Ballet and bioluminescence: Africa's top shots
From the BBC in Africa this week:
The would-be Congolese saint murdered 'mafia-style' for refusing bribes
Artist explores the toxic mining legacy of Zambia's 'black mountains'
Inside the Lesotho factory that made Trump golf shirts - now hit hard by US tariffs
Go to BBCAfrica.com for more news from the African continent.
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Axios
an hour ago
- Axios
Federal judge defers ruling on Alina Habba's legal authority
A federal judge on Friday deferred ruling on Alina Habba's legal authority as a prosecutor after President Trump tapped her to lead the U.S. attorney's office for New Jersey. The big picture: A lawyer sought to get a criminal case in New Jersey dismissed by questioning Habba's legitimacy to lead the U.S. attorney's office in the state and arguing that the way the Trump administration restored her authority over the office was "unconstitutional." Catch up quick: In March, Trump appointed his then-presidential counselor Habba to serve as interim U.S. attorney for the District of New Jersey. That allowed her to work in an acting capacity for 120 days while awaiting Senate confirmation. With Habba's confirmation stalled, the local district court appointed a new prosecutor to serve until the vacancy was filled. Attorney General Pam Bondi terminated the appointment hours later. Trump then withdrew Habba's nomination as the U.S. attorney so that she could be appointed to the position of first assistant U.S. attorney, making her the acting leader of the office. Driving the news: Judge Matthew Brann of the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania wrote in the opinion that the motion to dismiss the case is both denied in part and deferred in part. The defendant, Julien Giraud Jr. who is facing charges in a drug and gun-related case, is entitled to injunctive relief "precluding Ms. Habba from participating in their prosecution if they are correct that she was appointed in violation of statute or the Constitution." That injunctive relief, the judge wrote, should extend to Assistant United States Attorneys "purporting to operate pursuant to Ms. Habba's authority." The judge added, "Because relief will be available to them if they are correct, the court should reach the merits of the Girauds' claims," Brann added. Context: Attorney Thomas Mirigliano asked the court to dismiss the indictment or stop Habba and any other attorney acting under "her purported authority" from prosecuting the case.
New York Post
2 hours ago
- New York Post
Official investigation into Trump prosecutor Jack Smith launched
The Office of Special Counsel has launched a formal investigation into Jack Smith, the first official legal probe into his conduct, The Post has learned. Smith is the justice department lawyer who oversaw two criminal investigations into President Donald Trump during the Biden administration, one into Trump's handling of classified documents, the other as to whether his actions on Jan. 6th, 2021 were an attempt to overturn the 2020 election. Both cases were dismissed. An email reviewed by The Post states The Hatch Act Unit, which enforces a law restricting government employees from engaging in political activities, has begun reviewing the former Special Counsel for the United States Department of Justice. The email was written by Senior Counsel Charles Baldis at OSC. Advertisement 4 Jack Smith was appointed by President Biden's Attorney General Merrick Garland and resigned from his post as Special Council for the Department of Justice in January, after Trump assumed power. AP 'I appreciate the Office of Special Counsel taking this seriously and launching an investigation into Jack Smith's conduct. No one is above the law. 'Jack Smith's actions were clearly driven to hurt President Trump's election, and Smith should be held fully accountable,' said Senate Intelligence Committee chair Sen Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) in a statement to The Post. Advertisement OSC opened the investigation into Smith after Cotton wrote a letter earlier this week alleging Smith took blatantly political action to undermine President Trump in his 2024 bid. Smith, who was appointed by President Biden's Attorney General Merrick Garland, resigned from his post as Special Council for the Department of Justice in January, after Trump assumed power. 4 'Jack Smith's legal actions were nothing more than a tool for the Biden and Harris campaigns. This isn't just unethical, it is very likely illegal campaign activity from a public office,' Sen, Tin Cotton wrote. Getty Images 4 Under Jack Smith's watch the FBI raided Trump's home at Mar-a-Lago to search for documents. US Justice Department/AFP via Getty Images Advertisement Smith's actions as prosecutor have been widely criticized by Republicans who saw the prosecutions as an effort to weaponize the justice system against Trump and hobble his election chances in 2024. In his letter to OSC, Cotton explains how Smith's actions undermined Trump's political efforts. 'Jack Smith's legal actions were nothing more than a tool for the Biden and Harris campaigns. This isn't just unethical, it is very likely illegal campaign activity from a public office,' Cotton said. 'Many of Smith's legal actions seem to have no rationale except for an attempt to affect the 2024 election results – actions that would violate federal law.' Advertisement 4 Jack Smith investigated President Trump's handling of the 2020 election. REUTERS Cotton accuses Smith of blatant political actions to interfere with Trump's 2024 presidential run, including speeding up his investigation to schedule trial dates that would interfere with important political moments, such as the Iowa caucuses. 'These actions were not standard, necessary, or justified,' Cotton added. 'They were the actions of a political actor masquerading as a public official.' Smith has not publicly responded to Cotton's allegations. During his tenure, Smith maintained that his investigations followed legal protocols and were independent of political influence. Smith didn't immediately respond to a request for comment from The Post.
