Reuters US Domestic News Summary

The justices put on hold the criminal case being pursued by Special Counsel Jack Smith and will review a lower court's rejection of Trump's claim of immunity from prosecution because he was president when he took actions aimed at reversing President Joe Biden's election victory over him. Mitch McConnell to end long tenure as top US Senate Republican Top U.S. Senate Republican Mitch McConnell said on Wednesday he will step down this year from his leadership role, ending a record-setting tenure and ceding more influence to Donald Trump and the hardliners who have come to define the party.

Following is a summary of current US domestic news briefs.

Explainer-How Super Tuesday could be Haley's last chance to stop Trump

Super Tuesday next week could be former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley's last chance to stop former U.S. President Donald Trump's drive to clinch the 2024 Republican presidential nomination. Fifteen states and one U.S. territory hold the party's nominating contests on March 5, the biggest day of primaries when more than a third of delegates will be assigned to July's Republican National Convention in Milwaukee.

Second-largest wildfire in Texas history rages across Panhandle

Richard Murray choked back tears on Wednesday as he surveyed the charred remains of his mechanic's workshop and home of 50 years in the small Texas Panhandle town of Canadian. The previous night a sheriff's deputy had pounded on the door and ordered Murray and his wife Gilissa to evacuate as the state's second-largest wildfire on record approached their home.

Detective cites evidence 'Rust' armorer brought live rounds on set

A New Mexico detective on Wednesday said Hannah Gutierrez identified an ammunition box and bandoliers as hers, boosting the prosecution theory that the armorer brought live rounds onto the of set "Rust" where a cinematographer was fatally shot. Recent testimony during Gutierrez's involuntary manslaughter trial has seen prosecutors zero in on how six live rounds - strictly forbidden on movie sets - got onto the production where Halyna Hutchins was shot dead by actor Alec Baldwin on Oct. 21, 2021. Baldwin has pleaded not guilty to involuntary manslaughter. His trial is scheduled for July 10.

US Senate Republicans block Democrats' bill assuring right to IVF

Democrats on Wednesday failed in an attempt to rush legislation through the U.S. Senate guaranteeing Americans' access to in vitro fertilization and other assisted reproductive technologies, after an Alabama court designated frozen embryos as children. The state Supreme Court ruling on Feb. 16 that frozen embryos should be considered children prompted at least three Alabama providers to halt the IVF procedure that involves combining eggs and sperm in a laboratory dish for couples having difficulty conceiving.

Trump loses bid to pause $454.2 million judgment in NY civil fraud case

Donald Trump on Wednesday lost a bid to pause a $454.2 million civil fraud judgment against him for overstating his net worth and real estate values to dupe lenders, meaning he must soon find the cash or post a bond to prevent New York authorities from seizing his property while he appeals. The decision by Associate Justice Anil Singh of the New York Appellate Division must be affirmed by a full panel of the mid-level state appeals court. Singh granted Trump's request for a stay of a portion of Justice Arthur Engoron's Feb. 16 decision barring the former president from running any New York corporation or seeking loans from the state's banks for three years.

US Supreme Court to decide Trump criminal immunity claim in 2020 election case

The U.S. Supreme Court on Wednesday agreed to decide Donald Trump's claim of immunity from prosecution for trying to overturn his 2020 election loss, giving him a boost as he tries to delay criminal prosecutions while running to regain the presidency. The justices put on hold the criminal case being pursued by Special Counsel Jack Smith and will review a lower court's rejection of Trump's claim of immunity from prosecution because he was president when he took actions aimed at reversing President Joe Biden's election victory over him.

Mitch McConnell to end long tenure as top US Senate Republican

Top U.S. Senate Republican Mitch McConnell said on Wednesday he will step down this year from his leadership role, ending a record-setting tenure and ceding more influence to Donald Trump and the hardliners who have come to define the party. McConnell, who has represented Kentucky in the Senate since 1985 and has been his party's leader since 2007, gleefully embraced the nickname "Grim Reaper" for his willingness to use the levers of power to stonewall Democratic goals, whether as majority leader or, as is currently the case, minority leader.

Republican impeachment probe 'baseless,' US president's son Hunter Biden says

U.S. President Joe Biden's son Hunter Biden struck a defiant tone on Wednesday at a Republican-led House of Representatives impeachment inquiry into his father, calling it a "baseless" partisan pursuit against his family. "For more than a year, your committees have hunted me in your partisan political pursuit of my dad," the younger Biden said, according to prepared testimony released before the closed-door hearing.

Odysseus moon lander hailed as success as it nears mission-ending slumber

Odysseus, the first U.S. spacecraft to land on the moon in half a century, neared a mission-ending slumber six days after a lopsided touchdown that hindered its operation, but NASA and the company behind the vehicle cheered its performance as a success. Despite persistent difficulties in communicating with the lander and keeping its solar batteries charged, NASA said it managed to extract some data from all six of its science payloads delivered by Odysseus, built and flown by Texas-based Intuitive Machines.

US Congress leaders reach deal on FY24 spending bills, averting government shutdown

Democratic and Republican leaders in the U.S. Congress on Wednesday announced they had reached a deal for advancing the 12 annual bills that fund an array of federal programs for the fiscal year ending on Sept. 30, and could also avert government shutdowns on Saturday. The pact approved by House of Representatives and Senate leaders would pave the way for votes on a stopgap funding bill to keep the government operating normally through newly-set March 8 and March 22 deadlines, giving lawmakers time to examine and debate the full-year funding bills.