Reuters US Domestic News Summary

Officers from about 10 nearby law-enforcement agencies converged on the campus after university officials requested help because protesters had occupied the lecture hall, leading the school to declare it a "violent protest," police and university officials said. A second Trump presidency would target IEA's green focus, advisers say Donald Trump would likely push to replace the head of the International Energy Agency if he wins the U.S. presidential election to shift the energy watchdog's focus back to maximizing fossil fuel output instead of fighting climate change, according to people familiar with the matter.

Following is a summary of current US domestic news briefs.

Transcript of interview with New York Fed's Williams

Federal Reserve Bank of New York President John Williams was interviewed by Reuters on Wednesday. The following transcript has been edited for clarity: MICHAEL DERBY: We speak today on a day where we got some pretty important data. So I thought maybe we kind of start off right there and get what you think about the CPI report from this morning and also retail sales.

Democratic divide on Gaza war, campus protests hurting Biden, Reuters/Ipsos poll finds

Democrats are deeply divided over President Joe Biden's handling of both the war in Gaza and the U.S. campus protests against it, a new Reuters/Ipsos poll found, fraying the coalition that he relied on four years ago to defeat Republican Donald Trump. Some 44% of Democratic registered voters responding to the May 7-14 poll said they disapprove of Biden's handling of the crisis. Democrats who disapproved of his response were less likely to say they would vote for Biden in the Nov. 5 election -- no small concern given his tight rematch with Trump.

Police take back building from protesters at University of California, Irvine

Police on Wednesday took back a lecture hall from pro-Palestinian protesters who for hours occupied the building at the University of California, Irvine, then cleared a student encampment that stood for more than two weeks, witnesses said. Officers from about 10 nearby law-enforcement agencies converged on the campus after university officials requested help because protesters had occupied the lecture hall, leading the school to declare it a "violent protest," police and university officials said.

A second Trump presidency would target IEA's green focus, advisers say

Donald Trump would likely push to replace the head of the International Energy Agency if he wins the U.S. presidential election to shift the energy watchdog's focus back to maximizing fossil fuel output instead of fighting climate change, according to people familiar with the matter. The Paris-based IEA has provided research and data to industrialized governments for more than half a century to help guide policy around energy security, supply and investment. The United States provides around a quarter of the group's funding.

Biden, Trump agree to debate on June 27 and Sept. 10

U.S. President Joe Biden and Republican rival Donald Trump on Wednesday agreed to face off in two debates on June 27 and Sept. 10, setting up the highest stakes moments yet of the race for the White House. "As you said: anywhere, any time, any place," Biden said on social media.

Trump's lawyers to attack Michael Cohen's story of hush money scheme

Donald Trump's lawyers plan to resume their cross-examination of the Republican presidential candidate's ex-fixer Michael Cohen on Thursday, aiming to undermine his testimony that Trump was intimately involved in buying a porn star's silence over an alleged sexual encounter. Cohen, 57, who served as Trump's personal lawyer for over a decade, testified this week that Trump ordered him to pay Stormy Daniels $130,000 in 2016 to protect Trump's presidential campaign.

Exclusive-Fed's Williams welcomes inflation data, not ready to seek rate cuts

Federal Reserve Bank of New York President John Williams welcomed the arrival of softer consumer inflation data, he told Reuters, but said that positive news is not enough to call for the U.S. central bank to cut interest rates sometime soon. While it is important not to overemphasize the latest economic news, the softer tone of April's Consumer Price Index is "kind of a positive development after a few months where the data were disappointing," Williams said in an interview with Reuters on Wednesday.

Biden commemorates Brown v. Board of Education anniversary with White House meeting

U.S. President Joe Biden on Thursday will meet with family members of the plaintiffs in the 1954 Supreme Court case Brown v. Board of Education, which outlawed racial segregation in American public schools. Biden, a Democrat who is running for re-election in November, will commemorate 70 years since the ruling took place at a meeting with a key player and relatives of the plaintiffs in the White House Oval Office.

Trump, allies are laying the groundwork to contest potential election loss

Donald Trump and his allies are laying the groundwork to contest a potential loss in November, stoking doubts about the election's legitimacy even as opinion polls show the Republican presidential candidate leading in battleground states. In recent interviews, Trump has refused to commit to accepting the election results. At his rallies, he has portrayed Democrats as cheaters, called mail-in ballots corrupt and urged supporters to vote in such large numbers to render the election "too big to rig."

US must act to slash landfill methane emissions, report says

Methane emissions at nearly two dozen U.S. landfills regularly exceeded federal limits and in some cases were higher than facility owners reported to the government, according to an analysis of inspection reports published on Thursday. The study by environmental nonprofit Industrious Labs concluded that U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) regulations are insufficient to prevent landfills, or garbage dumps, from emitting large amounts of the climate-warming gas methane.