New York Post
2 hours ago
- New York Post
Trump admin fires back at claims Clinton plan to ‘smear' prez with Russia ties was disinfo: ‘No one is buying your bulls–t anymore'
WASHINGTON — Trump administration officials ripped skeptics of newly released intelligence files detailing a purported Hillary Clinton campaign plan 'to tie Donald Trump to Russia' in 2016 — after the detractors claimed the sensitive documents were themselves the product of another disinformation campaign by Moscow. 'Are we really doing this?' asked Alexa Henning, deputy chief of staff to Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard, after the New York Times characterized the intelligence released Thursday as a likely fabricated product of Russian espionage. 'The Russia Hoax was concocted against President Trump by Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama, James Clapper, John Brennan, James Comey, Loretta Lynch, etc. by funding a FAKE Dossier and putting into a 'real' intelligence product briefed to Congress, the WH and leaked to the public by the spineless, gutless shills in the media. Where's that headline??' asked Henning on X Friday after posting screenshots of the Times piece alongside nearly decade-old articles from the Washington Post and NBC News bringing the same charge. Advertisement 'Not to mention it says in the recently released Durham annex and [House Intelligence Committee] report it says multiple times the Clinton emails were corroborated as authentic by the CIA,' added Henning. 'No one is buying your bulls–t anymore.' CIA Director John Ratcliffe and Attorney General Pam Bondi declassified the 24-page annex to special counsel John Durham's 2023 report on Thursday, emphasizing it showed coordination between Clinton's team and former President Barack Obama's administration to push a narrative that the 2016 Trump campaign was in cahoots with Russia during the election. 8 The files showed coordination between Clinton's team and former President Barack Obama's administration to push a narrative that the 2016 Trump campaign colluded with Russia in the election. Bloomberg via Getty Images Advertisement Ratcliffe — who referred former CIA boss Brennan to the Department of Justice for possible criminal prosecution related to Russiagate — said in a statement Thursday the files revealed 'a coordinated plan to prevent and destroy Donald Trump's presidency.' CIA spokeswoman Liz Lyons added Friday that 'the Hillary Clinton campaign worked to plant the Trump–Russia narrative in the press—with her direct approval.' A report by the Times initially published Thursday tried to counter the administration, saying that 'a key piece of supposed evidence for the claim that Mrs. Clinton approved a plan to tie Mr. Trump to Russia is not credible: Mr. Durham concluded that the email from July 27, 2016, and a related one dated two days earlier were probably manufactured.' 8 Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) released special counsel John Durham's 24-page annex of the materials Thursday. AP Advertisement The annex, which Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) released Thursday, does not show that. In 2017, the CIA determined intelligence on 'the purported Clinton campaign' — which included messages from operatives in the George Soros-founded Open Society Foundations — 'to not be the product of Russian fabrication.' Brennan also prepared a memo based on the intel to defensively brief Obama, then-Vice President Joe Biden, then-Attorney General Lynch, then-FBI Director Comey and then-Director of National Intelligence Clapper. Emails from Open Society's regional director Leonard Benardo — which laid bare a plan from the Clinton campaign to boost messaging 'about Trump and Russian hackers hampering U.S. elections' in order to 'distract people from her own missing emails' probe — was also considered 'likely authentic' by the FBI. Advertisement 8 '[I]t will be a long-term affair to demonize Putin and Trump,' Benardo was quoted as writing in a July 25 email. Chairman Grassley '[I]t will be a long-term affair to demonize Putin and Trump,' Benardo was quoted as writing in a July 25 email. 'Now it is good for a post-convention bounce. Later the FBI will put more oil into the fire.' On July 27, Benardo apparently authored another email stating: 'HRC approved Julia's idea about Trump and Russian hackers hampering U.S. elections. That should distract people from her own missing email, especially if the affair goes to the Olympic level,' in seeming reference to a state-sponsored doping campaign by Russia following the 2014 Winter Games in Sochi. 'We now know from the recent declassification that just days before the FBI launched Crossfire Hurricane, Russian intelligence reported on Clinton allies accurately predicting that FBI would 'put more oil into the fire,'' said Lyons on Friday. 