US Domestic News: From Fauci's Denial to Trump's Fundraising Surge

This summary highlights major current US domestic news, including Dr. Fauci denying suppressing the COVID lab leak theory, the trial of tech founder Mike Lynch, Hunter Biden's gun charges, Trump's campaign fundraising, and more. Key topics also cover social media regulations and a high-profile lawsuit involving Jeffrey Epstein's alleged sex trafficking network.

Following is a summary of current US domestic news briefs.

Fauci denies suppressing COVID lab leak theory before US House panel

Former top U.S. infectious disease expert Dr. Anthony Fauci strongly denied suppressing the theory that COVID-19 originated from a lab leak in China, telling lawmakers he never influenced research on the origins of the virus. In his first time addressing the allegations publicly since a 14-hour hearing held behind closed doors in January, Fauci also reiterated that he believes the most likely origin of the pandemic was animal-to-human transmission.

UK tech founder Mike Lynch's lawyers seek acquittal at US fraud trial

Mike Lynch's lawyers on Monday portrayed the British tech pioneer as a savvy entrepreneur while prosecutors in a San Francisco court labeled him a greedy fraudster, and jurors will soon weigh allegations that Lynch defrauded Hewlett-Packard in its $11 billion acquisition of his software company. The 2011 deal was one of the biggest British tech deals at the time, but quickly went sour. HP wrote down Autonomy's value by $8.8 billion within a year of the acquisition.

Hunter Biden jury sworn in, will hear evidence of addiction and a gun buy

A jury was sworn in on Monday for the trial of Hunter Biden on gun charges, a historic criminal prosecution of a sitting president's son with the potential to influence the 2024 presidential election. Hunter Biden, 54, went on trial at the federal courthouse in Wilmington, Delaware, four days after Republican Donald Trump, the Democratic president's rival for the Nov. 5 U.S. election, became the first former president found guilty of a crime.

Trump, RNC raise $141 million in May, boosted by guilty verdict

Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump's campaign and the Republican National Committee said on Monday they had raised $141 million in May, nearly doubling the prior month's haul thanks to a flood of support following his conviction. The tally includes the $53 million the Trump campaign said it raised in the 24 hours after a New York jury convicted the former president of falsifying business records related to a payoff to silence a porn star on the eve of the 2016 presidential election. Trump had denied any wrongdoing.

Jeffrey Epstein accuser sues prominent psychiatrist for making her 'sex slave'

A prominent 91-year-old psychiatrist who was once close friends with Jeffrey Epstein was sued on Monday by a onetime model who said he enabled the late financier's sex trafficking, and turned her into his "modern-day sex slave." In a complaint filed in Manhattan federal court, the plaintiff, using a pseudonym Jane Doe 11, said Henry Jarecki raped her repeatedly starting in 2011, after Epstein referred her for mental health treatment following his own sexual abuses.

New York set to restrict social media algorithms for teens, WSJ reports

New York is planning to prohibit social media companies from using algorithms to control content to youth without parental consent under a tentative agreement reached by state lawmakers, the Wall Street Journal reported on Monday, citing people familiar with the matter. Social media platforms have in recent years come under scrutiny for its addictive nature and impact on the youth.

Georgia appeals court to weigh Fani Willis' role in Trump case in October

A Georgia appeals court will hear arguments in October on whether to disqualify Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis from prosecuting Donald Trump for trying to overturn his 2020 defeat, a schedule that will likely postpone that trial until after the Nov. 5 election. At issue is whether the prosecution is tainted as a result of Willis' past affair with her one-time top deputy whom she hired to work on the probe.

Trump conviction vindicates prosecutor Alvin Bragg's bet

Just over a year after taking office as Manhattan District Attorney, Alvin Bragg took a career-defining gamble: charging a former U.S. president with crimes using an untested legal theory. The roll of the dice paid off on Thursday, when a jury found Donald Trump guilty on all 34 counts he faced of falsifying records to cover up hush money paid to porn star Stormy Daniels - a monumental verdict that could upend the presidential election, in which Trump is the Republican candidate.

Black man's attorneys say Minnesota bowed to pressure in dropping charges against trooper

Attorneys for the family of a Black U.S. man shot dead by a Minnesota state trooper accused prosecutors on Monday of bowing to political pressure in dropping the charges. The Hennepin County Attorney's Office on Sunday dismissed charges of unintentional murder and manslaughter against State Trooper Ryan Londregan in the 2023 shooting death of Ricky Cobb II, citing Londregan's intention to testify that he acted in self-defense.

Why Biden's campaign isn't celebrating Trump's felony conviction

In the wake of Donald Trump's historic hush-money conviction, Democrats are wrestling with how central Trump's felonies should be to President Joe Biden's reelection campaign.

So far, the answer is "not very."

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