Reuters US Domestic News Summary

The former president's dominant position has turned Iowa's first-in-the-nation contest into a race for second place, as both Florida Governor Ron DeSantis and former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley are aiming for a clear runner-up finish to emerge as the chief alternative to Trump. US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin released from hospital U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin was released from the hospital on Monday, two weeks after being hospitalized due to complications from prostate cancer treatment, the Pentagon said.

Following is a summary of current US domestic news briefs.

OpenAI seeks to allay election meddling fears in blog post

Artificial intelligence lab OpenAI published a blog post Monday seeking to address fears that its technology will meddle with elections, as more than a third of the globe prepares to head to the polls this year. The use of AI to interfere with election integrity has been a concern since the Microsoft-backed company released two products: ChatGPT, which can mimic human writing convincingly, and DALL-E, whose technology can be used to create "deepfakes," or realistic-looking images that are fabricated.

'We will fight,' Harris says in MLK Day speech, warning of threats to US freedom

U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris warned Americans that their freedom is under threat as she commemorated Martin Luther King Jr. Day in early-voting South Carolina on Monday, wielding the civil-rights icon's legacy to urge Black voters to join Democrats to win the 2024 election. Harris headlined an annual event by the NAACP, the nation's oldest civil rights group, which included a prayer service and a march to the South Carolina House of Representatives in Columbia. She pressed one of Democrats' central election messages - President Joe Biden and his Democrats need voters' help to protect Americans' rights from Republicans.

Dangerously cold temps continue across US as 2024 presidential race begins in Iowa

Much of the United States remained gripped by an Arctic blast on Monday, cutting power to tens of thousands of customers in northern states and Texas and potentially dampening turnout in Iowa, where voters will cast the first ballots for a Republican candidate in November's presidential race. The dangerously frigid weather is expected to linger throughout the day, hitting the Midwest hardest but also sending snow and freezing rain across the Southern and Mid-Atlantic states, the U.S. National Weather Service (NWS) said in a Monday bulletin.

Trump lawyer Tacopina withdraws from Manhattan legal team

Joseph Tacopina, an attorney on former U.S. President Donald Trump's legal team, on Monday said he will no longer represent him in a criminal case in Manhattan related to alleged hush money payments or a separate appeal of a civil case. Tacopina withdrew from representing Trump in two of the former president's ongoing legal battles, including a state criminal case in which Trump was charged with falsifying business records over a hush money payment to a porn star before his victory in the 2016 presidential election, the lawyer confirmed in an email to Reuters.

Analysis-What's at stake for Trump, Haley and DeSantis in Monday's Iowa caucuses?

Donald Trump is looking to seal the deal. Three other Republicans are hoping to slow his march toward the Republican nomination. That's the set-up for Monday's Iowa caucuses, the first nominating contest of the 2024 election.

US agency powers back on Supreme Court's hook in fishing dispute

The U.S. Supreme Court this week is set to hear a bid by commercial fishermen to avoid costs associated with a government-run fish conservation program in a dispute that gives its conservative justices another chance to curb the regulatory powers of federal agencies. The two cases being argued on Wednesday involve a challenge by fishing companies that argue that Congress did not authorize the National Marine Fisheries Service to establish an industry-funded program to monitor for overfishing of herring off New England's coast.

Biden campaign, allies raise $97 million in fourth quarter

President Joe Biden's 2024 reelection team and his Democratic Party said on Monday they raised over $97 million in the last three months of 2023, amid opinion polls showing voter concerns over his age, high prices and handling of the Israel-Hamas war. The Biden campaign attributed the fundraising haul to "strong and growing grassroots enthusiasm;" his campaign also courted big donors in Washington, Boston and California amid a year-end fundraising blitz.

Factbox-Who is Ron DeSantis, 2024 US presidential candidate?

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, once seen as Donald Trump's leading rival for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination, needs a solid performance in Monday's Iowa caucus, the first party nominating contest, to save his struggling campaign. DeSantis trails former President Trump by over 30 points and needs to place a strong second. A blowout loss or third-place finish behind former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley would raise questions about the future of his candidacy.

Trump seeks early victory in Iowa caucus, as Republicans brave cold and snow

Republican presidential candidates on Monday headed out for a final, frigid day of campaigning in Iowa, where Donald Trump is the overwhelming favorite to stake an early claim to the party's 2024 presidential nomination. The former president's dominant position has turned Iowa's first-in-the-nation contest into a race for second place, as both Florida Governor Ron DeSantis and former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley are aiming for a clear runner-up finish to emerge as the chief alternative to Trump.

US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin released from hospital

U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin was released from the hospital on Monday, two weeks after being hospitalized due to complications from prostate cancer treatment, the Pentagon said. Austin, 70, was admitted to Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in Maryland on Dec. 22 to treat prostate cancer. He returned to the hospital on Jan. 1 due to complications including a urinary tract infection. His hospitalization was not revealed until four days later and the Pentagon did not specify why he was being treated until Jan. 9.