Garland appoints special counsel for Biden classified documents probe

 Attorney General Merrick Garland announced Thursday that he has appointed a special counsel to investigate President Biden’s handling of classified documents after the end of the Obama administration.

Why it matters: The appointment of Robert Hur, former U.S. attorney for the District of Maryland, is designed to avoid the appearance of a conflict of interest. The move comes as former President Trump faces a separate special counsel inquiry over his hoarding of hundreds of classified documents at his Mar-a-Lago home.

Key details regarding the volume of documents, methods of discovery, and reaction by Biden and Trump distinguish the two cases.

But the revelations about Biden’s documents — especially the latest discovery of “a small number” of classified records at his Delaware home — present a new political headache for the president.

What they’re saying: “I strongly believe that the normal processes of this department can handle all investigations with integrity. But under the regulations, the extraordinary circumstances here require the appointment of a special counsel for this matter,” Garland said at a press conference Thursday.

“This appointment underscores for the public the department’s commitment to both independence and accountability in particularly sensitive matters. And to making decisions indisputably guided only by the facts and the law,” he added.

White House lawyer Richard Sauber said in a statement: “We are confident that a thorough review will show that these documents were inadvertently misplaced, and the President and his lawyers acted promptly upon discovery of this mistake.”

Background: Hur, currently a partner at Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher, was nominated by Trump to serve as U.S. attorney in Maryland in 2017.

His former office has experience handling classified information cases due to its proximity to the National Security Agency.

How we got here: Garland revealed at the press conference that on Nov. 4, the National Archives notified the Justice Department that documents with classified markings had been identified at a private office at Biden’s think tank in Washington. The National Archives was made aware of the issue by the White House.

On Nov. 14, Garland ordered Trump-appointed U.S. attorney John Lausch to conduct an initial fact-finding review to determine whether a special counsel was warranted.

On Dec. 20, Biden’s personal counsel informed Lausch that additional classified documents from his Biden’s time as vice president had been found in the garage of his home in Wilmington, Delaware.

On Jan. 5, Lausch briefed Garland on the investigation and advised him that a special counsel was warranted.

On the morning of Jan. 12, Biden’s personal counsel called Lausch and informed him that an additional document with classified markings had been found at the Delaware home. Garland’s announcement came hours after news of the second set of documents leaked.

How it’s playing: Republicans in Congress have seized on the unfolding controversy to accuse Biden, the Justice Department and the National Archives of a double standard, vowing to use their new House majority to investigate.

The top Democrat and Republican on the Senate and House Intelligence committees, respectively, have called for the director of national intelligence to provide a “damage assessment” on both the Biden and Trump documents.

Between the lines: Biden says he did not know about the presence of classified documents and pledged full cooperation.

Trump, meanwhile, is under investigation for obstruction of justice after refusing to return the documents for over a year, resulting in a court-authorized search of Mar-a-Lago by FBI agents.

Special counsel Jack Smith has been tasked with investigating both Trump’s handling of classified documents and efforts to overturn the 2020 election leading up to the Jan. 6 Capitol insurrection.

Source Zachary Basu

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Macron will not seek Algeria’s ‘forgiveness’ for colonialism

 Macron has prodded and soothed over the French occupation throughout his political career.

President Emmanuel Macron says he will not “ask forgiveness” from Algeria for French colonisation, but hopes to continue working towards reconciliation with his counterpart, Abdelmajid Tebboune.

“It’s not up to me to ask forgiveness, that’s not what this is about, that word would break all of our ties,” he said in an interview for Le Point magazine, published late on Wednesday.

“The worst thing would be to decide: ‘We apologise and each go our own way,’” Macron said.

“Work on memory and history isn’t a settling of all accounts,” he added.

He expressed hope that Tebboune “will be able to come to France in 2023”, to return Macron’s own trip to Algiers last year, and continue their “unprecedented work of friendship”.

But some on social media denounced the French president’s decision.

The French PhD candidate Rim-Salah Alouane said on Twitter: “On step forward, 10 steps backwards. I don’t wanna tell you that I told you so, but I told you so.”

France’s 100-year colonisation of Algeria and the viciously fought 1954-62 war for independence have left deep scars, which Macron has prodded and soothed over his political career.

In 2017, then-presidential candidate Macron dubbed the French occupation a “crime against humanity”.

A report he commissioned from historian Benjamin Stora recommended in 2020 further moves to reconcile the two countries while ruling out “repentance” and “apologies”.

In 2021, Macron admitted for the first time that French soldiers murdered a top Algerian independence figure and then covered up his death, in the latest acknowledgement by Paris of its colonial-era crimes.

But the French leader has also questioned whether Algeria existed as a nation before being colonised, drawing an angry response from Algiers.

“These moments of tension teach us,” Macron told the Algerian writer Kamel Daoud in the Le Point interview.

“You have to be able to reach out your hand again and engage, which President Tebboune and I have been able to do,” he added.

He backed a suggestion for Tebboune to visit the graves of Algerian 19th-century anti-colonial hero Abdelkader and his entourage, who are buried in Amboise in central France.

“That would make sense for the history of the Algerian people. For the French people, it would be an opportunity to understand realities that are often hidden,” Macron said.

Algeria and France have maintained enduring ties through immigration, involvement in the independence conflict and post-war repatriations of French settlers, touching more than 10 million people living in France today.

SOURCE: NEWS AGENCIES

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Breaking: AMAA founder, Peace Anyiam-Osigwe dead

One of the pillars of the entertainment industry in Nigeria and the Founder of the prestigious AMAA Awards, Peace Anyiam-Osigwe is dead.

She reportedly gave up the ghost at St. Nicolas Hospital, Lagos after being in a coma since Saturday.

While colleagues and close friends, some of whom went to see her at hospital wouldn’t believe news of her demise, maintaining that she was merely in the ICU, notable movie maker, Zik Zulu broke the news.

“Our President, Peace, has passed. As at Saturday, she was reported to be in coma at Saint Nicholas. But now her family has confirmed her transition. May the memory of her life be a blessing. Rest in peace, dear Peace, he writes on a Nollywood platform.

Award-winning producer, Obi Emelonye also confirmed her passing-on on his social media handles even though the family was trying to be courteous with releasing the information.

The industrious woman would be remembered as one of those who shaped the face of the new Nollywood, as her contributions to the industry can not be overemphasized.

Peace Anyiam-Osigwe was not only the Founder of the African Movie Academy Awards, AMAA, she was also the President of the Association of Movie Producers, AMP and one of the most prominent figures in Nollywood.

Source vanguardngr

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