US Domestic News Summary: U.S. Supreme Court justices lean toward insurers on $12 billion Obamacare claims

Following is a summary of current US domestic news briefs. U.S. Supreme Court justices lean toward insurers on $12 billion Obamacare claims

U.S. Supreme Court justices on Tuesday appeared sympathetic to claims made by health insurers seeking $12 billion from the federal government under a program set up by the Obamacare law aimed at encouraging them to offer medical coverage to previously uninsured Americans. The justices considered a challenge by a group of insurers of a lower court's ruling that Congress had suspended the government's obligation to make such payments. The insurers have said that ruling constituted a "bait-and-switch" that would enable the government to withhold money the companies were promised. Mistakes, but no political bias in FBI probe of Trump campaign: watchdog

The U.S. Justice Department's internal watchdog said on Monday that it found numerous errors but no evidence of political bias by the FBI when it opened an investigation into contacts between Donald Trump's presidential campaign and Russia in 2016. The report by Inspector General Michael Horowitz gave ammunition to both Trump's supporters and his Democratic critics in the debate about the legitimacy of an investigation that clouded the first two years of his presidency. U.S. Attorney General Barr says FBI may have acted in 'bad faith' on Russia probe

U.S. Attorney General William Barr said on Tuesday he is still not fully convinced that the FBI acted without bias when it opened its 2016 investigation into possible links between President Donald Trump's campaign and Russia. In his first interview since a report by Justice Department Inspector General Michael Horowitz faulting the FBI for missteps in how it sought to put a former Trump campaign adviser under surveillance, Barr said he still has doubts about the FBI's motives to pursue what he called a "baseless" investigation. Pennsylvania court rejects Bill Cosby's appeal of sex assault conviction

A Pennsylvania appeals court on Tuesday dismissed Bill Cosby's bid to overturn his 2018 sex assault conviction, rejecting his lawyers' argument that a judge deprived the comedian of a fair trial by allowing other accusers to testify. Cosby, who built a long career capped by the 1980s TV hit "The Cosby Show," became the first celebrity convicted in the "#MeToo" era when a jury found him guilty of drugging and sexually assaulting Andrea Constand, a former Temple University administrator, at his Philadelphia home in 2004. Security clearance loophole allowed ex-NSA hackers to work for UAE

How do you keep a coveted top-secret U.S. government security clearance while working for a foreign spy service? That question vexed U.S. intelligence operatives recruited to work as contractors for a secret United Arab Emirates hacking team. But maintaining this privileged status, which allows access to America’s most sensitive secrets, wouldn’t be a problem, operatives say their employer told them. University of Phoenix to pay $191 million to settle 'deceptive ad' probe

The University of Phoenix, which is owned by Apollo Education Group, has agreed to pay $191 million to settle charges that it falsely advertised close ties with major U.S. companies that could lead to jobs for students, the Federal Trade Commission said on Tuesday. The University of Phoenix will pay $50 million to the FTC to return to consumers and cancel $141 million in student debt. At least six dead, including two suspected gunmen, in Jersey City shooting

At least six people, including one police officer and two suspected gunmen, were killed in a shootout around a New Jersey grocery store across the Hudson River from Manhattan on Tuesday afternoon, prompting a security lockdown of area schools, officials and local media said. Five people - three civilian victims and the two suspects - were pronounced dead inside the store - and a police detective also died in an exchange of gunfire in which hundreds of rounds were fired, Police Chief Michael Kelly said. Exxon Mobil scores win in New York climate change lawsuit

Exxon Mobil Corp won a major victory in a closely-watched lawsuit on Tuesday when a judge ruled that the company did not defraud investors out of up to $1.6 billion by hiding the true cost of climate change regulation. The ruling by Justice Barry Ostrager in Manhattan Supreme Court followed a trial featuring testimony from investors, experts and former Exxon Chief Executive Officer Rex Tillerson. U.S. agency urges closing 'loophole' on tourist helicopter flights after fatal crash

U.S. safety regulators said the primary cause of a March 2018 helicopter crash that killed five tourists on a photo-shoot trip over New York City was the use of a supplemental harness tether system that triggered an engine failure. The National Transportation Safety Board said a front passenger’s tether, which connected his supplemental harness to the helicopter, caught on the doors-off Airbus Helicopters AS350 aircraft’s fuel shutoff lever, resulting in a loss of engine power at an altitude of 1,900 feet. The pilot, who survived, successfully ditched the helicopter into the East River. U.S. Senate leader McConnell raises possibility of quick impeachment trial

U.S. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell raised the prospect on Tuesday of a short Senate impeachment trial for President Donald Trump in which no witnesses would be called. The scenario of a truncated trial would put McConnell, the top Senate Republican, at odds with Trump, also a Republican, who has been calling for a full trial with witnesses, including former Vice President Joe Biden, on the Senate floor.

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