Reuters US Domestic News Summary

The effort, which began in 2019, has not been previously reported. Biden has a marginal 1 point lead over Trump, Reuters/Ipsos poll shows U.S. President Joe Biden had a marginal 1 percentage point lead over Donald Trump ahead of the November presidential election as each candidate secured enough support from their parties to appear on the ballot, a new Reuters/Ipsos poll found. Some 39% of registered voters in the one-week poll, which closed on Wednesday, said they would vote for Biden, a Democrat, if the election were held today, compared with 38% who picked Republican former President Trump.

Following is a summary of current US domestic news briefs.

Judge denies Trump motion to dismiss classified-documents case

A federal judge on Thursday denied former U.S. President Donald Trump's request to dismiss a criminal case that charges him with illegally holding onto classified documents after leaving the White House. The ruling by U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon in Florida came just hours after a hearing in which his lawyers argued that the central charge in the case is improperly vague.

Trump hush money trial faces possible delay over late evidence disclosure

Prosecutors in Donald Trump's hush money case said on Thursday they would not oppose a 30-day delay in the trial, set to begin on March 25, after the Republican presidential candidate said late disclosure of evidence was hurting his preparation. A delay to the first-ever criminal trial of a former U.S. president would mark another victory for Trump, who has sought to slow down proceedings in his various legal entanglements as he prepares to challenge Democratic President Joe Biden in the Nov. 5 election.

Exclusive-Trump launched CIA covert influence operation against China

Two years into office, President Donald Trump authorized the Central Intelligence Agency to launch a clandestine campaign on Chinese social media aimed at turning public opinion in China against its government, according to former U.S. officials with direct knowledge of the highly classified operation. Three former officials told Reuters that the CIA created a small team of operatives who used bogus internet identities to spread negative narratives about Xi Jinping's government while leaking disparaging intelligence to overseas news outlets. The effort, which began in 2019, has not been previously reported.

Biden has a marginal 1 point lead over Trump, Reuters/Ipsos poll shows

U.S. President Joe Biden had a marginal 1 percentage point lead over Donald Trump ahead of the November presidential election as each candidate secured enough support from their parties to appear on the ballot, a new Reuters/Ipsos poll found.

Some 39% of registered voters in the one-week poll, which closed on Wednesday, said they would vote for Biden, a Democrat, if the election were held today, compared with 38% who picked Republican former President Trump. Biden's lead was within the survey's 1.8 percentage point margin of error.

US economy cooling in first quarter; inflation appears sticky

U.S. retail sales rebounded less than expected in February, suggesting a slowdown in consumer spending in the first quarter amid rising inflation and high borrowing costs. The signs of slowing economic activity are, however, unlikely to spur the Federal Reserve to start cutting interest rates before June as other data on Thursday showed a larger-than-expected increase in producer prices last month.

US' Harris visits Minnesota abortion clinic in historic first

U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris on Thursday toured a health clinic that offers abortion services while she was in Minnesota, spotlighting growing restrictions on women's rights that Democrats believe will animate voters in November. The visit, believed to be the first of a sitting president or vice president to such a clinic, comes as U.S. President Joe Biden highlights abortion rights as a key issue ahead of the 2024 presidential election.

US Senate not moving to fast-track House bill for TikTok divestiture

A number of U.S. senators want the chamber to take its time in deciding whether to back a House of Representatives bill that would force Chinese-based ByteDance to divest short video app TikTok within six months or face a ban. The House voted 352-65 on Wednesday, just eight days after the proposal was introduced. There is broad support in the Senate for taking action to address national security threats from foreign apps like TikTok but no agreement on the right approach.

US Senate Republicans push back against anti 'judge shopping' policy

U.S. Senate Republicans on Thursday pushed the federal judiciary to rethink a new policy designed to curb the practice of "judge shopping" used by conservative litigants to steer cases challenging President Joe Biden's agenda to judges perceived as sympathetic. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell on the Senate floor said he hoped the U.S. Judicial Conference, the judiciary's policymaking body, would reconsider the "half-baked" policy it adopted on Tuesday designed to ensure that cases challenging federal and state laws are randomly assigned judges.

Analysis-TikTok bill sets up fight over free speech protections of U.S. Constitution

U.S. lawmakers want to force a sale of TikTok by its Chinese owner or ban it from app stores, which legal experts said would set up a showdown with the social media company over the U.S. Constitution's First Amendment free speech protections.

While the bill itself does not say anything about speech, the proposal has alarmed civil rights advocates, TikTok and users of the app, all of whom could sue to block the proposal if it becomes law.

Michigan school shooter's father convicted of manslaughter

A Michigan jury on Thursday convicted the father of a teenager who fatally shot four classmates at a high school near Detroit of manslaughter after prosecutors argued he bore responsibility because he and his wife gave their son a gun and ignored warning signs of violence. James Crumbley, 47, was found guilty in his trial, carried out a month after his wife, Jennifer Crumbley, was found guilty on manslaughter charges stemming from the shooting. James Crumbley faced four counts of involuntary manslaughter, one for each of the victims at Oxford High School in the 2021 shootings. Jurors began deliberating on Wednesday.

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