Reuters US Domestic News Summary

Following is a summary of current US domestic news briefs.

Japanese interpreter charged with stealing $16 million from MLB star Shohei Ohtani

Japanese baseball star Shohei Ohtani's former interpreter was charged on Thursday with bank fraud for stealing $16 million from the Los Angeles Dodgers slugger to cover gambling debts, according to court documents. According to a 36-page criminal complaint and affidavit filed in federal court in Los Angeles, Ippei Mizuhara embezzled the money from an account of Ohtani's that Mizuhara had helped set up and sent the funds without Ohtani's knowledge to an illegal sports gambling operation.

US House vote on surveillance bill expected Friday after change

The U.S. House of Representatives is expected to vote on controversial surveillance legislation on Friday, lawmakers said, two days after an initial attempt failed in the Republican-controlled chamber. The chamber appeared poised to vote on passage of the modest overhaul of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, or FISA, after talks involving former President Donald Trump and nearly 20 of his hardline allies led House Speaker Mike Johnson to shorten the length of the surveillance authority to two years rather than five, according to multiple lawmakers.

Trump campaign calls to debate Biden earlier and more times

Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump wants to debate President Joe Biden more than the usual three times and to hold them earlier in the 2024 election cycle, his campaign said in a letter on Thursday to the commission overseeing debates. Trump, who refused to debate his challengers in the Republican Party's primary before becoming the presumptive nominee last month, has in recent weeks turned to goading Biden, offering to debate him "anytime, anywhere, anyplace."

Ohio senator wants Biden to permanently ban Chinese EVs from US

The chair of the Senate Banking Committee on Thursday urged President Joe Biden to block Chinese-made vehicles from the United States auto market, marking the strongest call yet for action against China's automakers by a U.S. lawmaker. "I implore you to take bold, aggressive action and to permanently ban EVs produced by Chinese companies or whatever subsidiaries they establish to conceal their origins," Senator Sherrod Brown, a Democrat, wrote on Thursday to Biden calling for "expeditious" action. "Chinese electric vehicles are an existential threat to the American auto industry."

Kishida delights Washington with promise of 250 cherry trees as independence gift

Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida drew cheers and applause from U.S. lawmakers on Thursday when he announced a plan to donate 250 cherry trees to the U.S. capital to celebrate the 250th anniversary of the U.S. independence. In a speech to the U.S. Congress in Washington underscoring close ties between the United States and Japan, Kishida referred to work the U.S. National Park Service is undertaking to spruce up the Tidal Basin, an area of parkland in Washington that is home to national monuments such as the Lincoln Memorial.

FBI concerned about possible coordinated attack in US after Russia massacre

The FBI is concerned about the possibility of an organized attack in the United States similar to the one that killed scores of people at a Russian concert hall last month, the bureau's director told a House of Representatives panel on Thursday. “As I look back over my career in law enforcement, I would be hard-pressed to think of a time where so many threats to our public safety and national security were so elevated all at once,” Christopher Wray told lawmakers at a budget hearing on Thursday.

Explainer-Trump says migrants are fueling violent crime. Here is what the research shows

Donald Trump is blaming migrants in the U.S. illegally for fueling violent crime as part of his campaign to win back the White House, repeating rhetoric used during his previous run for the presidency. But studies show immigrants are not more likely to engage in criminality. WHAT IS TRUMP SAYING ABOUT IMMIGRANTS AND CRIME?

O.J. Simpson, football star turned celebrity murder defendant, dead at 76

O.J. Simpson, the American football star and actor who was acquitted in a sensational 1995 trial of murdering his former wife but was found responsible for her death in a civil lawsuit and was later imprisoned for armed robbery and kidnapping, has died at the age of 76. Simpson, cleared by a Los Angeles jury in what the U.S. media called "the trial of the century," had died on Wednesday after a battle with cancer, his family posted on social media on Thursday.

Support from 'indispensable' US vital for Ukraine's survival, Japan PM tells Congress

Ukraine risks collapsing under Russia's onslaught without U.S. support, a disaster that could embolden China and spark a new crisis in East Asia, Japan's prime minister told U.S. lawmakers on Thursday, urging them to overcome "self-doubt" about the country's role on the world stage. In the first speech to a joint meeting of Congress by a Japanese leader in nine years, Fumio Kishida urged Americans not to doubt the country's "indispensable" role in world affairs, and said Tokyo was undertaking historic military upgrades to support its ally.

Hot inflation may put Fed rate cut in thick of election season

Hot U.S. inflation data has put the Federal Reserve's debate over a first interest rate cut on a potential collision course with the presidential election calendar, although a parade of top-level Fed-watching economists also predict the Fed won't make its move until after Americans go to the polls. Rate futures markets now show investors see a first rate cut as most likely occurring at the Fed's Sept. 17-18 meeting after data showed inflation through the entire first quarter of 2024 was stiffer than expected and had demonstrably slowed progress on bringing it back to the Fed's 2% target.