| Welcome to The Daily 202! Tell your friends to sign up here. On this day in 1951, Julius and Ethel Rosenberg were convicted in New York of conspiracy to commit espionage for the Soviet Union. The couple were later sentenced to death and executed in 1953. | | |  | The big idea | | Don't call it a walkback. Biden's been knocking Putin for years. |  President Biden and Russian President Vladimir Putin, arrive at the 'Villa la Grange', June 16, 2021, in Geneva, Switzerland for a face-to-face meeting. (AP Photo/Patrick Semansky, File) | | | President Biden has called Russian President Vladimir Putin a "killer," a "butcher," the leader of a "paranoid regime," as well as a war criminal. He has repeatedly said the former KGB officer lacks a soul. Concerned about hurting Kremlin feelings, Biden is not. At all. Still, Biden apparently felt he needed to personally clear up his comment over the weekend that Putin "cannot remain in power," assuring the world he's not planting a regime-change flag at the heart of the allied response to Russia's war in Ukraine. "I was expressing the moral outrage that I feel, and I make no apologies for it," Biden told reporters at the White House. "But it doesn't mean we have a fundamental policy to do anything to take Putin down in any way." The president sounded defiant, calling it "ridiculous" for anyone to think he was embracing regime change in Moscow, and denying that his earlier comment might complicate diplomacy to end the conflict or serve Moscow as a pretext to escalate the violence. | - "The idea that he is going to do something outrageous because I called him [out] for what he was and what he's doing, I think is just not rational," Biden said. "I'm not walking anything back."
| | In a departure from its routine, the White House had advertised Biden would take questions after making remarks on his budget proposal. That ensured a robust news media presence, which in turn guaranteed he would get asked about his remarks in Warsaw. | | Biden's comment in Poland, which White House officials have said was unscripted, appeared to have unsettled American allies. French President Emmanuel Macron, for instance, warned against any escalation "in either words or actions" that, he said, would complicate efforts to end the war. Biden had a thinly veiled message for Macron: "Other governments have suggested that this is a problem, I'm escalating things. No. And it has weakened NATO? No, it hasn't. NATO has never ever, ever, ever, ever, ever been as strong as it is today. Never." | | Was it, as Biden said, "ridiculous" for anyone to hear his remarks and worry about a shift in U.S. policy? It's not like Washington doesn't have a rich history — a rich and recent history — of embracing regime change, albeit not in a nuclear-armed rival like Russia. The rest of the world remembers the United States using threats to push out leaders in places like Haiti, using military force to drive them from office in countries like Panama, and committing massive resources to overthrow regimes in Iraq and Afghanistan. And Biden was vice president when President Barack Obama enlisted NATO air power against the ground troops of Libyan leader Moammar Gaddafi, protecting rebel forces who ultimately deposed and killed him after he fled his palace. (On the other hand, he was also vice president when Obama said Syrian leader Bashar Assad "must go," and Assad, a client of Moscow, is very much not gone.) (My colleagues Shane Harris, John Hudson, Missy Ryan and Souad Mekhennet reported earlier this month that Gaddafi's fate resonates personally with Putin.) It also bears noting that the unprecedented economic sanctions under which the Russian economy is sagging, facing imminent recession according to its central bank, aim to pile domestic political pressure on Putin. Biden nodded to that dynamic. "If he continues on this course that he's on, he is going to become a pariah worldwide. And who knows what he becomes at home, in terms of support," the president said. Interviewed Monday night on the PBS NewsHour, Putin spokesman Dmitry Peskov called Biden's weekend comment a "personal insult," "quite alarming," and "completely unacceptable." The Russian people will decide who leads them, he said. | - "How can I say this in a public forum?" he said in January, a month before Russia started the war. "He has eight time zones, a burning tundra that will not freeze again naturally, a situation where he has a lot of oil and gas, but he is trying to find his place in the world between China and the West."
