Jeanine Pirro (00:00):
… Emergency Economic Powers Act, also known as IEEPA, I-E-E-P-A. Jimmy Cherizier is also known as Barbecue. Do we have his picture here?
(00:14)
Yeah. Okay. He is an notorious gang leader from Haiti who was orchestrated and committed various acts of violence against Haitians in Haiti. He was sanctioned in 2020 by the United States government under the Global Magnitsky Human Rights Accountability Act, and that is an act that has to do with the president having the authority to sanction globally anyone who was involved in human rights abuses.
(00:52)
Now Cherizier is also known as Barbecue, and his indictment is the first indictment of an individual in the history of the Department of Justice who has been sanctioned under the International Global Magnitsky Human Rights Accountability Act. Now in terms of background, Barbecue was a police officer in Haiti, but he led many campaigns of violence against Haitians in Haiti, including the notorious La Saline attack in 2018. Notorious because he both planned and participated in the killing of approximately 71 Haitians. It is a turf war that has shocked the human rights activists in the world.
(01:52)
His co-defendant, Bazile Richardson, grew up in Haiti with Cherizier. He is a naturalized US citizen who is living in North Carolina. He was also indicted under that same one count, and he is indicted for sending money to Cherizier, sending money from the Haitian diaspora in the United States to Cherizier and knowing that Cherizier was sanctioned under that 2020 Magnitsky Act.
(02:31)
Now apparently he was a trucker who, although he was from North Carolina, was just picked up in Texas. Now one of the things that is extremely important that you'll be hearing about from my law enforcement partners here is that the State Department has designated a $5 million reward for information leading to the arrest and/or conviction of Cherizier. Now I let the public know that anyone who was giving money to Cherizier, also known as Barbecue, because of his violent acts in his home country cannot say, I didn't know. I didn't know that he was sanctioned by the US government. They will be prosecuted and we will find them because they are supporting an individual who is committing human rights abuses and we will not look the other way.
(03:31)
Now this office is not unfamiliar with crimes of violence in Haiti. Several months ago, we got a conviction against an individual by the name of Joly Germine who was involved in the kidnapping of 16 American Christian missionaries in Haiti. Haiti is a hot spot right now, and I don't use that as a pun on words, but there is incredible violence going on there which is why the State Department has gotten involved and why we have made the decision to make it very clear under the Magnitsky Act that we're coming after you if you give money to Cherizier.
(04:13)
Now I'd like now to call upon my partner's acting assistant director of the FBI, Darren Cox. Okay.
Darren Cox (04:24):
Hi, good afternoon. I'm Darren Cox. I'm the acting assistant director of the FBI's Criminal Investigative Division. I want to thank our partners here with us today and our international partners for their hard work and partnership in combating transnational organized crime, which threatens the safety and security of communities both in the United States and abroad.
(04:47)
Under Director Patel's leadership, the FBI is focused more than ever on crushing violent crime cartels and gang activity every single day. Since January, the FBI with the help of our law enforcement partners and community members have arrested three top 10 fugitives. We've arrested over 19,000 criminals and we've seized thousands of tons of narcotics, which have saved millions of lives across the United States.
(05:19)
The American public and criminals should know our agents and our partners are using every tool available to put criminals behind bars, and keep America safe, and we will not stop. We stand shoulder to shoulder with the men and women of law enforcement, backing good cops without hesitation, they're taking the fight directly to the criminals and they're restoring order.
(05:51)
These efforts are a deliberate and coordinated plan to protect our communities and confront escalating threats from foreign terrorist organizations like Viv Ansanm and its associates. Tackling these networks means addressing every link in the chain, every cell, especially in the United States. As you've heard in today's announcement, that includes a $5 million reward for key members of Viv Ansanm and Jimmy Cherizier, also known as Barbecue. We know someone has information that can help end this violence and we want them to come forward and know that they are safe in doing so.
(06:36)
Today, I want to highlight the amazing work the FBI and our law enforcement partners do every day to disrupt and dismantle violent criminal networks just like that of Barbecue and his cronies. Our FBI Miami Office has worked closely with our international partners to track down Cherizier and his Viv Ansanm partners and associates in the United States.
(07:03)
On July 23rd, one of Cherizier's most trusted associates and a name co-conspirator was taken into custody. Bazile Richardson was investigated by Miami and he was arrested by our FBI Houston Office without incident. Violent actors like Cherizier and the rest of his criminal associates must understand there is no safe haven for them and the people like them that traffic violence in our communities. The FBI and our partners will continue to leverage all of the resources available and the expertise that we have to bring these people to justice.
