Reuters US Domestic News Summary

A unanimous three-judge panel of the New York-based 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals rejected Pfizer's effort to directly cover co-pays for patients taking its Vyndaqel and Vyndamax drugs. Ex-Pence chief of staff Short testifies before grand jury investigating Capitol attack -ABC Marc Short, who was a top staffer to Republican former Vice President Mike Pence, has testified before a federal grand jury investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol and efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election, ABC News reported on Monday.

Following is a summary of current US domestic news briefs.

COVID symptoms almost resolved, Biden says he is feeling great

U.S. President Joe Biden on Monday said he was "feeling great," as he recovers from COVID-19, and that he expected to end his isolation and return to normal working conditions by the end of the week. Biden held a virtual event with semiconductor manufacturers and several top administration officials to promote legislation aimed at boosting chip production in the United States. His voice was raspy but he seemed otherwise in good health.

Biden says Trump is anti-police, lacked courage to stop Jan. 6 attack

U.S. President Joe Biden ripped several of his possible Republican 2024 election opponents on Monday, including saying that his predecessor Donald Trump lacked the "courage" to stop the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol. "The police were heroes that day: Donald Trump lacked the courage to act," Biden said in taped remarks to the National Organization of Black Law Enforcement Executives Conference.

Judge sets February trial date for accused New York subway shooter

A U.S. judge on Monday set a tentative late February trial date for Frank James, the man accused of carrying out an April 12 shooting and smoke bomb attack in a New York subway car. James, 62, is accused of injuring 23 people during the morning rush hour on a Manhattan-bound N-train in Brooklyn's Sunset Park neighborhood, in one of the most violent attacks in the history of the city's transit system. No one was killed.

'Goodfellas' and 'Law & Order' actor Paul Sorvino dies at 83

Paul Sorvino, who played the role of gangster Paulie Cicero in classic mob movie "Goodfellas," has died at the age of 83, a spokesperson for the actor said on Monday. Sorvino, also known for portraying police sergeant Phil Cerreta on TV series "Law & Order" in the 1990s, worked in film and television and on stage for more than 50 years.

Former Goldman banker, ex-FBI trainee charged with insider trading

A former Goldman Sachs banker, a former FBI agent trainee, and a technology executive were among those charged on Monday with insider trading in separate schemes that together generated millions of dollars in profits, U.S. prosecutors said.

"Each of the defendants charged today corrupted the integrity of the markets," Damian Williams, the top federal prosecutor in Manhattan and one of Wall Street's main cops, told reporters.

Firefighters begin to slow raging California wildfire near Yosemite

Firefighters on Monday finally started to control California's largest wildfire so far this year, halting its eastward expansion toward nearby Yosemite National Park while thousands of people remained under evacuation orders. The Oak Fire expanded rapidly since it began on Friday, overwhelming the initial deployment of firefighters, as extremely hot and dry weather fueled its galloping pace through dry forest and underbrush.

Trump former aide and son-in-law Jared Kushner writes he had thyroid cancer

Jared Kushner, a former senior aide to then-President Donald Trump who is married to Trump's daughter, Ivanka, wrote in a memoir to be published next month that he had a bout with thyroid cancer in 2019 that was previously undisclosed. According to excerpts of the book seen by Reuters, Kushner wrote that White House physician Sean Conley pulled him aside on Air Force One as Trump flew to Texas to tell him his test results from Walter Reed Medical Center showed he had cancer and "we need to schedule a surgery right away."

Pfizer loses U.S. appeal over co-pays for heart failure patients

A federal appeals court on Monday rejected Pfizer Inc's challenge to a U.S. anti-kickback law the drugmaker said prevented it from helping heart failure patients, many with low incomes, afford medicine that cost $225,000 per year. A unanimous three-judge panel of the New York-based 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals rejected Pfizer's effort to directly cover co-pays for patients taking its Vyndaqel and Vyndamax drugs.

Ex-Pence chief of staff Short testifies before grand jury investigating Capitol attack -ABC

Marc Short, who was a top staffer to Republican former Vice President Mike Pence, has testified before a federal grand jury investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol and efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election, ABC News reported on Monday. Short, who served as Pence's chief of staff, was captured on video leaving the federal courthouse in Washington, D.C., on Friday afternoon, alongside his attorney, Emmet Flood. Both ABC's cameras and Reuters cameras captured footage of Short's exit.

Trump deleted references to prosecuting Jan. 6 rioters in remarks -testimony

President Donald Trump crossed out sentences that distanced him from the rioters who attacked the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, and refused to call for their prosecution in a draft of a speech he delivered the next day, congressional testimony showed on Monday. The former Republican president deleted lines that said, "I want to be very clear: You do not represent me. You do not represent our movement," according to an image of the script posted on Twitter by a member of the Jan. 6 committee investigating the attack, U.S. Representative Elaine Luria.

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