Top of the Fold

• Biden’s “genocide” claim: Yesterday, Joe Biden called Russia’s war in Ukraine a “genocide” in the latest instance of unhelpful rhetoric. When he was asked if this was intentional, Biden doubled down by stating: “Yes, I called it genocide. It’s become clearer and clearer that [Vladimir] Putin is just trying to wipe out the idea of even being a Ukraine.” Unsurprisingly, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky — who has long been calling on NATO to get involved militarily and erroneously asserting that World War III has already begun — welcomed Biden’s rhetoric. While it may be understandable that Zelensky would seek direct military assistance from NATO in his aim to save his country, Biden’s reckless comments only serve to raise the stakes of the war. By declaring Putin guilty of engaging in a genocide against Ukraine, Biden is effectively cutting off any real opportunity of an off-ramp for Putin to end the war. Leave it to French President Emmanuel Macron to intelligently jump in and pump the brakes. “I am prudent with terms today. Genocide has a meaning,” Macron said. “It’s unbelievable brutality and a return to war in Europe. But at the same time I look at the facts, and I want to continue to try the utmost to be able to stop the war and restore peace. I’m not sure if the escalation of words serves our cause.” It’s one thing to recognize the mounting evidence of Russian soldiers committing war crimes against Ukrainian civilians. It’s another thing to claim that Putin’s war is genocide.

• Border agents cleared of “whipping” hoax: Last September, as a mass of Haitian illegal immigrants attempted to cross the border into the U.S., they were confronted by several Border Patrol agents. Out of that confrontation emerged an image that the Leftmedia falsely described as depicting a border agent on horseback riding down, grabbing, and whipping a fleeing Haitian migrant. Following several different camera angles, video footage, and the statements from the news photographer who captured the image, it was clear that no such “whipping” occurred. But that didn’t stop Joe Biden or DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas from throwing the agents under the bus. Biden promised that the agents would “pay” for their actions. Mayorkas pulled the agents from border duty and promised an investigation that would be completed in a “matter of days, not weeks.” Now, over 120 days later, the agents have been cleared of any criminal wrongdoing by the DHS inspector general. “There was no criminal activity,” said Brandon Judd, president of the National Border Patrol Council. “Everything that they were doing, they were acting under the color of law. They were placed there specifically to stop people from crossing the border.” But the agents aren’t out of the woods yet, as they remain under an administrative investigation conducted by the CBP’s Office of Personal Responsibility that could rule against them, leading to their termination.

• New York lieutenant governor resigns: Following his arrest yesterday on campaign finance charges including bribery, New York’s Democrat Lieutenant Governor Brian Benjamin resigned. Benjamin faces a five-count indictment stemming from his time as a state senator. He is alleged to have conspired to direct $50,000 in state funds to a real estate developer in Harlem and received thousands of dollars in campaign contributions. “This is a simple story of corruption,” the U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York explained. “Taxpayer money for campaign contributions. A quid pro quo. This for that. That’s bribery, plain and simple.” Benjamin’s arrest and resignation certainly serves as a black eye for Governor Kathy Hochul, who handpicked him last year following her own elevation to the governorship after Andrew Cuomo’s resignation amidst sexual harassment allegations. Further complicating the matter for Hochul and the state’s Democrat Party is that the primary is just a few weeks away, and according to state law, Benjamin cannot be removed from the ballot.

Headlines

• Producer prices rose 11.2% from a year ago in March, the biggest gain on record (CNBC)

• U.S. to send another $750 million in military aid to Ukraine (Washington Examiner)

• Mark Zuckerberg won’t repeat 2020’s massive spending on elections offices (Washington Times)

• Brooklyn subway shooting suspect posted racist rants to YouTube for years (Fox News)

• First Texas bus drops off migrants blocks from U.S. Capitol (Fox News)

• Florida Governor Ron DeSantis says funds are in place to bus illegal migrants out of his state (Fox News)

• Half of states now have constitutional carry laws as Governor Brian Kemp signs new law in Georgia (Daily Wire)

• Oklahoma Governor Kevin Stitt signs abortion ban that will save 4,000 babies a year (LifeNews)

• “Twisting the truth”: Facebook censors facts on Colorado’s abortion-on-demand law (Free Beacon)

• Disney heir comes out as “transgender”; family slams Florida law (Washington Examiner)

• Shanghai eases two-week shutdown, letting some residents out (AP)

• Just 9% think pandemic is still “serious crisis,” survey finds (Daily Wire)

• Google’s Gmail favors left-wing candidates, sends far more emails from conservatives to spam (Fox News)

• Policy: Stop Biden and the Democrats’ war on charter schools (Daily Signal)

• Satire: Senile old man spotted with a gun spouting wild demands on White House grounds (Babylon Bee)

For more of today’s editors’ choice headlines, visit Headline Report.

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