passes abortion restrictions, including 15-week ban

Kentucky lawmakers on Tuesday passed a bill that would ban abortion after 15 weeks and contains several provisions that abortion rights advocates say could severely restrict or essentially end access to the procedure in the state. The measure includes requirements that clinics say would make it too logistically difficult and expensive to operate, including that fetal remains be cremated or interred, and also calls for a combination birth-death or stillbirth certificate to be issued for each abortion.

White House logs show gap of 7-plus hours in Trump Jan. 6 call record -report

White House records show an unexplained gap of more than seven hours in the record of former President Donald Trump's telephone calls the day of the deadly Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol, the Washington Post and CBS reported on Tuesday. Logs turned over to the House of Representatives panel investigating the attack showed no calls placed to or by Trump between 11:17 a.m. and 6:54 p.m. while his supporters violently rioted at the Capitol as lawmakers were set to certify Trump's 2020 election loss, the news outlets reported.

Biden makes lynching a U.S. hate crime, signs Emmett Till law

President Joe Biden on Tuesday signed into law the first federal legislation to make lynching a hate crime, addressing a history of racist killings in the United States, after the Senate passed the bill earlier this month. The law is named for Emmett Till, a 14-year-old Black boy who was brutally murdered in Mississippi in 1955. The bill makes it possible to prosecute as a lynching any conspiracy to commit a hate crime that results in death or serious bodily injury.

Wildfire threat puts parts of Texas, U.S. Plains on alert

The potential for significant wildfires fueled by parched vegetation in parts of Texas and the U.S. Plains put the region on high alert on Tuesday as gusty winds and bone-dry humidity were in the forecast. Red Flag Warnings, signaling that fires could start and spread easily, were issued for an area spanning western Texas, southern Nebraska and parts of Kansas, Oklahoma and New Mexico, the National Weather Service said.

White House: no executive privilege for Kushner, Ivanka Trump on Jan 6 testimony

The White House will not assert executive privilege for testimony by former President Donald Trump's daughter and son-in-law and former advisers, Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner, before the Jan. 6 committee, communications director Kate Bedingfield said on Tuesday. Speaking to reporters at the White House, Bedingfield said President Joe Biden has been clear "the constitutional protections of executive privilege should not be used to shield from Congress or the public information about an attack on the Constitution itself."

U.S. preps for possible spike in border crossings, as officials mull lifting COVID curbs

U.S. officials are preparing for the possibility of thousands of more migrants per day attempting to cross the U.S.-Mexico border without authorization, a pace that could shatter last year's record-breaking levels, as the Biden administration weighs lifting a COVID-era order currently blocking most asylum seekers. The U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is readying for as many as 18,000 migrants per day in the coming weeks, but also preparing for a smaller increase to 12,000 arrivals per day or arrivals similar to current levels, an agency official said during a Tuesday call with reporters, requesting anonymity to discuss internal matters.

Group of 21 U.S. states ask judge to halt federal transportation mask mandate

A group of 21 states led by Florida on Tuesday asked a U.S. judge to block a federal COVID-19 mandate requiring masks on airplanes and other forms of transportation. The lawsuit is the latest in a series of recent legal challenges to a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) public health order and Transportation Security Administration (TSA) directive that have been in place since February 2021 covering airports, trains, buses, ride-share vehicles and transit hubs.

Florida's DeSantis vetoes state congressional map, tells lawmakers try again

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis on Tuesday vetoed new congressional maps drawn by his fellow Republicans in the state legislature and called a special legislative session in mid-April to redraw the lines. The eventual outcome in Florida, which will add a 28th district this year based on population growth, could have a significant impact on the battle for control of Congress in November's midterm elections.

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)