| | After their first summit, a June 2021 face-to-face in Geneva, Biden had waved off questions about whether he trusted Putin. "This is not about trust," he said. "This is about self-interest and verification of self-interest." Biden has been cautious about avoiding a direct military conflict between NATO and Russia, warning that might ultimately trigger World War III. On the rhetorical battlefield, he's been much less guarded. On Monday, Biden concluded: "He shouldn't remain in power. Just like, you know, bad people shouldn't continue to do bad things." | | |  | What's happening now | | 4.4 million Americans quit or changed jobs in February |  A help wanted sign is displayed in the window of a fast-food restaurant in downtown Los Angeles. (Patrick T. Fallon/AFP via Getty Images) | | | "Americans continued to switch jobs at near-record rates in February, with 4.4 million workers leaving their positions in a historically tight labor market," Abha Bhattarai reports. | Ukraine outlines peace proposals as Russia says it will reduce attacks on Kyiv, Chernihiv | Judge: Nonviolent Jan. 6 defendants shouldn't get 'serious jail time' | | "A federal judge criticized U.S. prosecutors for seeking jail time for some nonviolent Donald Trump supporters in the Jan. 6 Capitol breach, but not for left-wing activists who protested the 2018 Senate confirmation of Trump Supreme Court nominee Brett M. Kavanaugh," Spencer S. Hsu and Tom Jackman report. | Democrats push toward vote on Jackson for Supreme Court | Trial begins today in ISIS killings of U.S. journalists, aid workers | | "The only trial in U.S. court for a member of an infamous terrorist cell is set to begin Tuesday, as El Shafee Elsheikh stands accused of taking part in the capture and murder of journalists and aid workers by the Islamic State," Rachel Weiner reports. | | |  | Lunchtime reads from The Post | | Jan. 6 White House logs given to House show 7-hour gap in Trump calls | | "The lack of an official White House notation of any calls placed to or by Trump for 457 minutes on Jan. 6, 2021 — from 11:17 a.m. to 6:54 p.m. — means the [Jan. 6] committee has no record of his phone conversations as his supporters descended on the Capitol, battled overwhelmed police and forcibly entered the building, prompting lawmakers and Vice President Mike Pence to flee for safety," Bob Woodward and Robert Costa report. Raising new questions: "The House panel is now investigating whether Trump communicated that day through backchannels, phones of aides or personal disposable phones, known as 'burner phones,' according to two people with knowledge of the probe." (Trump said in a statement that he doesn't know what a burner phone is.) Read the presidential call log from Jan. 6, 2021 | New focus on how a Trump tweet incited far-right groups ahead of Jan. 6 |  Former President Donald Trump gestures after speaking at a 'Save America' rally in Commerce, Ga., on Saturday. (Elijah Nouvelage/Bloomberg News) | | Impeach Thomas? House Dems can go there, but most won't. | | "But despite fervent calls for impeachment from the left, most Democratic lawmakers say they're not yet prepared to consider that option — the only one with teeth that's in their purview. Instead, Democrats said they want more details about exactly what happened before settling on a potential punishment or remedy," Poltico's Kyle Cheney, Sarah Ferris and Nicholas Wu report. | "Plot to Overturn the Election," a ProPublica-Frontline collaboration, premieres tonight | | The new documentary will explore how a group of people working from a plantation in South Carolina spread falsehoods about the 2020 election that have since become articles of faith for many Republicans. It premieres Tuesday at 10 p.m. EDT on PBS stations. More information is available here. | | |  | The latest on covid | | Covid funding inaction threatens fragile progress on racial, economic disparities | | "Public health experts, lawmakers and health officials say the White House's decision to scale back or suspend programs that provide free testing, treatments and vaccinations will disproportionately affect the tens of millions of uninsured Americans — a majority of whom are people of color," Politico's Megan Messerly and Alice Miranda Ollstein report. | | |  | The Biden agenda | | Antitrust bill targeting Amazon, Google, Apple gets support from DOJ |  President Biden delivers a speech about the Russian invasion of Ukraine on Saturday in Warsaw. (Evan Vucci/AP) | | | "The Justice Department Monday endorsed legislation forbidding large digital platforms such as Amazon and Google from favoring their own products and services over competitors', marking the Biden administration's first full-throated support of the antitrust measure," the Wall Street Journal's Ryan Tracy reports. | White House turns to air quality in latest effort to thwart coronavirus | | "The White House is pivoting to emphasize that poorly ventilated indoor air poses the biggest risk for coronavirus infections, urging schools, businesses and homeowners to take steps to boost air quality — a move scientists say is long overdue and will help stave off future outbreaks," Dan Diamond reports. | Biden, Singapore's