Trump's VP Search: A Closer Look at His Potential Running Mates

Donald Trump's search for a vice-presidential candidate has mostly male contenders, with high marks for Doug Burgum and Tim Scott. Despite past tensions, some donors suggest Nikki Haley, Trump's former U.N. ambassador. The list forms part of Trump’s strategy as he gears up for the upcoming presidential election.

Following is a summary of current US domestic news briefs.

As Trump narrows VP search, his short list is nearly all men

When the topic of Donald Trump's potential running mate arose at a Manhattan fundraiser last week, the Republican presidential candidate gave high marks to contenders including North Dakota Governor Doug Burgum and U.S. Senator Tim Scott. Some of the wealthy donors said Trump should select former primary rival Nikki Haley as his No. 2. Ties between the two had soured over her having challenged him, but she had served as his loyal U.N. ambassador for two years while he was president.

At Menendez trial, ex-prosecutor recounts 'gross' meeting with New Jersey senator

The former New Jersey attorney general Gurbir Grewal testified at U.S. Senator Bob Menendez's corruption trial on Thursday that the lawmaker sought to intervene in a local criminal case, including a meeting that Grewal's deputy described as "gross." Federal prosecutors in Manhattan have said Menendez sought to have Grewal, the state's top prosecutor from 2018 through 2021, intervene in cases involving two associates of insurance and trucking businessman Jose Uribe.

Texas seeks court block on Biden administration's destruction of border fencing

A U.S. appeals court on Thursday seemed open to barring the Biden administration from destroying razor-wire fencing that Texas placed along its border with Mexico while the Republican-led state pursues a lawsuit accusing the federal government of trespassing. A three-judge panel of the New Orleans-based 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals heard arguments for nearly an hour in an appeal by Texas of a judge's ruling that said the state's trespassing law cannot be applied to the federal government and U.S. immigration authorities were immune from the state's lawsuit.

Hunter Biden's criminal gun trial nearing end

Lawyers for President Joe Biden's son Hunter Biden could begin making their case on Friday that he did not break the law when he said that he was not addicted to drugs while buying a gun in 2018, as his criminal trial approaches its end. The jury in the first-ever criminal trial of a U.S. president's child so far this week have heard witnesses including Hunter Biden's ex-wife, former girlfriend and sister-in-law testify about his use of crack cocaine.

Trump ally Bannon ordered to report to prison for defying Jan. 6 probe

Steve Bannon, a former top adviser to Donald Trump, must report to prison by July 1 to serve a four-month sentence for contempt of Congress, a federal judge said on Thursday. The decision means Bannon, a right-wing media firebrand who maintains influence in Trump's orbit, will likely be behind bars for a critical stretch of the U.S. presidential campaign as former President Trump faces Democratic President Joe Biden in the Nov. 5 election.

Trump rakes in $12 million at tech fundraiser in liberal San Francisco

Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump raised $12 million on Thursday, two sources said, at an event hosted by two tech venture capitalists in San Francisco that drew Silicon Valley investors turned off by the Biden administration's policies. Venture capitalists David Sacks and Chamath Palihapitiya, as well as Sacks' wife Jacqueline, held the reception and dinner with Trump at the Sacks' swanky mansion in the Pacific Heights neighborhood, according to an invitation seen by Reuters.

Biden campaign hires Republican to pursue 'never Trump' voters

U.S. President Joe Biden is making a pitch for his re-election to Republicans who do not support their party's standard-bearer, Donald Trump, in November's election, a Biden campaign official said on Thursday. The Democratic president's campaign has hired a national Republican engagement director: Austin Weatherford, who was chief of staff to former Republican congressman Adam Kinzinger, an outspoken critic of Trump, the official said.

Exclusive-US House committee grills Carney, Schapiro in push against climate coalitions

A U.S. lawmakers' committee conducted interviews with two Glasgow Financial Alliance for Net Zero (GFANZ) leaders, former central bank governor Mark Carney and former U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission Mary Schapiro, in an escalation of their push against global coalitions to tackle climate change. The House of Representatives' judiciary committee, which is controlled by Republicans led by its chairman Jim Jordan, set up the interviews earlier this year out of concern that GFANZ "appears to facilitate collusion that may violate U.S. antitrust law," according to letters to GFANZ staff reviewed by Reuters and people familiar with the matter.

US Southwest sizzles under heat dome in an ominous prelude to summer

A massive high-pressure system known as a heat dome that has stalled over the U.S. Southwest was pushing temperatures in the region well above 100 degrees Fahrenheit (38 degrees Celsius) on Thursday, leaving millions of Americans to swelter in the coming days. Some 31 million people from Northern California, south through Arizona and east into Texas, were under excessive heat warnings and heat advisories issued by the National Weather Service through Saturday. The same region suffered under weeks of extremely hot weather last summer.

US lawmakers call to add China's CATL, Gotion to import ban list, WSJ reports

Chinese battery companies CATL and Gotion High Tech should be added immediately to an import ban list, a group of Republican lawmakers said, alleging their supply chains use forced labour, the Wall Street Journal reported. The lawmakers called for CATL and Gotion, which have ties to Ford and Volkswagen respectively, to be added to what is known as the entity list under the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act, the report said on Thursday.

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