It is good to be back with you on this second hour of Chris Jansing reports. At this hour, were standing by for two big live events. First, Senate Democrats are about to address the cameras after a consequential day of closed door meetings debating the viability of Joe Bidens candidacy. Can they come together with the presidency on the line . Were also watching the White House where the briefing should start any minute now ahead of a major appearance by the president at the Nato Summit. How a celebration of the alliance became a high Stakes Test of his fitness to serve. And out west, Firefighters Racing to contain a wildfire that continues to threaten michael jacksons former never land ranch. And just moments from now, the court will continue in the trial of bob mendez. Can they rebuff the Prosecutions Argument that he sold the power of his office for cash and bribes . We begin with Ali Vitali on Capitol Hill where congressional democrats have been huddling about what to do on Presiden
Women. His lawyers attacking an investigation by the State Attorney General as flawed and biased just as one of governor cuomos accusers files a criminal complaint against him. Also tonight with the number of new covid19 cases surging to nearly 100,000 per day, hundreds of thousands of bikers gathering for the giant Sturgis Motorcycle Rally in South Dakota, which experts fear will be a Superspreader Event. Were going to hear from some of the bikers just ahead. And new Focus Tonight on a Trump Ally at the doj pushing the Big Lie and trying to overturn the election by claiming, without evidence, hacking by chinese intelligence. I want to bring in now cnns senior Justice Correspondent evan perez. Evan, good evening to you. So we are hearing more each day about what Trump Ally Jeffrey Clark was doing within the doj to overturn the election. This latest development may be the most wild of all of them. It involves listen to this a bogus claim about Special Thermometers from china. Take it aw
of conspiring with far-right groups to incite the january 6th insurrection at the u.s. capitol. let s begin our coverage this hour. at the scene of tonight s cnn presidential town hall in milwaukee, wisconsin. our chief white house correspondent, kaitlan collins is on the scene for us. kaitlan this is president biden s first presidential trip and first town hall since taking office. it is, wolf. it s his first domestic major trip where you will see he interacting with voting. his top aides say it s to pitch that economic relief plan he s been trying to sell to lawmakers in washington and governors and local officials. now he is going to be taking it to voters directly here tonight, answering their questions about that. wolf, of course, there are other topics that are also going to come up, including that promise from president biden on the campaign trail to govern with unity but also those questions about the vaccine distribution and what his administration is doing to ramp
security athletes forcing the house tonight to cancel tomorrow s session. as i speak, lawmakers are pushing through a vote that was actually planned for tomorrow. a joint intelligence bulletin issued by the fbi and department of homeland security warning that violent extremists have discussed plans to take control of the u.s. capitol tomorrow and remove democratic lawmakers. this threat coming exactly eight weeks to the day from when trump supporters stormed the capitol because of a lie they were fed again and again and again and again by the former president. and today mike pence, the former vice president, perpetuated that lie, of all people, a lie that almost killed him on january 6th and resulted in five others dying that day. from a vice president breaking his silence since the daily insurrection, writing an op-ed opposing a house bill that overhauls election laws, but he began with this. after an election marked by significant voting irregularities, i show the concerns
a former metropolitan police counter terrorism detective who secretly filmed models during fake photoshoots has been jailed for three years for voyeurism. a one billion pound shortfall in state pension payments to tens of thousands of women has been branded a shameful shambles by a committee of mps. # likea # like a bat out of hell, i ll be gone when the morning comes. and the singer meat loaf, who recorded one of the biggest selling albums of all time, has died at the age of 7a. and coming up in the film review mark kermode gives his unique insight into this week s films, including one from belfast. and the rest of the weeks big releases in the film review at 5.45pm. welcome to bbc news, i m jane welcome to bbc news, i mjane hill. talks have been held in geneva between foreign ministers from russia and the us about fears that russia could invade ukraine. the us secretary of state anthony blinken said there had been a frank and substa ntive exchange. he also warned of a