(07:46)
We urge anybody with information related to Cherizier or any of his criminal network to contact the FBI through our tips line or our local field office. You can also call 1-800 FBI and you can go online to fbi.gov/tips. Together, we will stop this violence. Thank you.
Jeanine Pirro (08:13):
All right. And now assistant director of HSI, Ivan Arvelo.
Ivan Arvelo (08:20):
Thank you. Good afternoon. Ivan Arvelo, assistant director for Homeland Security Investigations. The unsealing of this indictment marks a culmination of nearly three-year investigation into Jimmy Cherizier's illicit activities and involve identifying Cherizier's firearm procurement and trafficking networks, fundraising operations, and the movement and misuse of US dollars in violation of US sanctions.
(08:46)
The sanctions fueled gang and terrorist operations, they have oppressed and devastated the Haitian people. Cherizier's shift from Haitian law enforcement to violent gang leader was marked by his alleged involvement in the 2018 La Saline Massacre. This horrific event resulted in 71 murders and the destruction of 400 homes as civilians residents of La Saline neighborhood in Port-au-Prince were caught in the middle of a gang battlefield with chaos and destruction. Over the years, international organizations have linked Cherizier to several additional instances of human right abuses.
(09:24)
Today marks a significant step in bringing his reign of terror to an end. The principal investigative component of DHS responsible for investigating, disrupting and dismantling transnational criminal organizations and terrorist group who are seeking to exploit the customs and immigration laws of the United States. HSI worked with our federal partners to identify Cherizier's various methods and networks using US assets and financial institutions to fund this gang, procure weapons of war and extend his power.
(09:57)
Several investigation falls under HSI's counter proliferation and export enforcement mission to detect, disrupt and dismantle illicit procurement networks operating on behalf of foreign adversaries, terrorist groups, and transnational criminal organizations. Criminal groups utilize complex strategies to acquire American weapon systems, sensitive technology, financial assets and other resources to commit crimes across the Gulf, endangering Americans both domestically and abroad.
(10:29)
This case has been a great example of federal law enforcement agencies working together to leverage each other's strengths and unique authorities in furtherance of a common goal, promoting national security and pursuing a barbaric warlord who use our nation's resources to commit act of violence and terror.
(10:47)
I'd like to extend my most heartfelt thanks to our federal law enforcement partners at the FBI, the DEA, the ATF, the Department of State, the US Attorney's Office of Washington DC, and the Department of Justice National Security Division for the invaluable partnership and relentless efforts in making this indictment happen. Thank you and good afternoon.
Jeanine Pirro (11:10):
And finally, Chris Landberg, State Department Senior Bureau official.
Chris Landberg (11:16):
Good afternoon. Thank you, US Attorney Pirro for hosting us. Thanks to our law enforcement partners. And I'm Chris Landberg. I'm the senior bureau official of the Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs at the State Department. We're known as INL.
(11:30)
Today the Department of State, along with our federal law enforcement partners is taking action to protect our nation, to protect the American people and protect the hemisphere from foreign terrorist organizations or FTOs. The Department of State is announcing a reward offer of up to $5 million for information leading to the arrest and/or conviction of Haitian gang leader Jimmy Cherizier, also known as my colleagues have said by the name Barbecue. And there's a poster right here related to this reward offer.
(12:01)
We're offering this reward for Cherizier under the Transnational Organized Crime Rewards Program because he is the leader of Viv Ansanm, which was designated by Secretary of State Rubio as an FTO and specially designated global terrorist organization in May of this year. As Secretary Rubio declared in his designation announcement, the age of impunity for those supporting violence in Haiti is over. We seek the public's help in bringing Cherizier to justice for not only the people of Haiti, but also to prevent the spread of Viv Ansanm's unchecked violence throughout the hemisphere, including affecting the United States.
(12:40)
His reign of terror and mass violence against Haiti must end. The instability resulting from his actions has the potential to drive illegal immigration to our borders and increase transnational crime. The State Department will continue to apply its tools including rewards programs to combat the scourge of transnational organized crime and associated violence, and especially to stop the worst of the worst criminal ringleaders threatening the people of our hemisphere.
(13:07)
So I'm going to repeat the information mentioned by my colleagues. If you have information, please contact the FBI at 1-800 call FBI or HSI at 1-866-DHS-2-ICE. Help us find and convict this menace to the hemisphere, Jimmy Cherizier. Thank you.
