Reuters US Domestic News Summary

Following is a summary of current US domestic news briefs.

'El Chapo' lawyer dismisses U.S. officials' escape fears

A lawyer for Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman rejected prosecutors' claims that the Mexican drug lord may try to escape from the Manhattan jail where he awaits sentencing, and said he should be afforded regular exercise on the building's roof. In a court filing on Sunday, lawyer Mariel Colon asked a Brooklyn federal judge to allow his client two hours a week of outdoor exercise, calling Guzman's solitary confinement, with no exposure to sunlight or fresh air, "unnatural and inhumane."

Explainer: What would it take for U.S. Congress to impeach Trump?

U.S. President Donald Trump, under growing pressure from numerous investigations of him and his administration, last week scorned talk of being removed from office via the impeachment process as "dirty, filthy, disgusting." The U.S. Constitution empowers Congress to impeach the president, although no president has ever been removed from office as a direct result of this arduous procedure.

House Judiciary Committee to hold June 10 hearing on Mueller report

The Democrat-controlled U.S. House of Representatives Judiciary Committee will hold a hearing on June 10 on Robert Mueller's report on Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election and its connections to Donald Trump's campaign. The committee will hear testimony from former U.S. attorneys and legal experts, including John Dean, a Trump critic and former White House counsel to President Richard Nixon who served a year in prison in connection with the Watergate scandal.

Kushner denies discussing his security clearance with Trump

Donald Trump's son-in-law and White House adviser Jared Kushner denied that he spoke with the president about his security clearance, according to an interview with the Axios news outlet that comes amid a congressional investigation of the issue. "I have not discussed it with him," Kushner told "Axios on HBO" on Sunday when asked if he had talked about his clearance with Trump.

Blackbeard's ship embarks for Supreme Court in video piracy case

The nine black-robed justices of the U.S. Supreme Court will soon navigate the treacherous legal waters around a sailing ship made famous in the 18th century by the notorious English pirate known as Blackbeard. The court on Monday agreed to hear a bid by a documentary filmmaker to revive his lawsuit against state officials in North Carolina who he accused of unlawfully pirating his footage of the wrecked pirate ship named the Queen Anne's Revenge, which went down in 1718.

Credit analysts cautious over Illinois budget, infrastructure plan

Some results from Illinois' action-packed spring legislation session that produced a budget and a variety of revenue-raising measures won initial praise on Monday from credit rating analysts, who cautioned that fiscal challenges remain. Lawmakers wrapped up the session on Sunday, passing a $40.1 billion fiscal 2020 budget and a $45 billion infrastructure plan, along with a variety of tax and fee hikes and projected new revenue from a massive gambling expansion that includes sports betting, and from legalizing recreational marijuana.

Congress passes $19.1 billion disaster aid bill, sends to Trump

The U.S. Congress on Monday approved legislation providing $19.1 billion in emergency funding for disaster recovery efforts throughout the United States, including Puerto Rico, sending it to President Donald Trump to sign into law. Final passage came as the House of Representatives voted 354-58 for the measure, which lawmakers and Trump had haggled over for months. It was approved by the Senate late last month, and Trump has said he supports it.

Police search for reason for Virginia Beach mass shooting

The reason why DeWayne Craddock shot up a Virginia Beach municipal building on Friday - killing 12 people, and severely wounding four others - may have died with him. Even as families plan funerals on Monday, Craddock, 40, remains a puzzle to police.

House panel threatens contempt of Congress vote against Barr, Ross

The top U.S. law enforcement officer and the Commerce secretary will face a contempt of Congress vote unless they hand over documents by Thursday on efforts to put a citizenship question on the 2020 Census, the chairman of a House of Representatives panel warned on Monday. Representative Elijah Cummings, chairman of the House Oversight and Reform Committee, sent letters to Attorney General William Barr and Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross warning them they had until Thursday to comply with the subpoena after having failed for two months to produce the documents.

Man sentenced to 19 years in prison for tossing boy off Minnesota mall balcony

A man who admitted hurling a 5-year-old boy off a third-floor balcony at Minnesota’s Mall of America was sentenced to 19 years in prison on Monday. Emmanuel Aranda, 24, was sentenced in a Hennepin County District Court, two weeks after he agreed to the prison term and pleaded guilty to attempted first-degree murder, a crime that carries a maximum sentence of 20 years behind bars, said Chuck Laszewski, spokesman for the county's district attorney’s office.