A dark money group with ties to Democratic Party heavyweights will spend millions this year to try to disbar more than 100 lawyers who worked on Donald Trump's post-election lawsuits, people involved with the effort tell Axios' Lachlan Markay and Jonathan Swan.

• Why it matters: The 65 Project plans to begin filing complaints this week and will air ads in battleground states. It hopes to deter right-wing legal talent from signing on to any future GOP efforts to overturn elections — including the midterms or 2024.

The group takes its name from a count of lawsuits that sought to invalidate the 2020 results.

• The group is being advised by David Brock, who founded Media Matters for America and the super PAC American Bridge 21st Century, and is a Hillary Clinton ally and prolific fundraiser for Democrats.
• Brock told Axios in an interview that the idea is to "not only bring the grievances in the bar complaints, but shame them and make them toxic in their communities and in their firms."

Advisory board members include former Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle (D-S.D.). The project was devised by Melissa Moss, a Democratic consultant and former senior Clinton administration official.

The other side: Some of the lawyers targeted describe the tactics as naked political intimidation.

• "This move is nothing more than a desperate attempt by leftist hacks and mercenaries," Paul Davis, a Texas attorney targeted for his presence at the Capitol on Jan. 6, wrote in an email to Axios.

How it works: The 65 Project is targeting 111 attorneys (in 26 states) who were involved to some degree in efforts to challenge or reverse 2020 election results.

• The group will air ads in battleground states, including Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin.
• It also will push the ABA and every state bar association to codify rules barring certain election challenges.

It plans to spend about $2.5 million in its first year, and will operate through an existing nonprofit called Law Works.

• Keep reading.

Above, residents flee the town of Irpin, outside Kyiv, after heavy shelling landed on the only escape route used by locals, with Russian troops advancing towards the capital.

At least four civilians killed: The top of the front page of today's New York Times includes a photo of a family lying on the ground in Irpin after being hit by a Russian mortar shell. Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky said they were killed.

• "A cloud of concrete dust lofted into the morning air," writes The Times' Lynsey Addario, one of the world's most distinguished combat photographers, who witnessed the attack.

"When the family — a mother, her teenage son and a daughter who appeared to be about 8 — was spotted sprawled on the ground, soldiers rushed to help, but could do little for them or a man described as a family friend who had been helping them escape," Addario reports.

• Read the story (subscription). Caution: Graphic photo.

A factory and a store burn after being bombarded in Irpin.

President Biden is privately debating a trip to Saudi Arabia this spring to help unleash more oil more quickly to pull down gas prices, officials tell Axios' Hans Nichols.

• Why it matters: The Saudis dismembered a Washington Post journalist. But the kingdom has lots of oil. Hence, the moral dilemma, which extends to Iran and Venezuela.

Between the lines: Foreign policy is often a choice between poisons. Now Biden is choosing between some awful formulas. He knows he needs to stop buying Russian energy — but fears U.S. gas prices going much higher, Axios' Jonathan Swan and Dave Lawler report.

• High prices at the pump are already harming Democrats ahead of November's midterms. So Biden's advisers are debating which other unsavory regimes they can turn to for energy.

Will it be Saudi Arabia's "Mr. Bonesaw" — the autocrat Biden promised to treat like a "pariah"? (Though Biden's aides have privately been trying to warm up the Saudi relationship in the past six months).

• Or will it be Nicolás Maduro's regime in Venezuela? The U.S. led the world in shunning Maduro in 2019 for rigging elections and cracking down on his opposition. But the White House is in discussions with his aides about easing sanctions to allow for more oil exports, The Washington Post reported yesterday.

👀 What we're watching: One factor keeping oil prices from spiking even higher is anticipation that the U.S. will soon seal a deal with another adversary, Iran. That would allow Tehran to begin to ramp up oil exports — and, to the chagrin of Iran hawks in D.C., refill the national coffers.

Tesla CEO Elon Musk is calling for the expansion of nuclear power in Europe and greater oil production in the U.S. as Russia's invasion of Ukraine spikes prices, Axios' Ben Geman and Andrew Freedman report.

• His tweet yesterday (above) in support of nuclear power came two days after Musk, whose company is the market leader in electric vehicles, tweeted that "we need to increase oil & gas output immediately ... extraordinary times demand extraordinary measures."

Quick take: Musk's new energy punditry is likely to run afoul of environmentalists, who support EVs but are pushing back against calls for expanded fossil fuel production to check Russia, a major oil-and-gas exporter.

• Musk said that while expanding oil production would "negatively affect" his company, "sustainable energy solutions simply cannot react instantaneously to make up for Russian oil & gas exports."

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More than half of all Americans say they've directly felt the effects of health-care worker shortages, from canceled appointments to delayed surgeries, Axios' Tina Reed writes from a CVS Health-Harris Poll National Health project provided to Axios.

• Of more than 2,000 adults polled, 45% said they'd had trouble scheduling appointments. More than one in three said their doctor was operating on reduced hours.
• Keep reading.

⚡ Breaking: The worldwide death toll from COVID has crossed 6 million. Go deeper.

Former Vice President Mike Pence's advocacy group plans to spend $10 million on TV ads targeting vulnerable House Dems on energy and Ukraine, Axios' Lachlan Markay and Jonathan Swan have learned.

• Why it matters: Pence contrasted himself against Trump last week, slamming the GOP’s "apologists" for Putin. Now he's using the Russian invasion to trash Democrats.

Between the lines: The new ad buy from his group, Advancing American Freedom, shows Pence is spending serious coin to shore up a political brand independent of former President Trump.

• The $10 million buy is the most expensive move by a 2024 GOP contender not named Donald Trump.

What's happening: The ads begin airing today. They're targeting 16 House Democrats in competitive re-election fights this year. Pence's name, voice and image don't appear in the spot previewed by Axios.

🔮 What's next: Spending on the ad campaign could grow as events in Ukraine develop, a source familiar with the group's plans tells Axios.

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Former President Trump rants against Bill Barr, his former attorney general, in a three-page letter to "NBC Nightly News" anchor Lester Holt, who interviewed Barr about his new book, "One Damn Thing After Another," out tomorrow.

• Why it matters: You have to read this letter, obtained exclusively by Axios, to fully appreciate Trump’s mindset heading into 2024.

Trump said he was attaching a report about supposed election corruption, as if Lester Holt would be super-interested in it. He said Barr is now "groveling to the media, hoping to gain acceptance that he doesn't deserve."

• "I would imagine that if the book is anything like him, it will be long, slow, and very boring," Trump wrote.

Read the full letter.

Warner Bros.' "The Batman" became the second film in the pandemic era to cross $100 million in its domestic box office debut this weekend, giving the theater industry a much-needed boost of optimism early in the year, Axios' Sara Fischer writes.

• Why it matters: "It's another brick in the foundation for movie theaters coming back," Comscore senior media analyst Paul Dergarabedian told Axios.

The release — the largest since "Spider-Man: No Way Home" had a $260 million domestic opener last December — shows that superhero movies really have drawing power," Dergarabedian added.

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