Jeanine Pirro (13:29):
Thank you very much. Questions?
Speaker 5 (13:29):
Yes. Given the violent crime in DC that is being cracked down-
Jeanine Pirro (13:40):
Okay. Okay. I'm happy to talk about violent crime in DC and I'm going to. I have some posters to show you, but anything on Cherizier?
Speaker 6 (13:47):
Are there any plans about, Judge Janine, to send American forces to Haiti to retrieve this man?
Chris Landberg (13:52):
You want me to take that?
Jeanine Pirro (13:55):
Yeah.
Chris Landberg (13:59):
So the US government in a collaborative fashion is supporting both the Haitian national police and the Multinational security support mission to help stabilize Haiti and create the conditions conducive for holding democratic elections in the country. That is what we are doing. We are doing this mainly through foreign assistance and through technical assistance from our law enforcement partners. That is the strategy of the US government right now.
Speaker 6 (14:24):
[inaudible 00:14:26]
Chris Landberg (14:29):
So the point of the rewards offer is to get information about these individuals and then we are working very closely with Haitian national police, so that is one of the mechanisms. If we can get information, the individuals can get up to $5 million. Our US law enforcement colleagues will work with Haitian national police and will arrest this individual and incarcerate him.
Speaker 7 (14:53):
I have a question about the co-defendant. You said he was picked up in Texas. I noticed to the indictment he's a naturalized citizen and there's been an effort by this administration in some cases denaturalize people who are convicted of crime. Is that something on the table that you'll be looking to do once he goes through the judicial process?
Jeanine Pirro (15:10):
Well, I think it's a little too early now to really comment on that. I think right now our goal is to get a conviction here and then we'll make a decision as to what's appropriate. There's a lot of steps before you even get to that. Anything else on Cherizier?
Speaker 8 (15:25):
Do you plan to indict other Haitian gang leaders? Is this just the beginning? Do you have any sense of where he might be?
Jeanine Pirro (15:32):
If we knew where he was, I wouldn't tell you. I'd go over there myself. No. Right. That was a joke. We certainly have some information, but we need whatever information we can get from the public. We don't have him in our custody. That's all I can say right now. Do you want to add anything to that guys?
Ivan Arvelo (15:57):
That's good.
Jeanine Pirro (15:59):
Okay. All right. Greg, anything? All right. Thank you, gentlemen.
Chris Landberg (16:06):
Thank you.
Jeanine Pirro (16:07):
Take that one.
Speaker 9 (16:07):
[inaudible 00:16:14]
Jeanine Pirro (16:21):
Yeah. No. Hold on a second. Give him that one. He wants to look at that. Put that over there. Can you help, Sloan?
Sloan (16:25):
Sure.
Jeanine Pirro (16:26):
You want to put that over there. Put this up. Thanks. Thank you very much.
Speaker 11 (16:30):
Of course.
Jeanine Pirro (16:36):
All right. Are you done over here?
Speaker 12 (16:39):
We'll have them up here for you guys to shoot afterwards.
Jeanine Pirro (16:41):
Yeah. That'll be here. You can take a look at them. There has been a great deal of discussion.
Speaker 13 (16:52):
Can we get you at the mic?
Jeanine Pirro (16:53):
You want me at the mic? Okay. There has been a great deal of discussion about crime in the district and the other day I wanted to get a sense of what is actually happening in the District of Columbia. I asked for the number of teens who have been shot and killed by gunfire. Teens, everyone under the age of 20.
(17:24)
As you can see in 2024, we have, I believe I said it was… How many [inaudible 00:17:32]? Yeah. As you can see in 2024, we have 29 individuals who were shot and killed in the district, all teens. Some as young as three years of age because of gunfire. Some of these cases are solved, some of them are not solved. But what this makes clear to me is that there is a whole community that is suffering because of the violent crime in this district and anyone who wants to tell me, the crime is down and that we don't need an emergency focus on crimes of violence. All they need to do is take a look at this and talk to the loved ones and the family members of these individuals all shot and killed long before their time.
(18:26)
Now over here are the individuals who were shot and killed under the age of 20, all teenagers in 2025. And the number here is 16. Again, all members of the minority community here. I don't know how many of these cases have been solved, but what I can tell you is, again, it's guns on the streets. It's individuals who are not concerned about accountability, who don't have any reason to fear law enforcement.