prime minister to discuss Ukraine, Indo-Pacific security | | "President Joe Biden will welcome Singapore's Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong to the White House for bilateral meetings Tuesday to discuss Russia's invasion of Ukraine, maintaining peace in the Indo-Pacific region, climate change and supply chain issues," NBC News's Rebecca Shabad reports. | 'It's about the 30-second ads': Biden budget offers a counter to GOP midterm attacks | | "Taken together, the proposed outlays reflect Biden's recent turn toward a more moderate, populist profile ahead of the midterm elections after spending his first year in office pursuing a more ambitious, left-leaning domestic agenda that amplified intraparty disagreements and left many Americans confused about what Democrats stand for, strategists said," Cleve R. Wootson Jr., Annie Linskey and Marianna Sotomayor report. | Biden administration begins vaccinating asylum seekers at southern border | | "The decision comes after months of debate within the Biden administration, in which time nonprofit organizations along the border including Catholic Charities started administering Covid-19 vaccines to those migrants released to nonprofit shelters so they could apply for asylum," the WSJ's Michelle Hackman reports. | Vice President Harris to tout $4.7 billion pledge to minority-owned businesses near D.C. | | "Vice President Kamala Harris on Wednesday will join a group that includes leaders of corporate giants to promote a $4.7 billion commitment to boosting minority-owned businesses and underrepresented communities in Washington, D.C., and surrounding areas," CNBC's Brian Schwartz reports. | | |  | Foreign businesses in Russia, visualized | | | "Many Western companies, some of which catered to Russia's upper crust, have pulled out of the country, in the face of mounting international ire and a raft of sanctions, following the invasion of Ukraine." Our colleagues report on the 'deglobalization' of Moscow in this visual guide that shows how life has changed in Russia's capital. | | |  | Hot on the left | | Calling Biden's billionaire tax what it is: A good start | | "Biden's billionaire tax is good as far as it goes, but there is more to progressive populism than taxing the filthy rich. Biden also needs to signal directly what he wants to do for regular people. As I've argued elsewhere, he has the executive power to cancel student debt and to order unconscionably priced drugs put into the public domain," the American Prospect's Robert Kuttner writes. "Wealth concentration is not the only form of economic concentration harming working Americans. Extreme corporate concentration leads to pricing power to gouge consumers. Biden could be speaking out more forcefully on that abuse as well, and proposing measures to break up monopolies as well as offering public alternatives." | | |  | Hot on the right | | Trump calls on Putin to release info on Hunter Biden's dealings with oligarchs |  President Donald Trump shakes hands with Russian President Vladimir Putin at the G-20 Summit in Hamburg in July 2017. (Evan Vucci/AP) | | | "In an interview with the Just the News television show on Real America's Voice airing Tuesday, the former president cited a 2020 Senate report that disclosed Russian oligarch Yelena Baturina, then the wife of Moscow's mayor, provided $3.5 million a decade ago to a company co-founded by President Joe Biden's son and unanswered questions about why the money was given," Just the News's John Solomon reports. "'Now, you won't get the answer from Ukraine,' Trump lamented, referring to his 2020 impeachment over seeking Ukraine's help investigating the Biden's business dealing." | | Donald Trump, in a wide-ranging interview at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida | "[Baturina] gave [Hunter Biden] $3.5 million so now I would think Putin would know the answer to that. I think he should release it. I think we should know that answer." | | | | | | | | |  | Today in Washington | | | At 12:45 p.m., Biden and Singaporean Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong will make a joint statement to the media. Biden will pay his respects to the late Rep. Don Young (R-Alaska) at 2:05 p.m. as Young lay in state in the Capitol. Biden will sign the Emmett Till Antilynching Act into law at 4 p.m. and make remarks along with Vice President Harris. | | |  | In closing | | How this tech whiz became William Shatner's eyeball double in 'Star Trek II' |  Robert Poor in Manhattan Beach, Calif., on March 3. (Allison Zaucha/The Washington Post) | | | Rob Poor, a Manhattan Beach-based technologist and entrepreneur seems to have been in the exact right place at the exact right time, Jason Vest explains. Think back to this scene: "One of the trippiest effects was seeing Admiral Kirk submit to a Starfleet tech-security measure: 'I-den-tify for ret-in-a scan,' in which Kirk's eyeball is used to secure access to a classified briefing." "It was Poor's eyeball that stood in for Shatner's. That is, a very early digitized photo of Poor's eyeball, which seemed almost impossible to pull off at the time." | | Thanks for reading. See you tomorrow. | | |
