PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AP) — Claude Joseph, who was Haiti’s acting prime minister when President Jovenel Moïse was gunned down in July 2021, came under fire Wednesday as judges investigating the killing questioned suspects in the case.
It was the first time Joseph testified since attorneys for some suspects successfully appealed a court ruling that there was sufficient evidence to hold a trial. Since then, many questions have remained unanswered despite a new investigation.
Joseph and Moïse’s widow, Martine Moïse, were indicted last year after a judge accused them of complicity and criminal association. Both have repeatedly denied those accusations.
Joseph on Wednesday called the judge’s report that indicted him “political, unfair and flawed.”
He said it was a tactic used to “neutralize” him because he organized demonstrations across Haiti against Ariel Henry, whom Joseph said was illegally sworn in as prime minister less than two weeks after the president was killed.
At the time of his killing, Moïse had only nominated Henry as prime minister.
Joseph noted that he didn’t make a grab for power after the assassination.
“I said that everything was under the control of the National Police and the Haitian Armed Forces. Not under the control of the acting prime minister that I was then,” he said.
Judge Emmanuel Lacroix grilled Joseph for several hours on Wednesday, repeatedly asking how it was possible he did not know about the plot as prime minister, since that position officially presides over Haiti’s National Police High Council.
“Like the victimized president, I was unaware of the plot,” said Joseph, who remained calm during an hours-long interrogation as he faced pointed questions from several judges.
Joseph said funds for intelligence operations at the offices of the president and prime minister are less than the $20 million it cost to kill Moïse.
“I must admit that no matter what means the prime minister had at his disposal to carry out its support work, it could not have saved the president’s life,” Joseph said.
Lacroix also pressed Joseph about why he didn’t call the president when he first heard something had happened at Moïse’s private residence.
“I let the police do their work,” he said. “They were already on it.”
Joseph also denied knowing Haitian-Americans James Solages, a key suspect, and Christian Emmanuel Sanon, a pastor, doctor and failed businessman who envisioned himself as Haiti’s new leader and thought that Jovenel Moïse was only going to be arrested. Both are awaiting trial in U.S. federal court, where Martine Moïse, who was injured in the attack, is expected to testify.
Judges in Haiti have called on Martine Moïse to fly to the troubled Caribbean country and also testify, but she isn’t expected to do so.
The former chief of Haiti’s National Police, Léon Charles, also was ordered to appear, but it’s unclear if he will fly to Haiti to do so. He faces the most serious charges, including murder, which he has denied.
Last year, The Associated Press obtained a report in which a judge investigating the case stated that the former secretary general of Haiti’s National Palace told authorities that he received “strong pressure” from Martine Moïse to put the president’s office at Joseph’s disposal so he could organize a council of ministers. Her attorneys have denied the accusations.
On Wednesday, Joseph said he was “shocked” by Jovenel Moïse’s killing.
“Everyone, including myself, finds it rather curious that a head of state was assassinated in his home without any reaction from his guards,” he said. “All this clearly demonstrates the degree of complexity of the plot.”
None of Moïse’s guards were injured in the attack.
Joseph urged the judges to focus on the money used to finance the attack: “Analyze the distribution channels and hopefully identify the masterminds of the crime.”
Of the more than 50 suspects in the case, 20 of them are being held in Haiti, including 17 former Colombian soldiers. Five other suspects are awaiting trial in the U.S., whose government extradited 11 suspects overall. Five of those have already pleaded guilty to conspiring to kill Moïse.
Coto reported from San Juan, Puerto Rico.
Follow AP’s coverage of Latin America and the Caribbean at https://apnews.com/hub/latin-america
Haiti's former interim Prime Minister Claude Joseph, center, arrives to testify in the hearings into who killed Haiti's President Jovenel Moïse, in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, Wednesday, June 25, 2025. (AP Photo/Odelyn Joseph)
Haiti's former interim Prime Minister Claude Joseph, center wearing green, testifies at the hearings into who killed Haiti's President Jovenel Moïse, in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, Wednesday, June 25, 2025. (AP Photo/Odelyn Joseph)
Haiti's former interim Prime Minister Claude Joseph, center, arrives to testify in the hearings into who killed Haiti's President Jovenel Moïse, in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, Wednesday, June 25, 2025. (AP Photo/Odelyn Joseph)
ST. LOUIS (AP) — World champions Ilia Malinin and the ice dance duo of Madison Chock and Evan Bates will anchor one of the strongest U.S. Figure Skating teams in history when they head to Italy for the Milan Cortina Olympics in less than a month.
