Reuters US Domestic News Summary

One day after launching his re-election bid, Biden marked the occasion not on the campaign trail but in a Rose Garden news conference following a meeting with South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol. Republicans pass debt-ceiling hike as US creeps toward financial calamity The U.S. House of Representatives on Wednesday narrowly passed a bill to raise the government's $31.4 trillion debt ceiling, defying Democratic President Joe Biden by attaching sweeping spending cuts for the next decade.

Following is a summary of current US domestic news briefs.

Disney sues Florida's DeSantis for 'weaponizing' government

Walt Disney Co sued Florida Republican Governor Ron DeSantis on Wednesday, asking a court to overturn state efforts to control Disney World and intensifying a battle between a global entertainment giant and a likely White House contender. In its lawsuit, Disney accused DeSantis and his supporters of illegally using the state government to punish a company for voicing an opinion that should be protected by free-speech rights.

Exclusive-Peter Thiel, Republican megadonor, won’t fund candidates in 2024 - sources

Tech billionaire and Republican megadonor Peter Thiel, an early backer of former President Donald Trump who later broke with him, has told associates he is not planning to donate to any political candidates in 2024, according to two people close to the businessman. Thiel is unhappy with the Republican Party's focus on hot-button U.S. cultural issues, said one of the sources, a business associate, citing abortion and restrictions on which bathrooms transgender students can use in schools as two examples.

U.S. Sen. Manchin joins effort to repeal Biden solar tariff waiver

U.S. Senator Joe Manchin on Wednesday threw his support behind a legislative effort to repeal President Joe Biden's suspension of tariffs on solar panel imports from four Southeast Asian nations that are the industry's primary suppliers. He is the first Democrat to co-sponsor a resolution introduced by Senator Rick Scott, a Republican, in February. The effort would need a two-thirds majority in the Senate to overturn a presidential veto, and Democrats have just a narrow majority.

'Donald Trump raped me,' writer says at civil trial

A writer explained in graphic detail on Wednesday how Donald Trump allegedly raped her nearly 30 years ago, at a civil trial to determine whether the former U.S. president assaulted her and then lied about it. "I'm here because Donald Trump raped me, and when I wrote about it, he lied and said it didn't happen," E. Jean Carroll told jurors in federal court in Manhattan. "He lied and shattered my reputation, and I'm here to try and get my life back."

Elon Musk talks AI, Tesla with Democratic leader Schumer

Elon Musk, the billionaire CEO of electric vehicle maker Tesla and social media platform Twitter, discussed artificial intelligence issues and electric vehicles with U.S. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer on Wednesday. "We talked about the future," Musk told reporters after exiting the meeting that lasted about an hour. "We talked about AI and the economy."

Fugees rapper convicted in US over lobbying campaigns with Malaysian financier

A jury on Wednesday convicted Grammy Award-winning rapper Prakazrel "Pras" Michel of The Fugees hip hop group on criminal charges that he conspired with a Malaysian financier to orchestrate a series of foreign lobbying campaigns aimed at influencing the U.S. government under two presidents. His conviction in federal court in Washington followed a trial that was filled with political intrigue and featured high-profile witnesses including Hollywood star Leonardo DiCaprio and former U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions. Michel endured a blistering cross-examination by prosecutors while testifying in his own defense.

Biden says after 2024 launch that Trump is danger to democracy

U.S. President Joe Biden suggested on Wednesday that he could defeat Donald Trump again in a 2024 rematch, and warned the former Republican president was a threat to the country. One day after launching his re-election bid, Biden marked the occasion not on the campaign trail but in a Rose Garden news conference following a meeting with South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol.

Republicans pass debt-ceiling hike as US creeps toward financial calamity

The U.S. House of Representatives on Wednesday narrowly passed a bill to raise the government's $31.4 trillion debt ceiling, defying Democratic President Joe Biden by attaching sweeping spending cuts for the next decade. The mostly partisan 217-215 vote was a win for Republican House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, who hopes to lure Biden into negotiations on cutting spending, even as the White House and congressional Democrats insist on a debt limit increase with no strings attached.

Montana transgender legislator silenced after 'blood on your hands' comment

Montana statehouse Republicans on Wednesday silenced Democratic transgender legislator Zooey Zephyr from floor debates for breaking decorum after she said lawmakers who backed a ban on gender-affirming healthcare for minors would have "blood on their hands." Under the motion that passed with a vote of 68-32, Zephyr will be allowed to vote but is barred from the House floor, anteroom or gallery for the remainder of the legislative session, scheduled to end on May 10.

Biden administration urges appeals court to overrule abortion pill ban

President Joe Biden's administration on Wednesday urged a U.S. appeals court to overrule a conservative Texas-based judge's order that would essentially ban the abortion pill mifepristone by suspending the drug's federal regulatory approval in a legal challenge by abortion opponents. The U.S. Justice Department, in a filing to the New Orleans-based 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, called the April 7 order by U.S. District Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk "abrupt and profoundly disruptive." It added that mifepristone's safety is "amply supported by a record developed over decades of safe and effective use" around the world.