Following is a summary of current US domestic news briefs.
Trump spokesman says he has cooperated with U.S. House panel probing Jan. 6
A current spokesman for former U.S. President Donald Trump on Friday said in a court filing that he has cooperated extensively with the congressional committee investigating the deadly Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol. The spokesman, Taylor Budowich, said in a lawsuit, filed in federal court in the District of Columbia, that he has produced more than 1,700 pages of documents and provided about four hours of sworn testimony to the House of Representatives panel.
Ex-Minnesota police officer found guilty of manslaughter in shooting of Daunte Wright
A Minnesota jury on Thursday found former police officer Kimberly Potter guilty of manslaughter in the fatal shooting of Black motorist Daunte Wright during a traffic stop when she mistakenly fired her handgun instead of her Taser. A 12-member jury declared Potter, 49, guilty of first-degree and second-degree manslaughter in the death of the 20-year-old Wright, whom she killed in the Minneapolis suburb of Brooklyn Center on April 11 with a bullet to the chest.
Exclusive-U.S. to lift travel curbs on eight African countries – source
The Biden administration will lift travel restrictions on eight southern African countries imposed last month over concerns about the fast-spreading COVID-19 Omicron variant, a senior administration official told Reuters. Foreign nationals who are barred from the United States because they have been in one of the eight countries within the prior 14 days will again be allowed on U.S.-bound flights leaving after 12:01 a.m. ET on Dec. 31, the official added.
U.S. airlines scrap nearly 1,000 Christmas Day flights due to Omicron
U.S. airlines scrapped nearly 1,000 flights on Saturday, the second straight day of massive cancellations as surging COVID-19 infections have sidelined some pilots and other crew members, upending plans for tens of thousands of holiday travelers over the Christmas weekend. A total of 957 Christmas Day flights, including domestic flights and those into or out of the country, were canceled, up from 690 on Christmas Eve, according to a running tally on flight-tracking website FlightAware.com. Nearly 2,000 flights were delayed.
Judge orders New York Times to return Project Veritas internal memos
A New York state judge on Friday ordered the New York Times to return internal documents to the conservative activist group Project Veritas, a restriction the newspaper said violates decades of First Amendment protections. In an unusual written ruling https://iapps.courts.state.ny.us/fbem/DocumentDisplayServlet?documentId=SgQ8IEENXxhU2D4NlHEZHw==&system=prod, Justice Charles Wood of the Westchester County Supreme Court directed the New York Times to return to Project Veritas any physical copies of legal memos prepared by one of the group’s lawyers, and to destroy electronic versions.
United, Delta cancel hundreds of U.S. Christmas Eve flights amid COVID surge
United Airlines and Delta Air Lines have canceled hundreds of Christmas Eve flights, as the spreading COVID-19 Omicron variant takes a toll on its flight crews and other workers. Chicago-based United on Thursday canceled 120 flights for Friday, while Atlanta-based Delta said it had canceled about 90. Both said they were working to contact passengers so they would not be stranded at airports.
On Santa tracking call, Biden is told ‘Let’s go Brandon’ – and says he agrees
A vulgar anti-Biden slogan made for an awkward moment on Friday during President Joe Biden’s phone calls with children tracking Santa’s flight when a father said, “Let’s Go Brandon.” The refrain, a sanitized version of “Fuck Joe Biden,” has been an internet sensation since a television journalist told race car driver Brandon Brown that a NASCAR crowd shouting the vulgarity was actually saying, “Let’s go Brandon.”
(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)