Federal judge considers scheduling ex-Obama counsel's trial for August

A federal judge on Monday weighed setting the trial for former Obama White House counsel Gregory Craig for August, according to multiple media reports.

U.S. District Judge Amy Berman Jackson reportedly appeared receptive to an August trial date during a hearing Monday, as suggested by Craig’s attorneys.

But The National Law Journal reported that one of the federal prosecutors in the case, Fernando Campoamar-Sanchez, resisted the suggestion of an early August trial, saying the government was “hoping to get a little more time than that.”

Craig, who left the Obama White House in early 2010, was indicted last week on charges that he made false and misleading statements to the Justice Department tied to lobbying work Paul Manafort hired Craig’s now-former law firm in 2012 to do in Ukraine.

Federal prosecutors allege that Craig made false statements about his media contacts surrounding the release of a report the law firm – Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom – wrote about Ukraine’s imprisonment of former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko.

Craig last week pleaded not guilty to the charges. And his lawyer reportedly said during Monday’s hearing that Craig will argue that he cannot be charged for omitting facts to federal investigators.

“That is not the law, but that is what this indictment is based on,” Craig’s attorney William W. Taylor said during the hearing, according to The Washington Post. “That is what this case is going to be about.”

Berman gave both parties until June 21 to enter legal filings on whether Craig had violated federal law, The Post reported.

The judge also ordered that Craig turn over his passport to authorities and seek permission before traveling internationally. He is allowed to travel within the U.S. without seeking permission, but must give officials his itinerary two business days before any domestic trip.

The charges against Craig originally stemmed from special counsel Robert Mueller's investigation, before the matter was referred to the Southern District of New York and then again to the Justice Department.

Craig has maintained that he did no wrongdoing in the case, saying in a video posted after his indictment last week that the case "is unprecedented and unjustified.”

"I am confident that both the judge and the jury will agree with me," he said.

Craig left Skadden last year. The law firm reached a settlement with the Justice Department in January, agreeing to register as a foreign agent and pay the Treasury Department $4.6 million over its work for Ukraine.

https://thehill.com/regulation/court-battles/438966-federal-judge-considers-scheduling-ex-obama-counsels-trial-for

U.S. killed number two leader of ISIS-Somalia, officials say

An American airstrike in northeastern Somalia has killed the deputy leader of the Islamic State group in the country, U.S. officials said Monday.

Abdulhakim Dhuqub, who was responsible for the extremist group’s daily operations, attack planning and resource procurement, was killed in the vicinity of Xiriiro, in the Bari region, on Sunday.

The U.S. military has been supporting the government of Somalia as it increases the competency of its security forces and pushes back against extremist groups in the country.

U.S. Africa Command said that precision airstrikes support Somali security forces and allow time and space for governance to grow in the country.

“We continue to work with our Somali partners to keep pressure on the al-Shabab and ISIS-Somalia terror networks," said Marine Corps Maj. Gen. Gregg Olson, U.S. Africa Command director of operations. “When it supports the strategy, we use precision airstrikes to target those who plan and carry out the violent extremist activities that put Somalis at risk.”

The airstrikes help to create “organizational confusion within the terrorist networks in Somalia," according to Air Force Col. Chris Karns, an AFRICOM spokesman.

“By consistently placing pressure on the terror networks, it keeps them off balance and reflects the federal government of Somalia’s commitment to enhancing stability and security for the Somali people,” he told Air Force Times. “Various levels of leadership within the terror networks are effectively being targeted and removed from doing further harm to innocent Somalis.”

The strike occurred in an autonomous region of northern Somalia known as Puntland. Most airstrikes have taken place in the southern part of the country. ISIS-Somalia is primarily active in Puntland and is estimated to have roughly 300 members.

ISIS-Somalia is a splinter group of al-Shabab, a group the U.S. says is aligned with al-Qaida and that is also active in Somalia.

At this time, AFRICOM is assessing that the airstrike killed only Dhuqub and destroyed one vehicle.

“Currently, we assess no civilians were injured or killed as a result of this airstrike,” officials said in a statement. “Our process and procedures allow for additional information to inform post-strike analysis.”

U.S. airstrikes killed two civilians in an airstrike on a vehicle on April 1, 2018, in central Somalia. That revelation came after AFRICOM self-reported that an error had been made roughly a year after the strike first occurred.

https://www.airforcetimes.com/news/your-air-force/2019/04/15/us-killed-number-two-leader-of-isis-somalia-officials-say/

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