Malinin, fresh off his fourth straight national title, will be the prohibitive favorite to follow in the footsteps of Nathan Chen by delivering another men's gold medal for the American squad when he steps on the ice at the Milano Ice Skating Arena.
Chock and Bates, who won their record-setting seventh U.S. title Saturday night, also will be among the Olympic favorites, as will world champion Alysa Liu and women's teammate Amber Glenn, fresh off her third consecutive national title.
U.S. Figure Skating announced its full squad of 16 athletes for the Winter Games during a made-for-TV celebration Sunday.
"I'm just so excited for the Olympic spirit, the Olympic environment," Malinin said. “Hopefully go for that Olympic gold.”
Malinin will be joined on the men's side by Andrew Torgashev, the all-or-nothing 24-year-old from Coral Springs, Florida, and Maxim Naumov, the 24-year-old from Simsbury, Connecticut, who fulfilled the hopes of his late parents by making the Olympic team.
Vadim Naumov and Evgenia Shishkova were returning from a talent camp in Kansas when their American Airlines flight collided with a military helicopter and crashed into the icy Potomac River in January 2025. One of the last conversations they had with their son was about what it would take for him to follow in their footsteps by becoming an Olympian.
“We absolutely did it,” Naumov said. “Every day, year after year, we talked about the Olympics. It means so much in our family. It's what I've been thinking about since I was 5 years old, before I even know what to think. I can't put this into words.”
Chock and Bates helped the Americans win team gold at the Beijing Games four years ago, but they finished fourth — one spot out of the medals — in the ice dance competition. They have hardly finished anywhere but first in the years since, winning three consecutive world championships and the gold medal at three straight Grand Prix Finals.
U.S. silver medalists Emilea Zingas and Vadym Kolesnik also made the dance team, as did the Canadian-born Christina Carreira, who became eligible for the Olympics in November when her American citizenship came through, and Anthony Ponomarenko.
Liu was picked for her second Olympic team after briefly retiring following the Beijing Games. She had been burned out by years of practice and competing, but stepping away seemed to rejuvenate the 20-year-old from Clovis, California, and she returned to win the first world title by an American since Kimmie Meissner stood atop the podium two decades ago.
Now, the avant-garde Liu will be trying to help the U.S. win its first women's medal since Sasha Cohen in Turin in 2006, and perhaps the first gold medal since Sarah Hughes triumphed four years earlier at the Salt Lake City Games.
Her biggest competition, besides a powerful Japanese contingent, could come from her own teammates: Glenn, a first-time Olympian, has been nearly unbeatable the past two years, while 18-year-old Isabeau Levito is a former world silver medalist.
"This was my goal and my dream and it just feels so special that it came true,” said Levito, whose mother is originally from Milan.
The two pairs spots went to Ellie Kam and Danny O'Shea, the U.S. silver medalists, and the team of Emily Chan and Spencer Howe.
The top American pairs team, two-time reigning U.S. champions Alisa Efimova and Misha Mitrofanov, were hoping that the Finnish-born Efimova would get her citizenship approved in time to compete in Italy. But despite efforts by the Skating Club of Boston, where they train, and the help of their U.S. senators, she did not receive her passport by the selection deadline.
“The importance and magnitude of selecting an Olympic team is one of the most important milestones in an athlete's life,” U.S. Figure Skating CEO Matt Farrell said, "and it has such an impact, and while there are sometimes rules, there is also a human element to this that we really have to take into account as we make decisions and what's best going forward from a selection process.
“Sometimes these aren't easy," Farrell said, “and this is not the fun part.”
The fun is just beginning, though, for the 16 athletes picked for the powerful American team.
AP Olympics: https://apnews.com/hub/milan-cortina-2026-winter-olympics
Amber Glenn competes during the women's free skating competition at the U.S. Figure Skating Championships, Friday, Jan. 9, 2026, in St. Louis. (AP Photo/Stephanie Scarbrough)
Alysa Liu skates during the "Making Team USA" performance at the U.S. Figure Skating Championships, Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026, in St. Louis. (AP Photo/Stephanie Scarbrough)
Maxim Naumov skates during the "Making Team USA" performance at the U.S. Figure Skating Championships, Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026, in St. Louis. (AP Photo/Stephanie Scarbrough)
Madison Chock and Evan Bates skate during the "Making the Team" performance at the U.S. Figure Skating Championships, Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026, in St. Louis. (AP Photo/Stephanie Scarbrough)
Gold medalist Ilia Malinin arrives for the metal ceremony after the men's free skate competition at the U.S. Figure Skating Championships, Saturday, Jan. 10, 2026, in St. Louis. (AP Photo/Jeff Roberson)
