Reuters US Domestic News Summary

Todd Blanche, Trump's defense lawyer in the case stemming from hush money paid to a porn star, said Cohen, the star prosecution witness, had spoken on social media on Wednesday while wearing a T-shirt showing Trump, the Republican presidential candidate, behind bars. Dozens arrested at Penn, MIT in latest U.S. crackdowns on Gaza protests Police dismantled protest camps and arrested dozens of pro-Palestinian activists at Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the University of Pennsylvania on Friday, in the latest crackdowns on demonstrations roiling U.S. campuses.

Following is a summary of current US domestic news briefs.

Name and shame: Pro-Israel website ramps up attacks on pro-Palestinian student protesters

Weeks after attending a pro-Palestinian demonstration, Egyptian-American student Layla Sayed received a text message from a friend drawing her attention to a website dedicated to exposing people it says promote hatred of Jews and Israel. "I think they found you from the protest," the friend wrote.

Biden's Israel weapons pause won't dent Gaza protests, organizers say

U.S. President Joe Biden's decision to pause shipments of thousands of bombs to Israel over the U.S. ally's attacks on Rafah won praise from some critical Democrats, but won't stop protests about Gaza that have dogged his reelection effort, strategists and organizers say. Biden's decision last week marks the first time he has withheld U.S. military aid from Israel since the country began attacking Gaza seven months ago, pursuing Hamas militants. Republicans and some Democrats have accused Biden of putting the security of the U.S.'s closest ally in the region at risk.

Biden jokes Trump should have injected himself with bleach

U.S. President Joe Biden joked on Friday that he wished former President Donald Trump had injected himself with a little bleach, resurrecting one of Trump's more head-scratching moments from the early days of the coronavirus pandemic. Biden, at a fundraising event south of San Francisco for his re-election campaign, said the presidency of his Republican opponent was chaotic and that voters should keep that in mind. Biden and Trump are locked in a close contest ahead of the November election.

Donald Trump's son Barron will not represent Florida at Republican convention

Former U.S. President Donald Trump's youngest son, Barron Trump, will not be a delegate representing Florida at the Republican National Convention in July due to prior commitments, the office of his mother Melania said on Friday. On Thursday, a campaign official said Barron Trump, 18, had been selected by the state party as a delegate from Florida, a notable move given that he has kept largely out of the public eye during the campaign.

School board in Virginia votes to restore Confederate names

The education board for a rural Virginia county voted early on Friday to restore the names of Confederate generals stripped from two schools in 2020, making the mostly white, Republican district the first in the U.S. to take such an action. By a 5-1 vote, the Shenandoah County board overturned its 2020 decision that stripped a public high school and elementary school of their original names honoring three military leaders of the pro-slavery South in the Civil War.

Prosecutors urge 40 years in prison for attacker of Pelosi's husband

The man who broke into former U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's home and clubbed her husband with a hammer should serve 40 years in prison for his conviction on federal offenses that amount to a crime of terrorism, prosecutors urged on Friday. In a sentencing memorandum filed in U.S. District Court in San Francisco, prosecutors said David Wayne DePape has shown no remorse, deserves no leniency and should receive the statutory maximum penalties for each of the two counts on which he was convicted last year.

Police were advised to avoid mass arrests; then came the US campus protests

In the three tumultuous weeks since protests broke out at U.S. universities, police have descended on dozens of campuses to sweep up students in mass arrests, adhering to an approach many criminologists have found to be outdated and counterproductive. New York police arrested nearly 300 people at Columbia University and City College of New York on April 30 during protests over the war in Gaza, setting off flash bangs to stun and disorient demonstrators. Two nights later in Los Angeles, police collared more than 200 people at UCLA.

Trump campaign considering Nikki Haley as running mate, Axios reports

Former Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley is under active consideration by Donald Trump's campaign to be his running mate, news site Axios reported on Saturday, citing unidentified people familiar with the situation. Trump could pick Haley if he were convinced she could help him win the presidency, avoid a potential prison sentence and cover tens of millions in legal bills if he loses, the report said.

Trump hush money judge urges prosecutors to rein in Michael Cohen

The judge overseeing Donald Trump's criminal trial on Friday urged prosecutors to tell the former U.S. president's estranged former lawyer and fixer Michael Cohen to stop making public statements about the case before his expected testimony next week. Todd Blanche, Trump's defense lawyer in the case stemming from hush money paid to a porn star, said Cohen, the star prosecution witness, had spoken on social media on Wednesday while wearing a T-shirt showing Trump, the Republican presidential candidate, behind bars.

Dozens arrested at Penn, MIT in latest U.S. crackdowns on Gaza protests

Police dismantled protest camps and arrested dozens of pro-Palestinian activists at Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the University of Pennsylvania on Friday, in the latest crackdowns on demonstrations roiling U.S. campuses. Philadelphia officers in riot gear pushed reporters away from the encampment at the University of Pennsylvania before tearing down tents and tossing the belongings of protesters in a trash truck, the student newspaper reported. About 33 people were arrested on the Ivy League campus, Penn's public safety department said.

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