(19:06)
I am here today to tell you that on behalf of all of these victims, all of these families, that they're going to be accountable, that we are going to make a difference and that we are going to make sure that law enforcement is focused on these innocent, now silent victims of crime in the district.
Speaker 14 (19:28):
Do you have a per capita breakdown? I mean, how does DC keep talking about the number of teenage gun deaths here? How does that compare [inaudible 00:19:37]-
Jeanine Pirro (19:37):
Anywhere else?
Speaker 14 (19:39):
… where do we rank?
Jeanine Pirro (19:41):
All I know is we rank in deaths two years ago, we're one of the fourth highest. We're the fourth highest in the United States. I don't need any more statistics. All I need are people to recognize that these were vibrant human beings cut down because of illegal guns. I guarantee you that every one of these shootings was with an illegal gun. All right?
(20:05)
And I guarantee you that every one of these individuals was shot and killed by someone who felt that they were never going to be caught. And I want to send a message that we are going to catch you, that we are going to change the laws. That if you're 14, 15, 16, 17, we're going to bring you into the justice system. No more of this DC Council. "Oh, if they're under 16 or if they're under 19 or if they're under 25, we'll give them probation." No more. I'm done with that.
Speaker 15 (20:37):
Talk about the judicial hurdles that you face and you're just talking about right there. But what can you conceivably do as the DC US Attorney to address those laws, address the DC Crime Lab, which is not accredited, and also at the same time address some of the prosecutorial issues you've talked about?
Jeanine Pirro (20:53):
Okay.
Speaker 15 (20:53):
[inaudible 00:20:54]
Jeanine Pirro (20:55):
Those are great questions. Number one, the DC Crime Lab is now accredited and validated very recently. So Dr. Diaz has communicated that to us and we are working with the DC Crime Lab. Our concern is making sure that we have enough people who are able to analyze the DNA and all of the testing that we need to have done. That's number one.
(21:19)
Number two, as it relates to prosecution. I have been very clear that Title XVI is not enough. Under Title XVI, if you are 16 or 17 years of age, we can get you for rape one, murder, robbery one, burglary one. But if you shoot someone and don't kill them, I don't have jurisdiction. It goes to the Attorney General, the State Attorney General Brian Schwab and the focus is family court rehabilitation.
(21:56)
Now I was a family court judge in New York for a short period of time. The mission there is not punishment, it's rehabilitation as evidenced by… Do we have those posters? Yeah. We had a poster with what you get is yoga and you get ice cream socials in family court.
(22:17)
Well, I'm done with yoga and ice cream socials. We've got to change the law to bring them into the justice system. We've got to get rid of the three statutes or three laws passed by the DC Council. Number one is the Youth Rehabilitation Act where you basically say with the Youth Rehabilitation Act that what we're going to do is we're going to say, "If you are sentenced and you're under the age of 25, that the judge can give you probation irrespective of what the crime is." That's nonsense.
(22:52)
And that's why a judge, and you're tired of hearing about me say this. That's why a judge gave a 19-year-old, two, three weeks ago, and I wrote an op-ed piece, gave a 19-year-old probation, and I understand it's two years probation to go to college with no mandate, for getting on a public bus with an illegal gun, shooting an individual in the chest, which to me is intent to kill, and he walked away after we convicted him, he walked away with no jail time.
(23:29)
If that's what you want in this district, then I'm the wrong person to be United States Attorney, number one. The Incarceration Reduction Act. The Incarceration Reduction Act that the DC left-leaning counsel passed says, "If you're 25 years old and you were sentenced to 15 years as a young kid, for probably murder, even a serial murderer, we can let you out if you're 25." We can let you out because, not because you're rehabilitated, not because the offense wasn't that bad, but because we can. And that's got to go. All right?
(24:08)
And the third thing is record-sealing. I go through all of the effort to get a conviction and they want to seal the convictions. They want to say, "We want to seal convictions after five years." If I am a mother, and thank God my kids are older, if I'm a mother, I want to know if a nanny has an assault conviction. If I'm an employer, I want to know if this person has been convicted of larceny or petty larceny or if say I'm not in a public school but I got a private teaching, a tennis group. I need to know if this guy's a predator, a pedophile.
(24:47)
Everything about the DC Council's focus is defendant-oriented. I'm oriented to these people and the people of the district are as well.
