Evening summary We’re wrapping up our live US politics coverage for the night, with key political developments still unfolding, including an expected vote on the creation of a bipartisan commission to investigate Trump supporters’ invasion of the Capitol on 6 January. An updated summary of today’s key news: Federal prosecutors in Brooklyn are investigating whether Ukrainian officials attempted to meddle in the 2020 presidential election to undermine Biden and support Trump, the New York Times reported. The criminal investigation, which had not previously been made public, was opened under the Trump administration, and is separate from a federal investigation into Rudy Giuliani and Ukraine that is unfolding in Manhattan, the Times reported. One focus of the investigation is a Ukrainian politician, Andriy Derkach, who was sanctioned last fall by Trump’s Treasury Department and accused of being an active Russian agent. Joe Biden touted America’s recent economic rebound in a Cleveland speech. “Covid cases are down. Covid deaths are down. Unemployment filings are down. Hunger is down. Vaccinations are up. Jobs are up. Growth is up,” the president said at Cuyahoga Community College. “Put it simply, America is coming back. America is on the move.” Senator Joe Manchin fiercely criticized his Republican colleagues for opposing the bill to form a bipartisan commission to study the Capitol insurrection. “There’s no excuse for any Republican to vote against this commission since Democrats have agreed to everything they asked for,” the Democratic senator said in a statement. But Manchin told reporters he is still unwilling to eliminate the Senate filibuster in order to get the commission bill passed. House Majority Jim Clyburn said Democrats should move to conduct investigations of 6 January through House committees if Republicans reject a bipartisan commission Senate minority leader Mitch McConnell argued the commission would be “extraneous” to current investigations. “There’s no new fact about that day we need the Democrats’ extraneous commission to uncover,” McConnell said in a Senate floor speech. The Republican leader appears to have the votes necessary to defeat the commission bill when the Senate takes a procedural vote on the legislation this evening. Senate Republicans released their latest offer in the negotiations over an infrastructure bill. The bill proposes spending $928bn on infrastructure over the next eight years, but most of that money was already going to be spent because of current policies in place. Only $257bn of the Republican proposal is considered new spending, and the White House said the offer still lacks funding for key initiatives. The Biden administration has informed Russia it will not rejoin the Open Skies Treaty, according to the AP. The decision will almost certainly be a topic of discussion between Biden and Russian President Vladimir Putin when they meet for a summit next month in Geneva, Switzerland. NYT: Federal prosecutors investigating whether Ukrainian officials tried to meddle in 2020 election Federal prosecutors in New York are investigating whether Ukrainian officials attempted to interfere in the 2020 presidential election to undermine Biden and help Trump, including by using Rudolph Giuliani, the president’s personal lawyer, to spread misinformation, the New York Times reported, citing unnamed sources “with knowledge of the matter”. The existence of the criminal investigation has not previously been reported, the Times wrote, and the investigation is distinct from another federal investigation in Manhattan that is focused on Giuliani himself. The focus of the newly reported investigation are current and former Ukrainian officials, including a Ukrainian member of parliament who met with Giuliani during a trip to Europe in 2019, and who had previously been identified by the Trump administration as a source of attempted election manipulation, the Times reported. In September, several months before the 2020 election, Trump’s Treasury Department had already announced sanctions against Andriy Derkach for engaging in “a covert influence campaign” to undermine the election results, and accused him of being “an active Russian agent for over a decade”, the Times reported last fall. “I have no reason to believe he is a Russian agent,” Giuliani told the Times in September. “There is nothing I saw that said he was a Russian agent. There is nothing he gave me that seemed to come from Russia at all.” But, he added: “How the hell would I know?” Caitlyn Jenner criticized for confusing comma usage in ‘cancel culture’ tweet Earlier this month, my colleague Andrew Gumbel reported that Caitlyn Jenner’s attempt to mobilize her fame to become the next governor of California was falling flat. Today, the former Olympian and Kardashian step-parent tweeted about “cancel culture” in such a convoluted way that many of the Twitter reactions have simply focused on her comma usage. Focus on the filibuster as GOP prepares to block commission on 6 January Senate Republicans are poised to block the creation of a special commission to study the deadly Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol, dashing hopes for a bipartisan panel amid a GOP push to put the violent insurrection by Donald Trump’s supporters behind them, the Associated Press reports. Broad Republican opposition was expected in what would be the first successful Senate filibuster of the Biden presidency. The Republican opposition to the bipartisan panel has revived Democratic pressure to do away with the filibuster, a time-honored Senate tradition that requires a vote by 60 of the 100 senators to cut off debate and advance a bill. With the Senate evenly split 50-50, Democrats need support of 10 Republicans to move to the commission bill, sparking fresh debate over whether the time has come to change the rules and lower the threshold to 51 votes to take up legislation. Many Democrats are warning that if Republicans are willing to use the filibuster to stop an arguably popular measure, it shows the limits of trying to broker compromises, particularly on bills related to election reforms or other aspects of the Democrats’ agenda. For now, though, Democrats don’t have the votes to change the rule. West Virginia Sen. Joe Manchin and Arizona Sen. Kyrsten Sinema, both moderate Democrats, have said they want to preserve the filibuster. Manchin said earlier today that there is “no excuse” for Republicans to vote against the commission, but that he is “not ready to destroy our government” by doing away with the procedural tactic. Others, including