memeorandum: 62 percent of voters say Putin wouldn't have invaded Ukraine if Trump were president: poll (Caroline Vakil/The Hill)

11:35 PM ET, February 25, 2022

Top Items:

U.S. stands ready to evacuate Zelensky, Russia's ‘target No. 1’ — The U.S. government is prepared to help Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky leave Kyiv to avoid being captured or killed by advancing Russian forces, according to U.S. and Ukrainian officials. But so far, the president has refused to go.

Discussion: Insider, The Guardian, Townhall, Изв …, New York Times, ZNAK.com Ин …, NBC News, The Times of Israel, The RAND Blog, Washington Examiner and The Daily Wire

Peter Alexander / NBC News:

One of Russia's closest allies denies request for troops — Kazakhstan, one of Russia's closest allies and a southern neighbor, is denying a request for its troops to join the offensive in Ukraine, officials said Friday. — Additionally, the former Soviet republic said it is not recognizing …

Discussion: Washington Examiner, Townhall, Associated Press and United States Mission …

Caroline Vakil / The Hill:

62 percent of voters say Putin wouldn't have invaded Ukraine if Trump were president: poll — © Associated Press/Ross D. Franklin — A majority of American voters say that Russian President Vladimir Putin would not have invaded Ukraine had former President Trump been president, according to a new survey released on Friday.

Discussion: Breitbart, Just Ask the Question, National Review and WAVY-TV

Jeff Stein / SpyTalk:

Zelensky Prepares to Go Down with the Ship — Ukraine's president rebuffed US pleas to flee, an American associate tells SpyTalk — An American businessman with close ties to Volodymyr Zelensky says the Ukrainian president was “calm and businesslike” when they talked yesterday …

Discussion: Mediaite and The Daily Wire

Dasha Litvinova / Associated Press:

Protests resume as Russia seeks to quash invasion critics — MOSCOW (AP) — Protesters took to the streets in Moscow, St. Petersburg and across Russia on Friday to decry the invasion of Ukraine, even as authorities sought to suppress the spreading antiwar sentiment and project an image of strength and righteousness.

Discussion: Common Dreams, TheBlaze and WHYY

Ryan King / Washington Examiner:

Putin calls for Ukrainian military coup against ‘neo-Nazis’ and ‘drug addicts’ in government — Russian President Vladimir Putin called upon the Ukrainian military to overthrow its government, chastising its leadership as a “band of drug addicts and neo-Nazis.”

Discussion: Comment is Freed, Sputnik International, TASS, The Guardian, CyberDisobedience, RedState, Politico, TheBlaze, The Dispatch and KRQE-TV

Erik Wemple / Washington Post:

How did Tucker Carlson turn into a Putin apologist? — Back when Tucker Carlson practiced his punditry on MSNBC in the 2000s, he held Russia in low esteem. “The bottom line here is that freedom of the press is disappearing in Russia,” Carlson said in August 2005, after Russia barred ABC News staffers …

Discussion: Insider, Los Angeles Times and Ask Questions Later

New York Times:
Russian Troops Move on Kyiv; U.S. to Impose Sanctions on Putin

CNN:
US to impose sanctions on Putin following Ukraine invasion

Discussion: Axios, Reuters, The Daily Caller, NBC10 Philadelphia, Radio Free Europe/Radio …, The Hill, Al Jazeera, Insider and Common Dreams

Samantha Pell / Washington Post:
Alex Ovechkin, the Russian star of the Capitals, says, ‘Please, no more war’

Discussion: UPI, TMZ.com, The Daily Caller and Fox News

Washington Post:
Ukrainians resist Russian onslaught as tanks and planes dig deeper toward Kyiv

Discussion: New York Times, Jerusalem Post, Agence France-Presse, Townhall, PBS NewsHour, Wall Street Journal, The Garden Island, The Reload and The Drive

Axios:
Zelensky says Russia to storm Kyiv tonight: “We have to stand our ground”

Discussion: The Week, BBC, Financial Times, HotAir, TheJournal.ie, National Review and Bloomberg

Associated Press:
Ukraine's capital under threat as Russia presses invasion

Edward Wong / New York Times:
U.S. Officials Repeatedly Urged China to Help Avert War in Ukraine

Lauren Egan / NBC News:
White House announces U.S. plans to directly sanction Putin

Discussion: Washington Examiner, Associated Press, Townhall, Fox News, Politico, KRQE-TV and Washington Times

Anton Troianovski / New York Times:
Russia Says It Won't Enter Talks Until Ukraine Stops Fighting

Discussion: HotAir, Insider, Work from home for justice, TASS, Townhall and Takes & Re-Takes

Hannah Grossman / Fox News:
Eric Swalwell floats kicking Russians out of US universities in retaliation to Putin invading Ukraine

Discussion: Washington Examiner, The Gateway Pundit, Twitchy, Reason and Eschaton

Barak Ravid / Axios:
Zelensky to EU leaders: “This might be the last time you see me alive”

Discussion: Power Line, The Moscow Times, Mediaite, Washington Examiner, Insider, New York Post, Financial Times, Jewish Telegraphic Agency, Тел …, Conservative Brief, Streams of Crunchiness, YouTube and TASS

Libby Cathey / ABC News:
Biden to order personal sanctions on Putin as Russian forces close in on Kyiv

Discussion: Politico, Townhall, Jacobin, Dallas Observer and Deseret News

Karel Janicek / Associated Press:
By invading Ukraine, Putin loses allies in eastern Europe

Discussion: Fortune

Washington Post:
E.U. plans to freeze assets of Putin, Lavrov

Discussion: Financial Times, Townhall, Politico and Hackwhackers

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention:

COVID-19 by County — COVID-19 Community Levels are a new tool to help communities decide what prevention steps to take based on the latest data. Levels can be low, medium, or high and are determined by looking at hospital beds being used, hospital admissions, and the total number of new COVID-19 cases in an area.

