Reuters US Domestic News Summary
Following is a summary of current US domestic news briefs.
Exclusive: Biden garners more Republican endorsements, this time from ex-governors
Nearly 100 Republican and independent leaders will endorse Democrat Joe Biden for president on Thursday, including one-time 2020 Republican presidential candidate Bill Weld and the former Republican governors of Michigan and New Jersey, people involved in the effort told Reuters. The latest Republican-led effort to oppose the re-election of President Donald Trump also includes current and former Republicans in the key battleground state of Michigan that will help decide the outcome of the Nov. 3 election, the group's members said.
Trump threatens to cut federal funds to 'lawless' cities
President Donald Trump signed a memo on Wednesday that threatens to cut federal funding to "lawless" cities, including Seattle, Portland, New York and Washington. "My Administration will not allow Federal tax dollars to fund cities that allow themselves to deteriorate into lawless zones," said the memo, which was released by the White House.
Trump campaign sues Democratic Montana governor to limit mail-in voting
Republican President Donald Trump's re-election campaign sued the Democratic governor of Montana on Wednesday in an attempt to halt an expansion of mail-in voting in the run up to November's election. The lawsuit comes as Trump frequently alleges - without providing evidence - that voting by mail is riddled with fraud, and as a record number of Americans are expected to mail their ballots because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Portland police make arrests after protest turns violent
Several demonstrators were arrested in Portland after they threw rocks and projectiles at police officials, authorities in the U.S. city said. The police said early on Thursday that demonstrators began a march around 11 p.m. local time, adding that officers closed a street and ordered protesters to not enter the area or risk facing arrest.
Former New York Mets star pitcher Tom Seaver dies at 75
Tom Seaver, the Hall-of-Fame pitcher who won more than 300 games during his Major League Baseball career and led the New York Mets to their unlikely 1969 World Series championship, has died at the age of 75. Seaver, who was nicknamed "The Franchise" and "Tom Terrific" because of how valuable he was to the Mets, died in his sleep on Monday from complications of Lewy body dementia and COVID-19, the Baseball Hall of Fame said in a statement.
Biden seeks to 'bring together' strife-torn city in visit to Wisconsin battleground
Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden will make his first campaign venture into a strife-torn American city on Thursday when he travels to Kenosha, Wisconsin, which has become the latest battleground over police brutality and racial injustice. President Donald Trump, his opponent in the Nov. 3 election, has increasingly made civil unrest a central theme of his re-election campaign. Biden's camp says his visit to Kenosha, however, will aim to "bring together Americans to heal" by convening a community meeting in the city where tensions remain high following the shooting of Jacob Blake, a Black man, by police last week.
U.S. attorney general calls mail-in voting 'playing with fire'; experts say fraud rare
U.S. Attorney General William Barr said on Wednesday that mail-in ballots for the Nov. 3 election could be vulnerable to fraud, echoing an argument President Donald Trump has made to denounce the use of voting by mail. "People trying to change the rules to this methodology, which, as a matter of logic, is very open to fraud and coercion. It's reckless and dangerous, and people are playing with fire," Barr said in an interview with CNN.
U.S. CDC tells states to prep for COVID-19 vaccine distribution as soon as late October
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has asked state public health officials to prepare to distribute a potential coronavirus vaccine to high-risk groups as soon as late October, documents published by the agency showed on Wednesday. The timing of a vaccine has taken on political importance as U.S. President Donald Trump seeks re-election in November, after committing billions of federal dollars to develop a vaccine to prevent COVID-19, which has killed more than 180,000 Americans.
Trump suggests voting twice in North Carolina, which is illegal
U.S. President Donald Trump has urged residents of North Carolina to vote twice in the Nov. 3 election, once by mail and once in person, openly urging an act of voter fraud even as he has decried mail-in ballots. "Let them send it in and let them go vote," Trump said in an interview on Wednesday with WECT-TV in Wilmington, North Carolina. "And if the system is as good as they say it is then obviously they won't be able to vote" in person.
'Tenet' tests American appetite for coronavirus movie-going
Christopher Nolan's thriller "Tenet" finally arrives in U.S. movie theaters this weekend, hoping to revive movie going after a pandemic-induced closure of indoor theaters and a dearth of new content. Hollywood breathed a sigh of relief last weekend when "Tenet" brought in a solid $53.6 million in Europe and other markets, suggesting that audiences are hungry for new content and prepared to put up with social distancing and masks to see them on big indoor screens.
