memeorandum: Stacey Abrams reaches millionaire status before 2nd campaign (Jeff Amy/Associated Press)

1:10 PM ET, April 5, 2022

Top Items:

Ukraine Live Updates: E.U. Moves to Ban Russian Coal; Zelensky to Address U.N. — The European Union said it was also working to ban Russian oil. As Ukraine's president prepared to speak to the Security Council, U.S. and European allies vowed to hold Russia accountable for the reported killings of hundreds people in a Kyiv suburb.

Discussion: Washington Post, Washington Examiner, Reuters, The Guardian, Defense One, The Dispatch, Bloomberg, The Daily Beast, UPI, Euractiv, NBC New York, Althouse, Just The News and Trends Journal

William Saletan / The Bulwark:

Who's Soft on Russia? Meet the Republican Anti-Ukraine Caucus! — The Republicans who love Russia and hate America. — After years of defending a pro-Putin American president and dismissing Russia's interference in American elections, Republicans have returned to their old shtick: accusing Democrats of being soft on Russia.

Discussion: Morning Shots, FiveThirtyEight, National Review, Associated Press, Raw Story and nationalinterest.org

Bloomberg:

Russia's Effort to Avoid Default Undermined by New U.S. Sanction — Russia's efforts to avoid a sovereign default took another blow after the U.S. Treasury halted dollar debt payments from the country's accounts at U.S. banks. — The decision further complicates Russia's attempts …

Discussion: Associated Press, Wall Street Journal, Reuters, HotAir, Financial Times, CNBC, New York Times, New York Post, EU NEIGHBOURS east and Reuters

Walter Russell Mead / Wall Street Journal:

Biden's Ugly Options in Ukraine — Pushing to defeat Russia has high risks and costs, but so do the alternatives. — We are only six weeks into Vladimir Putin's war against Ukraine, but the conflict has already settled into a familiar pattern. Both sides often go into wars with a theory of victory …

Discussion: Reason, CBS News, The Guardian, Wide World of News, Washington Examiner, The Daily Beast and Raw Story

Michael Weiss / New Lines Magazine: Exclusive: How Russia Evades Sanctions via Syrian Loan Schemes

Associated Press:
Live updates | Putin warns on nationalizing Russian stakes

Discussion: Politico, HotAir, nationalinterest.org, Associated Press and France 24

Ed Morrissey / HotAir:
Zelensky: We'll accept status quo ante rather than fight in Donbas

Discussion: Politico, CBS News and The National

Presidential Office of Ukraine:
There is ample evidence that it is Russian troops who destroy peaceful cities, torture and kill civilians - address by President Volodymyr Zelenskyy

Discussion: New York Times, Axios, Al Jazeera, BBC, Hackwhackers, nationalinterest.org, Washington Examiner, The Daily Wire, New York Times, Mariia Kravchenko and The Bulwark

Anthony Capaccio / Bloomberg:
U.S. Drones for Ukraine Will Include Latest Tank Killers

Discussion: Forbes, The Hill, Washington Examiner, Politico, HotAir, Reuters and Political Wire

Emma Roth / The Verge:

Twitter will appoint Elon Musk to its board of directors — Musk is limited from buying more than 15 percent of Twitter's stock — Twitter is appointing Tesla CEO Elon Musk to its board of directors, according to a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Musk will serve as a class II director until 2024.

Summer Concepcion / Talking Points Memo:
World Dunks On Twitter For Naming Elon Musk To Its Board

Discussion: Telegraph, TheBlaze, The Star News Network, NBC News, Bloomberg, IJR, Twitchy, UrduPoint News and The Daily Wire

Christopher Hutton / Washington Examiner:
Elon Musk pushes for Twitter edit button after becoming largest shareholder

Discussion: pjmedia.com, Politico, Financial Times, The Daily Caller, The Blast, Associated Press, Raw Story, New Republic, Bloomberg, Vault, Mashable, The Daily Wire, WAVY-TV and Election Law Blog, more at Techmeme »

Associated Press:

Trump aide seeking NH House seat voted in 2 states in 2016 — CONCORD, N.H. (AP) — A former Trump administration official now running for Congress in New Hampshire voted twice during the 2016 primary election season, potentially violating federal voting law and leaving him at odds …

Discussion: Talking Points Memo, Raw Story, POLITICUSUSA and Political Wire

NBC News:

Ivanka Trump to testify Tuesday before House Jan. 6 committee — WASHINGTON — Ivanka Trump, the daughter and senior White House adviser of former President Donald Trump, is set to testify before the House Jan. 6 committee on Tuesday, three sources tell NBC News.

Discussion: Associated Press, Fox News, New York Times, Bloomberg, Washington Examiner, ABC News, The Hill, NPR, CNN, The Guardian, POLITICUSUSA, Metro.co.uk and CBS News

Politico:

GOP Rep. Fred Upton to retire — Rep. Fred Upton, one of the longest-tenured Republicans in the House of Representatives, has decided to retire rather than seek reelection in 2022. — Upton was one of 10 House Republicans who voted to impeach then-President Donald Trump in January 2021 …

Discussion: Washington Post, Insider, Associated Press, NBC News, HuffPost, Wall Street Journal, The Hill, Fox News, Washington Examiner, CBS News, CNN, Talking Points Memo, Washington Times, The Daily Wire and Political Wire

Amber Phillips / Washington Post:
What happened to the 10 House Republicans who voted to impeach Trump?