Wall Street Journal:

CDC Eases Mask Guidelines, Reflecting Covid-19's Retreat — About half of U.S. counties meet new threshold for recommending masks indoors, including at schools, compared with 95% under earlier metrics — Federal officials eased their guidelines on Covid-19 masking, including at schools …

Discussion: Centers for Disease Control …, HotAir, Deseret News, PBS NewsHour, Outside the Beltway, Washington Times, WSVN-TV and WHYY

ABC News:

CDC to ease masking recommendations for 70% of country, including inside schools — The new metrics would term the majority of the country low-to-medium risk. — Some 70% of Americans will be able to remove their masks indoors, including inside schools, under new guidance to be released …

Discussion: Spectrum News NY1, STAT, The Gateway Pundit, Politico, National Review, Fox News, Gizmodo and Toledo Blade

Ciara Linnane / MarketWatch: CDC expected to loosen COVID face-mask advice on Friday, and Canada authorizes first plant-based vaccine

NBC News:
Indoor mask use no longer necessary across most of the U.S., CDC says

Discussion: Washington Post, Yahoo News, New York Times, Breitbart, Al Jazeera, Metro.co.uk, UPI, Roll Call and The Daily Caller

Richard L. Hasen / Slate:

North Carolina Republicans Ask SCOTUS To Decimate Voting Rights in Every State — In a late Friday afternoon filing as war raged in Ukraine and as President Joe Biden announced Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson as his nominee to replace Justice Stephen Breyer on the U.S. Supreme Court …

Discussion: Zandar Versus The Stupid, Election Law Blog, WRAL-TV, WTOP News and The Garden Island

The White House:
Supreme Court Nominee Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson

Lexi Lonas / The Hill:
Paul Ryan praises Biden's SCOTUS pick: ‘Incredibly happy for Ketanji’

Discussion: Fox News, The American Spectator, CBS News, Washington Examiner, The Daily Caller, The Gateway Pundit and Washington Post

NBC News:

Putin who? At CPAC, few Republicans mention Russian autocrat — ORLANDO, Fla. — The annual gathering of the Republican Party's most conservative members this week took place 9,000 miles from Kyiv, Ukraine, but for some, the distance wasn't enough. — Speaker after speaker …

Discussion: Insider, CNN, Politico and RedState

Allahpundit / HotAir:
Tucker: Putin started this war and deserves the blame for what follows

Discussion: Mediaite, Gallup, No More Mister Nice Blog, The Hill and FiveThirtyEight

Nahal Toosi / Politico:
Putin was playing Biden all along

Discussion: ABC News, The Guardian, Washington Examiner, HotAir, National Review, TheBlaze, The Bulwark, Vanity Fair, Daily Mail, Washington Post, The Liberal Patriot and Tales From the Homestead

Marist Poll:

NPR/PBS NewsHour/Marist National Poll: The Biden Administration Heading into the State of the Union Address, February 2022 — Americans Perceive Biden's First Year in Office to Be a Failure... Want Biden's Administration to Focus on Inflation Amid Persistent Financial Concerns

Discussion: TheBlaze, PBS NewsHour, Political Wire and The Federalist

Domenico Montanaro / NPR:
A majority says Biden's first year was a failure, a new poll finds

Discussion: CNN, RedState and Meanwhile, back at the ranch

Julia Manchester / The Hill:
Biden's job approval hits new low: poll

Discussion: HotAir

Jeremy Barr / Washington Post:

Fox News reporter Jennifer Griffin keeps fact-checking her colleagues on Ukraine … Fox News reporter Jennifer Griffin has been pulling double duty lately. — Much like her peers at other news outfits, the national security correspondent has reported live from the Pentagon …

Discussion: Mediaite and The Daily Beast

CNN:

Georgia GOP chair tells January 6 committee that Trump campaign directed alternate elector effort — (CNN)The chairman of the Republican Party in Georgia on Friday told the House select committee investigating the January 6 riot that the Trump campaign had directed the party in 2020 …

Discussion: Raw Story

Wall Street Journal:

CNN Probe Finds Allison Gollust Assisted Chris Cuomo in His Efforts to Help Andrew Cuomo — Spokeswoman for ex-CNN marketing chief says notion that messages to Chris Cuomo could be considered covert advice to Andrew Cuomo ‘is patently ridiculous’ — CNN's parent company determined …

Discussion: Fox News, The Wrap and Hollywood Reporter, more at Mediagazer »

Christopher Mathias / HuffPost:

Marjorie Taylor Greene Speaks At White Nationalist Conference — The congresswoman from Georgia spoke at the America First Political Action Conference, organized by white nationalist “groyper” leader Nick Fuentes. — ORLANDO, Fla. — Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) …

Discussion: Raw Story

Andee Tagle / NPR:

5 ways to cope with the stressful news cycle — Russia invaded Ukraine this week, and the world seems to have shifted. — Even after weeks of bracing for an attack amid speculation, global tensions and diplomatic attempts to stave off invasion — the reality of conflict is always a shock to the system.

Discussion: TheBlaze, The Daily Caller, Twitchy and Althouse

Chris Casteel / Oklahoman:

Sen. Jim Inhofe to resign from Senate, backs top aide Luke Holland to succeed him … Oklahoma Sen. Jim Inhofe plans to resign the seat he has held since 1994, setting up what could be major changes in the state's political landscape just weeks before candidate filing.