The Conservative Political Action Coalition (CPAC) apologized on Saturday for an earlier tweet that set off a firestorm when it referred to areas of the Ukraine countryside where Russian troops had fled as “Ukrainian-occupied.” The tweet, which CPAC later deleted and called “unauthorized,” read in part, “Vladimir Putin announces the annexation of 4 Ukrainian-occupied territories. Biden and the Dems continue to send Ukraine billions of taxpayer dollars.” The message was intended to criticize the recent $12.3 billion included in the fed’s short term funding plan to assist in the Ukrainian war effort—but CPAC acknowledged that it “belittled the plight of the innocent Ukrainian people.” Earlier in the day, critics had lambasted CPAC—including MSNBC’s Joe Scarborough, who likened the tweet to Russian propaganda, and political commentator Keith Olbermann, who ranted, “What could be worse than @cpac and anti-America pigshit [Matt Schlapp] endorsing Putin’s attack on Ukraine and threats against the US? How about deleting the tweet with no explanation? #CPACCowards.”