Discussion: The Hill, Washington Examiner, CNN, National Review, The Daily Caller, The Gateway Pundit, Washington Times and NPR

Brian Schwartz / CNBC:

Inside the consulting firm run by Ginni Thomas, wife of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas — Virginia “Ginni” Thomas, wife of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, runs a little-known consulting company. — Some campaign watchdog groups say it could create yet another conflict of interest for her husband.

Discussion: The Hill and Washington Post

Jeff Amy / Associated Press:

Stacey Abrams reaches millionaire status before 2nd campaign — ATLANTA (AP) — When Democrat Stacey Abrams first ran for Georgia governor in 2018, her lackluster personal finances and a hefty bill from the IRS gave Republicans fodder to question how she could manage a state budget when she struggled with her own debts.

Discussion: Washington Free Beacon, Twitchy, The Federalist and The Daily Caller

Martin Pengelly / The Guardian:

'I didn't win the election': Trump admits defeat in session with historians — The ex-president also said that Iran, China and South Korea were happy Biden won, adding that ‘the election was rigged and lost’ — Donald Trump has admitted he did not win the 2020 election. — “I didn't win the election,” he said.

Discussion: POLITICUSUSA, Digby's Hullabaloo, Raw Story, Hackwhackers, Insider and The Atlantic

Politico:

POLITICO Playbook: Why Biden's base is in distress — DRIVING THE DAY — Democrats are desperately trying to understand what's roiling the electorate heading into a brutal midterm environment. — HIT Strategies has been conducting weekly focus groups to find out in real time how Americans are processing events in 2022.

Discussion: The Moderate Voice, The Republican Standard, Townhall, RedState and NRCC

Johanna Chisholm / The Independent:

Matt Gaetz says Americans with diabetes should lose weight after voting against lowering the price of insulin — ‘The price of insulin increases as waistlines increase,’ Gaetz wrote in defence of voting against the bill that would cap the price of insulin at $35

Last Positivist / The Sooty Empiric:

Why I Am Not A Liberal — Those of us in the contemporary academy who are not liberals ought give an account of why not. This asymmetric burden falls on us, I believe, because the presumption is so strongly that one does fit within the broad confines of liberalism that if one does …

Elizabeth Nolan Brown / Reason:

California Can't Mandate Diversity on Corporate Boards — Plus: Prayer on football field faces SCOTUS, Mike Tyson's ear-shaped edibles banned in Colorado, and more... Law “violates the Equal Protection Clause of the California Constitution on its face,” says judge.

Discussion: Ohio Capital Journal

Philip Bump / Washington Post:

The new red scare: The right leans into pedophilia accusations — Upon learning that three moderate Republican senators — Sens. Lisa Murkowski (Alaska), Susan Collins (Maine) and Mitt Romney (Utah) — would support the Supreme Court nomination of Ketanji Brown Jackson, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene …

Discussion: The Blue State Conservative, Mediaite, Rolling Stone, National Review and Insider

Shaun Walker / The Guardian:

‘Barbarians’: Russian troops leave grisly mark on town of Trostianets — On a two-day visit, the Guardian found evidence of summary executions, torture and looting — he tanks rolled into Trostianets, a sleepy town 20 miles from the Russia-Ukraine border, in the first hours of the invasion.

Elena Schneider / Politico:

How election conspiracy theories turned local politics ‘toxic’ in one Wisconsin city — GREEN BAY, Wis. — For the second time since Election Day 2020, uniformed police officers will be on duty when ballot counting begins in Green Bay's local elections. — It's the result of tension building …

Discussion: Bolts

Ben Adler / Yahoo News:

Republican-controlled states have higher murder rates than Democratic ones: study — 46th and current president of the United States — Republican politicians routinely claim that cities run by Democrats have been experiencing crime waves caused by failed governance …

Discussion: Kevin Drum

Rudi Keller / Missouri Independent:

Sheena Greitens says she has photos, records to document abuse by former Missouri governor — Eric Greitens addresses the media after filing to run in the Missouri Senate primary on Feb. 22, 2022, at the James C Kirkpatrick State Information Center in Jefferson City (photo by Madeline Carter).

Discussion: Raw Story

Michelle Fox / CNBC:

Inflation fears force Americans to rethink financial choices — 76% of Americans worry inflation will force them to rethink financial choices: CNBC survey — Surging inflation has Americans reconsidering how they spend their money. — The Consumer Price Index, which measures …

Discussion: Zandar Versus The Stupid

Elian Peltier / New York Times:

Western Officials Condemn Reports of ‘Massacre’ by Military in Central Mali — The State Department and the French foreign ministry said they were alarmed at reports of deaths caused by the Malian armed forces and their allies — Russian mercenaries with the Wagner Group. — Give this article- - - Read in app

Discussion: Associated Press

Lili Bayer / Politico:

EU launches process to slash Hungary's funds over rule-of-law breaches — The European Commission will soon trigger a powerful new mechanism to cut funding to Hungary for eroding the bloc's rule-of-law standards, Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said Tuesday.

Discussion: Washington Examiner, Bloomberg, Euractiv, The Guardian, UrduPoint News and The National

Fox News:

Ron Klain solicited money from Hunter Biden for VP residence in 2012, emails show: ‘Keep this low low key’ — Klain told Hunter ‘raising money for the Residence now is bad PR’ — Hunter Biden probe has DOJ in ‘untenable’ position, case for a special counsel is ‘absolutely clear’: Turley

Discussion: The Daily Caller, Townhall, Twitchy, New York Post, Breitbart and BizPac Review

Laura Kelly / The Hill:

Zelensky calls for Russian expulsion from UN Security Council — Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in a dramatic video appearance at the United Nations called on the body to remove Russia from the Security Council days after evidence circulated of executions and other atrocities committed by Russian troops in his country.