Speaker 16 (24:57):
Do you have any special powers under this federal takeover that you can… You talked about a little bit… Well, you've talked a lot about it, but any special-
Jeanine Pirro (25:06):
I don't have any special powers. I wish I did.
Speaker 6 (25:08):
But can you talk about where you stand on hiring prosecutors and judges?
Jeanine Pirro (25:18):
I'm not going to bore you with the facts. Don't quote me on that. That was off the record. I can only hire during certain periods once there's been an ad or some kind of posting and then I can hire. Okay? I'm doing it. I'm doing the best I can. The president has given me the permission to hire.
(25:39)
This is an office that has been neglected, and I'll say it publicly. It's been neglected. With people signing contracts they didn't know what they were signing. All right? It just kind of ran on its own. Not anymore. This is an office where nobody seemed to care that we were down 90 lawyers, 60 investigators and paralegals. I do.
(26:01)
And so my effort is to get people who want to work in the nation's capitol, who want to work in the largest United States Attorney's Office in the country and the best office because we're not just federal prosecutors, we're local prosecutors. We get down and dirty in street crime and that is what really motivates a lot of my prosecutors.
Speaker 17 (26:21):
Talking about street crime, every single-
Speaker 18 (26:23):
[inaudible 00:26:24] see from the punitive aspects, what about preventative? Do you or the president plan to do anything to address the root causes of crime in DC such as truancy?
Jeanine Pirro (26:39):
My job is to try to heal the victims and prosecute the criminal. Everybody else can deal with rehabilitating the individual. I honestly am not concerned about why they commit crimes. My concern is if they commit crimes. My concern is the victims of the crimes. That's my job as a US Attorney. Go ahead.
Speaker 19 (27:04):
Every single one of these cases is a felony one, and right now DC Superior Court judges are scheduling felony one trials in 2027, in part because there are 13 vacancies right now that's going to grow in January. The president has only nominated one DC Superior Court judge, it's a process that takes a while with Congress because of DC's rules. Have you talk to the president about this?
Jeanine Pirro (27:25):
Yeah.
Speaker 19 (27:26):
Is the White House moving forward with more nominees?
Jeanine Pirro (27:28):
Yes.
Speaker 19 (27:28):
You're going to need these judges to get these done.
Jeanine Pirro (27:31):
Yeah. As recently as yesterday, I spoke with the president and I have spoken to the president before about these vacancies. The president wants these vacancies filled as soon as possible because like everyone in this room, it's common sense. It's not fair to the victims, to the families. It's not fair to the defendant. Why should the defendant who's charged with a crime have to live with a case for three years because not enough judges?
(27:56)
We're all on the same page about what makes sense and what's fair. And so we're working on that. There's a whole thing with the Judicial Nominating Commission and then they have to get approved and then we have to get the Senate to approve.
Speaker 19 (28:12):
When do we expect step one?
Jeanine Pirro (28:12):
You can ask the Senate.
Speaker 19 (28:14):
No. No. The names from the president. When can we expect names [inaudible 00:28:17]
Jeanine Pirro (28:17):
Soon. Very soon.
Speaker 19 (28:18):
Weeks?
Jeanine Pirro (28:19):
Soon.
Speaker 20 (28:23):
[inaudible 00:28:22] we're all out of time.
Jeanine Pirro (28:23):
Okay. You're out of time?
Speaker 20 (28:23):
We're out of time.
Jeanine Pirro (28:24):
That means he's had enough. Goodbye. Thank you. I want you to report on this. This is important.
Speaker 19 (28:29):
You said it's guns on the street that's causing this problem. Are you concerned that the DOJ's funding cuts to gun violence prevention programs underpin the efforts-
Jeanine Pirro (28:37):
Oh, stop it. We are putting all kinds of resources onto the street.
Speaker 19 (28:43):
What about [inaudible 00:28:45]-
Speaker 20 (28:45):
That's all we've got. Thank you, guys.
Jeanine Pirro (28:46):
Thanks.
Speaker 21 (28:50):
[inaudible 00:28:49] press release hailing the drop in crime rates at the end of April. What changed?
Jeanine Pirro (28:54):
It's never enough. This changed. This changed. It's never enough. You tell these families crime has dropped. You tell the mother of the intern who was shot going out for McDonald's near the Washington Convention Center. "Oh, crime is down." You tell the kid who was just beat the hell and back with a severe concussion and a broken nose crime is down. No. That falls on deaf ears and my ears are deaf to that and that's why I fight the fight. Thank you.