Reuters US Domestic News Summary

Following is a summary of current US domestic news briefs. 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.

Following is a summary of current US domestic news briefs.

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.

Biden warns 'MAGA movement,' Trump endanger US democracy

President Joe Biden launched a wide-ranging attack on Republican Donald Trump on Thursday, warning that his predecessor is a threat to American democracy and drawing a sharp distinction between himself and his likely 2024 election opponent. To make his most extensive critique of Trump this year, Biden, a Democrat, chose an event to honor the late Republican Senator John McCain of Arizona, a former presidential candidate, fighter pilot and Vietnam prisoner of war who Trump had denounced as "not a war hero."

Migrants cross into Texas, undeterred by razor wire or new asylum rules

For the past several days large groups of migrants, mostly from Venezuela, have been wading across the Rio Grande river near a railroad bridge in Eagle Pass, Texas, undeterred by coils of razor wire laid along the banks. Reuters witnessed migrants crossing, sometimes dozens at a time and at times with small children, navigating strong currents to then make their way through the sharp wire put up by the Texas national guard. Once on U.S. soil they waited in the hot sun to turn themselves in to U.S. border officials for processing.

Republican presidential hopeful DeSantis says he would sign 15-week US abortion ban

U.S. Republican presidential contender Ron DeSantis would sign a federal ban on abortion after 15 weeks of gestation, a spokesperson confirmed on Thursday, underlining how the Florida governor has stiffened his rhetoric on the procedure in recent weeks. DeSantis initially made the remarks during the second Republican primary debate on Wednesday night in California. He was responding to South Carolina Senator Tim Scott, who asked him if he would sign such a ban as president.

US soldier Travis King undergoes medical evaluation after North Korea release

U.S. Army Private Travis King arrived at a U.S. military hospital in Texas on Thursday where he will undergo medical evaluations, including for his mental health, following his expulsion from North Korea a day earlier, the Pentagon said. King, 23, was held in North Korea for over two months after his surprise dash across the heavily militarized border dividing the Korean peninsula.

US appeals court revives Mississippi law barring convicts from voting

A federal appeals court on Thursday agreed to reconsider a ruling by three of its judges that struck down part of Mississippi's state constitution that strips the right to vote from thousands of convicts after they complete their sentences. The decision by the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to hold a so-called en banc rehearing of the case before all 16 of its active judges automatically voids, for now, last month's 2-1 panel ruling finding the provision was a "cruel and unusual punishment" that disproportionately affected Black people.

Shutdown looms as US Senate, House advance separate spending plans

The Democratic-led U.S. Senate forged ahead on Thursday with a bipartisan stopgap funding bill aimed at averting a fourth partial government shutdown in a decade, while the House prepared to vote on partisan Republican spending bills with no chance of becoming law. The divergent paths of the two chambers appeared to increase the odds that federal agencies will run out of money on Sunday, furloughing hundreds of thousands of federal workers and halting a wide range of services from economic data releases to nutrition benefits.

Exclusive-Biden's 5-year offshore oil plan to have just three auctions - sources

The Biden administration's five-year plan for offshore oil and gas leasing will not include any sales in 2024 and will feature just three in the final four years, the lowest number of auctions in the history of the program, according to three sources familiar with the matter. The plan is almost certain to disappoint both environmental groups and oil companies. In recent years, politicians, environmentalists and the oil industry have cast the national leasing program as a symbol of either the need to rein in fossil fuel development to avert the worst impacts of climate change or as a critical tool to shore up domestic energy supplies and keep pump prices low.

Man shot at protest over New Mexico conquistador statue

A man was shot on Thursday in New Mexico on the site where authorities planned to reinstall a statue of a Spanish conquistador who brutally colonized the U.S. state, a witness and police reported, adding a suspect was in custody. The shooting took place around noon at the Rio Arriba County building in Espanola after a scuffle between protesters and a counter protester wearing a "Make America Great Again" hat, said Mateo Peixinho, an organizer at the rally against the statue.

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.

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