'That's no coincidence, and any objective observer can see that.' FBI analysts and officers interviewed by Durham's office 'who were well versed in the Sensitive Intelligence collection, stated that their best assessment was that the Benardo emails were likely authentic,' the annex assessed, adding that investigators were 'unable to locate' identical copies. Some FBI analysts also said 'it was possible, however, that the Russians might have fabricated or altered purported U.S. emails.' 8 On July 27, Benardo apparently authored another email. Chairman Grassley But Comey's FBI never fully vetted the accuracy of the information because it wasn't deemed 'credible' enough. Advertisement Comey later testified to Congress that the conclusion prompted his July 2016 announcement of the closure of a probe into Clinton's deletion of more than 30,000 emails from a private server. In 2020, the Office of the Director of National Intelligence informed Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) that it did not 'know the accuracy' of the files. 8 In 2017, the CIA determined the intelligence was 'not be the product of Russian fabrication.' REUTERS Durham's 'best assessment' was that the 'emails that purport to be from Benardo were ultimately a composite of several emails that were obtained through Russian intelligence hacking of the U.S.-based Think Tanks, including the Open Society Foundations, the Carnegie Endowment, and others.' Advertisement His office could not 'determine definitively whether the purported Clinton campaign plan … was entirely genuine, partially true, a composite pulled from multiple sources, exaggerated in certain respects, or fabricated in its entirety.' Benardo told Durham's team that 'to the best of his recollection, he did not draft the emails.' 8 Brennan prepared a memo based on the intelligence to defensively brief Obama. AP A rep for Open Society Foundations said in a statement: 'We are a nonpartisan organization and do not engage in political campaign activity. These accusations are not just reckless, they are dangerous.' Advertisement Biden's future national security adviser Jake Sullivan, when consulted by Durham's team, said he 'could not conclusively rule out the possibility' of a Clinton plan to spread claims of Russian collusion with Trump's campaign team. Clinton's former foreign policy adviser Julianne Smith, who told The Post, 'I don't have any comment,' when reached by phone Thursday, told Durham's team that 'she neither drafted nor recalled receiving' the information. Smith added it was 'possible someone proposed an idea of seeking to distract attention from the investigation into Secretary Clinton's use of a private email server, but she did not specifically remember any such idea.' 8 Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard has said 'the Obama Administration sought to delegitimize the 2016 election … subverting the will of the American people and enacting essentially a years-long coup.' AP Advertisement Texts and emails unearthed by Durham showed that Smith had communicated with other Clinton campaign foreign policy advisers about whether the FBI or other Obama agencies would 'aid that effort … by commencing a formal investigation of the DNC hack.' The former secretary of state and 2016 Democratic presidential contender, whose office did not respond to a request for comment, didn't deny the existence of such a plan and told Durham's office the files 'looked like Russian disinformation to [her].' FBI Director Kash Patel found the intel files — along with thousands of others — stored in 'burn bags' at the bureau's headquarters in Washington, DC, a source told The Post, and said the highly classified contents contained 'evidence that the Clinton campaign plotted to frame President Trump and fabricate the Russia collusion hoax.' 'They're trying to cover their hind end,' Grassley charged on Fox News' 'America's Newsroom' Thursday of the parties privy to the so-called 'Clinton plan.' 8 FBI Director Kash Patel found 'burn bags' at the bureau's HQ that contained the 'evidence that the Clinton campaign plotted to frame President Trump and fabricate the Russia collusion hoax.' Ron Sachs/CNP / 'The cover up was so bad,' the Iowa Republican later said on Newsmax's 'The Record with Greta van Susteren.' 'Some of these documents, emails and thumb drives were in trash bags, or what you call 'burn bags.' That's where the FBI found them,' he added. 'So doesn't that tell you something about the deep state here in this city of Washington — an island surrounded by reality — that they'd do anything to cover up and [avoid] embarrassment?'