historian Kevin Kruse, disagreed. ‘Vax for the Win:’ California launches coronavirus vaccine lottery California will give away $116.5 million to help encourage state residents to get the coronavirus vaccine, SFGate reports, mirroring a similar lottery program launched in Ohio. “We’re pulling out all the stops to get everyone vaccinated by June 15,” the California governor’s account tweeted. Clyburn: House committees must investigate Capitol attack if GOP blocks commission Speaking on CNN ahead of an expected vote on the creation of a bipartisan commission to investigate the 6 January attack, Jim Clyburn is already calling for Democratic action if Senate Republicans block the bill. The NRA’s annual meeting is back and scheduled for this September This is Lois Beckett, picking up our live politics coverage from Los Angeles. The National Rifle Association’s annual meeting for members is back this fall, after being cancelled last year because of the coronavirus pandemic, the gun rights group announced today. The event, which in the past has attracted tens of thousands of gun aficionados, is scheduled for early September in Houston, Texas. It comes as the group continues to face major legal challenges. Today so far That’s it from me today. My west coast colleague, Lois Beckett, will take over the blog for the next few hours. Here’s where the day stands so far: Joe Biden touted America’s recent economic rebound in a Cleveland speech. “Covid cases are down. Covid deaths are down. Unemployment filings are down. Hunger is down. Vaccinations are up. Jobs are up. Growth is up,” the president said at Cuyahoga Community College. “Put it simply, America is coming back. America is on the move.” Senator Joe Manchin fiercely criticized his Republican colleagues for opposing the bill to form a bipartisan commission to study the Capitol insurrection. “There’s no excuse for any Republican to vote against this commission since Democrats have agreed to everything they asked for,” the Democratic senator said in a statement. But Manchin told reporters he is still unwilling to eliminate the Senate filibuster in order to get the commission bill passed. Senate minority leader Mitch McConnell argued the commission would be “extraneous” to current investigations. “There’s no new fact about that day we need the Democrats’ extraneous commission to uncover,” McConnell said in a Senate floor speech. The Republican leader appears to have the votes necessary to defeat the commission bill when the Senate takes a procedural vote on the legislation this evening. Senate Republicans released their latest offer in the negotiations over an infrastructure bill. The bill proposes spending $928bn on infrastructure over the next eight years, but most of that money was already going to be spent because of current policies in place. Only $257bn of the Republican proposal is considered new spending, and the White House said the offer still lacks funding for key initiatives. The Biden administration has informed Russia it will not rejoin the Open Skies Treaty, according to the AP. The decision will almost certainly be a topic of discussion between Biden and Russian President Vladimir Putin when they meet for a summit next month in Geneva, Switzerland. Lois will have more coming up, so stay tuned. There has been a pause in the Senate votes on amendments to the Endless Frontier Act, and Democratic Senator Ben Cardin is now delivering a floor speech denouncing anti-Semitism. It appears that Senate leaders are trying to work out a deal to speed through the remaining votes on the bill, but they haven’t reached an agreement yet. Once the amendment votes are completed, the Senate will move on to its procedural vote on the 6 January commission bill, but the exact timing on that is still unclear. It may be a long night for the Senate. The Senate has been holding a series of votes on amendments to a science and technology research bill. Once those votes wrap up, the upper chamber will move on to a procedural vote on the 6 January commission bill. Senate Republican leaders have indicated they believe they have the votes to defeat the commission bill, which passed the House with some Republican support last week. Alexandra Villarreal reports for the Guardian: Natalie Jackson, a prominent Florida attorney whose clients include Trayvon Martin’s family, is running to replace Representative Val Demings in Congress next year. Just days into her campaign for the Orlando-based House seat, Jackson has already garnered endorsements from two powerful civil rights champions: attorney Benjamin Crump and Philonise Floyd, George Floyd’s brother. In recent years, Jackson has collaborated with Crump on some of the nation’s most high-profile police violence cases, representing the families of Floyd, Breonna Taylor and others, according to Florida Politics. “What we saw with George Floyd, we saw his family get justice in court. But that five minutes of justice didn’t address the entire criminal justice system, nor did it address the economic inequality in Orange county,” Jackson said. “We need to bring about that type of change. So I feel I can be best suited in the legislature to do that.” US tells Russia it will not rejoin Open Skies Treaty – report The Biden administration has reportedly informed Russia that the US will not rejoin the Open Skies Treaty as Joe Biden prepares for his first in-person meeting with Vladimir Putin next month. The AP reports: U.S. officials said Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman told the Russians that the administration had decided not to reenter the Open Skies Treaty, which had allowed surveillance flights over military facilities in both countries before President Donald Trump withdrew from the pact. Thursday’s decision means only one major arms control treaty between the nuclear powers — the New START treaty — will remain in place. Trump had done nothing to extend New START, which would have expired earlier this year, but after taking office, the Biden administration moved quickly to extend it for five years and opened a review into Trump’s Open Skies Treaty withdrawal. The officials said that the review had been completed and that Sherman had informed Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov of the U.S. decision not to return to Open Skies on Thursday. The officials were not authorized to discuss the matter publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity. The decision will almost certainly be a topic of discussion between Biden and Putin when the two leaders meet in Geneva, Switzerland, on 16 June.