Tag: General News

The widow of assassinated Haitian President Jovenel Moïse was among the 51 people indicted in connection to the 2021 killing on Monday, a major step forward for the case nearly three years after the fact.

Martine Moïse, ex-prime minister Claude Joseph and the former chief of Haiti’s National Police Léon Charles were the most notable of those charged with crimes, alongside the mercenaries that went through with the attack and a number of the president’s closest aides.

Moïse was killed in a raid on his Port-au-Prince home in June 2021 by a group of 28 foreign mercenaries, mostly Colombians. Martine Moïse was also shot during the attack but survived. The president’s bodyguards were unharmed, raising suspicions that they were in on the assassination.

The killing sent Haiti into political turmoil, which is only expected to worsen with news of the arrests. The country is crumbling under surging gang violence and violent protests demanding the resignation of Moïse’s eventual successor, Acting President and Prime Minister Ariel Henry. 

The 122-page report listing the charges is the product of five judges and years of investigation, with previous judges stepping down from the task citing intimidation and threats to their families. 

Charles faces the most serious charges: murder; attempted murder; possession and illegal carrying of weapons; conspiracy against the internal security of the state; and criminal association. He is alleged to be one of the masterminds of the assassination.

Martine Moïse and Joseph were charged with complicity and criminal association, that they knew about the risk to the president before the assassination.

Joseph told The Associated Press that the investigation and charges are part of Henry’s efforts to centralize power in the Haitian government.

“Henry … is weaponizing the Haitian justice system, prosecuting political opponents like me. It’s a classic coup d’état,” Joseph said. “They failed to kill me and Martine Moïse on July 7th 2021, now they are using the Haitian justice system to advance their Machiavellian agenda.”

He called on the FBI and other foreign agencies to independently investigate the killing.

“I won’t stop my fight. Justice must be served,” he said.

Two Americans were also among those charged in the assassination. Christian Emmanuel Sanon, a Haitian-American doctor and pastor living in Florida, was set to be Haiti’s next president in the scheme, and fellow Haitian-American Joseph Vincent.

Sanon and Vincent are among 11 suspects previously extradited to the U.S. to face charges related to the assassination. Three have already been sentenced.

The judge’s report alleges that the president’s head of security was paid an $80,000 bribe to lower security on the night of the assassination, and to keep his men out of harm’s way. 

He noted how “none of the police providing security to the head of state was in danger. Unfortunately, the head of state was assassinated with ease.”

Political turmoil in Haiti has only worsened since 2021, with extreme gang violence forcing the U.S. to nearly close its embassy in Port-au-Prince. The Haitian government announced last week that it is working to finalize a long-awaited police force led by Kenya to quell gang violence in the city.

United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk recently noted that more than 800 people were killed, injured or kidnapped across Haiti in January, more than three times the number compared with the same month in 2023.

Former Rep. David Jolly (Fla.), who served in the House as a Republican but later left the party, accused members of his former party of being apologists for former President Trump amid mounting scrutiny over his recent remarks on NATO.

“I think there’s a unique shamefulness to see [Rep.] Mike Turner [R-Ohio], [Sen.] Tim Scott [R-S.C.], [Sen.] Lindsey Graham [R-S.C.] and others engage in this type of apologism if you will, for their own political interest. To faceplate on the knee of Donald Trump, they do it very well, from Graham to Scott to Mike Turner to [Rep.] Elise Stefanik [R-N.Y.]…name ’em,” Jolly said in an interview with MSNBC’s “Deadline: White House,” on Monday.

The Hill reached out to the offices of Turner, Scott, Graham and Stefanik for further comment.

Trump has recently faced mounting backlash after claiming he would encourage Russia to attack NATO allies who do not carry their financial weight with regards to the alliance’s defense spending targets.

The former president, during a Feb. 11 campaign rally, recounted a story about when a foreign leader questioned him about his threat not to defend members who do not hit the alliance’s defense spending targets. 

“You didn’t pay?” Trump said he responded. “You’re delinquent. No, I would not protect you. In fact, I would encourage them to do whatever the hell they want. You gotta pay. You gotta pay your bills.”

The remarks further fueled fears about what a second Trump term in the White House could mean for the United States’s European allies.

Some of Trump’s allies, for their part, have largely shrugged off any concerns.

Turner, who chairs the House Intelligence Committee, defended the remarks on Sunday and claimed the former president’s comments at rallies do not translate into his “actual policies.”

Scott, who suspended his own White House bid last fall, dismissed Trump’s comments when asked Sunday on CNN’s “State of the Union.” The South Carolina Republican instead turned the focus on President Biden, whom he argued is “dragging his feet.”

Graham on Sunday also said he supports the former president’s calls to get members of the alliance to contribute to what would be considered their fair share.

Jolly on Monday said he does not believe the current Republican Party considers Russia “an adversary.”

“I don’t believe they see Vladimir Putin as uniquely evil and that is a pivot from GOP orthodoxy,” Jolly said. “And I think what is so fascinating about that — concerning as it is — sure there are national security interests for the U.S. and the West to no longer see Donald Trump as an adversary or see Vladimir Putin as an adversary if Republicans take control or if Donald Trump ends up in the White House.”

“The flip side of that coin is the embrace of American weakness,” he said, adding later, “Today’s Republican Party has embraced American weakness, they are okay looking the other way and giving equity to Vladimir Putin and Russia. And that’s not just a pivot of orthodoxy, that’s a new chapter of Republicanism.”