US Domestic News Roundup: Trump to skip Republican debate, interview with ex-Fox host Carlson -NYT; At Camp David, US, South Korea and Japan condemn China, agree to deepen military ties and more

In a letter to U.S. District Judge Lewis Kaplan in Manhattan, the lawyers said giving Bankman-Fried just two days a week, without a dedicated computer, to review the "extraordinary volume" of evidence violated his Sixth Amendment constitutional right to effective counsel and aid his defense. Trump's lawyers propose 2026 trial date in federal election case Lawyers for Donald Trump on Thursday asked a federal judge in Washington to schedule an April 2026 trial for the former president, on federal charges that he allegedly sought to overturn his 2020 election loss to Democrat Joe Biden.

Following is a summary of current US domestic news briefs.

At Camp David, US, South Korea and Japan condemn China, agree to deepen military ties

U.S. President Joe Biden and the leaders of South Korea and Japan agreed at Camp David on Friday to deepen military and economic cooperation and made their strongest joint condemnation yet of "dangerous and aggressive behavior" by China in the South China Sea. The Biden administration held the summit with the leaders of the main U.S. allies in Asia, South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, in a bid to project unity in the face of China's growing power and nuclear threats from North Korea.

Trump to skip Republican debate, interview with ex-Fox host Carlson -NYT

Former U.S. President Donald Trump plans to skip the first Republican primary debate next week and instead sit for an online interview with former Fox News host Tucker Carlson, the New York Times reported, citing people briefed on the matter. Trump has for months suggested that he would likely pass on Wednesday night's debate in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, arguing that it did not make sense to give others a change to attack him given his sizeable lead among Republicans in national polls.

California regulator probes crashes involving GM's Cruise robotaxis

California's autos regulator said on Friday it is investigating "recent concerning incidents" involving autonomous vehicles operated by General Motors unit Cruise in San Francisco and asked the company to take half its robotaxis off the roads. The statement from California Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) came after a Cruise robotaxi was involved in a crash with an emergency vehicle in San Francisco late on Thursday, the latest accident involving the self-driving cars.

US warns space companies about foreign spying

U.S. counterintelligence agencies on Friday warned the American space industry to guard against efforts by foreign intelligence entities to steal research and trade secrets as they try to boost their own countries' space programs. "We anticipate growing threats to this burgeoning sector of the U.S. economy," a U.S. counterintelligence official told Reuters, adding that "China and Russia are among the leading foreign intelligence threats to the U.S. space industry."

Conservative think tank emerges as force behind DeSantis campaign

In mid-March, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis described the Ukraine war as a "territorial dispute" that was not of vital strategic interest to the United States, in a written reply to a questionnaire from Fox News host Tucker Carlson. His comment dismayed allies and drew fierce rebukes from many Republicans who favor a more active role for the U.S. in Ukraine, including some who are challenging him for the 2024 presidential nomination.

Maui children face grief, destruction as schools start up after wildfire

Before wildfire ravaged the Hawaiian community of Lahaina last week, high school teacher Mike Landes was always the guy arguing that academics come first - before worries about the social and emotional development of the students. But as parents, teachers and students begin trickling back to school after wildfires ravaged the community in the western part of Hawaii's island of Maui, mental health, he now insists, must take priority.

Bankman-Fried's lawyers blast trial prep time as 'entirely inadequate'

Lawyers for Sam Bankman-Fried on Friday rejected as "entirely inadequate" the U.S. government's plan for letting the jailed founder of the collapsed FTX cryptocurrency exchange prepare for his October fraud trial. In a letter to U.S. District Judge Lewis Kaplan in Manhattan, the lawyers said giving Bankman-Fried just two days a week, without a dedicated computer, to review the "extraordinary volume" of evidence violated his Sixth Amendment constitutional right to effective counsel and aid his defense.

Trump's lawyers propose 2026 trial date in federal election case

Lawyers for Donald Trump on Thursday asked a federal judge in Washington to schedule an April 2026 trial for the former president, on federal charges that he allegedly sought to overturn his 2020 election loss to Democrat Joe Biden. That requested date would place the trial after the November 2024 U.S. election, in which Trump is the front-runner for the Republican nomination.

US CDC tracks new lineage of virus that causes COVID

U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said on Thursday that it was tracking a new, highly mutated lineage of the virus that causes COVID-19. The lineage is named BA.2.86, and has been detected in the United States, Denmark and Israel, the CDC said in a post on messaging platform X.

Judge finds Donald Trump's appeal in E. Jean Carroll case 'frivolous'

A U.S. judge on Friday ruled that former President Donald Trump had filed a "frivolous" appeal of his decision not to dismiss the first of writer E. Jean Carroll's two defamation lawsuits stemming from her claim that he raped her. U.S. District Judge Lewis Kaplan in Manhattan also denied Trump's bid to put Carroll's case on hold while he appeals the June 29 decision, which found that Trump did not deserve absolute presidential immunity for calling her a liar.

(With inputs from agencies.)