Reuters US Domestic News Summary

Menendez, who is New Jersey's senior senator, faces 16 criminal charges including bribery, fraud, obstruction and acting as a foreign agent. US House Speaker Johnson to join Republican parade at Trump hush money trial Republican U.S. House of Representatives Speaker Mike Johnson will join former President Donald Trump at his hush money trial in Manhattan on Tuesday, a person familiar with the matter said.

Following is a summary of current US domestic news briefs.

US Senator Robert Menendez goes on trial for corruption, no jurors chosen

Jury selection began in the corruption trial of U.S. Senator Robert Menendez on Monday, with a judge excusing dozens of prospective jurors in a case that could affect the Democrat's political future and the makeup of the U.S. Senate. Menendez, who is New Jersey's senior senator, faces 16 criminal charges including bribery, fraud, obstruction and acting as a foreign agent.

US House Speaker Johnson to join Republican parade at Trump hush money trial

Republican U.S. House of Representatives Speaker Mike Johnson will join former President Donald Trump at his hush money trial in Manhattan on Tuesday, a person familiar with the matter said. Johnson, the top Republican in Congress, is the latest and most senior party member to attend the proceedings, in which Trump is charged with trying to cover up a payment to an adult film star in the final weeks of his 2016 presidential campaign.

Trump's former fixer Cohen to resume testifying about hush money deal with porn star

Donald Trump's former fixer Michael Cohen will resume testifying on Tuesday at the Republican presidential candidate's criminal trial, a day after telling jurors that Trump personally authorized him to make a hush money payment to a porn star weeks before the 2016 election. Cohen, once so loyal to Trump that he claimed he would take a bullet for his boss, is the prosecution's most important witness. In hours of testimony on Monday, he said Trump ordered him to pay the adult film actress Stormy Daniels - "Just do it," Cohen remembered Trump saying - to ensure her silence about an alleged 2006 sexual encounter.

Jury selection to resume in US Senator Menendez's corruption trial

Jury selection is expected to resume on Tuesday in U.S. Senator Robert Menendez's corruption trial, over what federal prosecutors called a years-long bribery scheme to help foreign governments, disrupt criminal cases and enrich himself. Menendez, a Democrat and New Jersey's senior senator, has pleaded not guilty in Manhattan federal court to 16 criminal charges including bribery, fraud, acting as a foreign agent and obstruction.

Pentagon leaker Jack Teixeira faces US military justice hearing

Jack Teixeira, a member of the Massachusetts Air National Guard who pleaded guilty to leaking classified military documents on topics including the war in Ukraine, is slated to appear for a military justice proceeding on Tuesday to face new charges. Teixeira, 22, was arrested in April 2023 and accused of carrying out one of the most serious U.S. national security breaches in years.

Collapsed Baltimore bridge blasted into pieces in effort to clear wreckage

U.S. crews in Baltimore set off controlled explosions on Monday to allow them to remove a portion of the collapsed Francis Scott Key Bridge from the bow of the massive container ship that toppled the span in March. The detonations were meant to break the bridge's truss into small sections, enabling salvage crews to use cranes and barges to haul away the twisted metal wreckage, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers said. The work, originally planned for Sunday, was delayed because of weather conditions.

US Capitol riot's shadow looms over Maryland, West Virginia primaries

More than three years have passed since former President Donald Trump's supporters stormed the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, trying to overturn his election defeat, but the event will play a major role in a series of congressional primaries on Tuesday. The riot played a major role in the life of two candidates seeking their parties' nominations to run for the U.S. House of Representatives -- Democratic former Capitol Police officer Harry Dunn of Maryland and West Virginia Republican Derrick Evans, who served time in prison after pleading guilty to joining the unrest.

US opens probe into Alphabet's Waymo over 'unexpected behavior' of self-driving vehicles

U.S. auto safety regulators said on Tuesday they have opened an investigation into the performance of Alphabet's Waymo self-driving vehicles after reports of its robotaxis exhibiting driving behavior that potentially violated traffic safety laws. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) said its preliminary evaluation into an estimated 444 Waymo vehicles follows 22 reports of 22 incidents including 17 collisions.

Lidar maker Hesai sues US government, denies alleged link to China's military

China-based Hesai Group sued the U.S. government on Monday for adding the maker of lidar light sensors to a list of companies allegedly working with Beijing's military. Hesai, whose lidars help self-driving cars and driver-assistance systems gain a three-dimensional map of the road, was added to the list by the U.S. Department of Defense in January along with over a dozen other companies.

Biden sharply hikes US tariffs on billions in Chinese chips, cars

U.S. President Joe Biden on Tuesday unveiled a bundle of steep tariff increases on an array of Chinese imports including electric vehicles, computer chips and medical products, risking an election-year standoff with Beijing in a bid to woo voters who give his economic policies low marks. China immediately vowed retaliation. Its commerce ministry said China was opposed to the U.S. tariff hikes and would take measures to defend its interests, urging the United States to cancel the measures.