Biden admin’s top civil rights lawyer joins NAACP as Trump attacks on voting rights escalate

The former assistant attorney general for civil rights under President Joe Biden, Kristen Clarke, is joining the National Association for the Advancement of Color People (NAACP) as general counsel, according to the organization.

Clarke was previously the top civil rights lawyer at the Justice Department where she led the Civil Rights Division. Her move to the NAACP comes as the Justice Department under President Donald Trump has been redoubling its efforts aroundelections and voting rights.

"The move comes as the Trump Administration works to erode democratic institutions and dismantle civil rights protections. To meet the moment, the NAACP is expanding its own capabilities and ramping up its investment in its legal advocacy efforts by hiring the former senior Justice Department official to fight back," the NAACP said in the news release about Clarke's hire.

Clarke started her career at the Justice Department as a trial attorney for the civil rights division in 2000. In 2006, she was hired by the NAACP Legal Defense Fund to focus on the organization's work with voting rights and election law. During her time at the NAACP, Clarke worked on several cases defending the Voting Rights Act.

She went on to work on civil rights issues for the state of New York and in courts across the country.

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"The NAACP has stood on the front lines of justice for over a century, and I'm deeply honored to join this historic organization at this critical moment in our democracy," Clarke said in a statement announcing her new role as NAACP general counsel.

The Justice Department's Civil Rights Division is less active during Republican administrations, but the Trump administration has used it to reverse policies that promote diversity, equity and inclusion and enforce its own agenda.

As of last April, Clarke's successor, Harmeet Dhillon, had slashed the Civil Rights Division byroughly 70%since assuming the role in order to prioritize goals of the Trump administration.

She said at the time she intended to replace those lawyers so the department could focus on efforts that included rooting out anti-Christian bias, antisemitism and what she called "woke ideology," among other things.

CNN reached out to the Justice Department for comment.

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Biden admin’s top civil rights lawyer joins NAACP as Trump attacks on voting rights escalate

The former assistant attorney general for civil rights under President Joe Biden, Kristen Clarke, is joining the National...

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'He liked the fear in our eyes', Epstein survivors tell BBC

Joanna Harrison never wanted to speak about the abuse she faced at the hands of convicted sex offenderJeffrey Epstein.

Like many survivors, she says Epstein's assault filled her with shame and embarrassment. But after her name was unintentionally made public in the release of millions of files by the US government, she told BBC Newsnight's Victoria Derbyshire she felt she had to speak out.

"It gets to a point where you're being suffocated and you need to breathe, and I feel this is my way of trying to breathe," Harrison said.

BBC Newsnight brought Harrison and four other Epstein survivors together for the first time in the same room. During the hours-long discussion that followed, there were supportive gestures and, as they studied photos of themselves from the time when they first met Epstein, there were tears.

In the wide-ranging interview, the survivors told their stories of grief and anger. Some revisitedEpstein's infamous private island, Little St James, while others recounted "eerie" moments at his New Mexico ranch.

They said they believed thepowerful figureswith whom he associated himself would most likely have known what was going on.

Survivor's identity thrust into spotlight

Millions of documents related to the various investigations of Epstein werereleased by the US Department of Justice, but some of the unredacted material failed to obscure the identity of his victims.

Harrison was one of those people whose name was made public.

She told BBC Newsnight she never wanted the files to be released, fearing she would lose her anonymity.

"It's not normal to see your abuser's face every day for six years on TV," Harrison said.

She recounted meeting Epstein in Florida when she was 18, and like other survivors, she said everything began with a massage.

"Everything seemed normal," Harrison said. "When he began to masturbate, I completely froze. I don't think I said two words in the car in the ride home."

She later recounted Epstein raping her on his birthday.

Speaking publicly for the first time, Harrison said she doubted she and other survivors would ever get justice now that Epstein was dead. "I have questions I'll never get an answer to."

Five countries in five days with Clinton, Spacey and Maxwell

Chauntae Davies shared never-before-seen images with BBC Newsnight of her time travelling with Epstein on his private plane to Africa.

The pictures included Epstein's co-conspirator Ghislaine Maxwell as well as actor Kevin Spacey and former President Bill Clinton. Spacey and Clinton were travelling on a humanitarian trip to promote Aids prevention.

"I described it in my journal at the time as the most eclectic group of people that you could put together... it was almost like a camp feel because you were travelling to five different countries in five days," she said. On the plane they ate snacks, played cards and told stories.

"It was very much a once-in-a-lifetime trip, and unfortunately, it had to be tainted by what was happening behind closed doors," she said.

Davies has said she was raped by Epstein on his private island after being hired to give him massages.

The trained massage therapist recalled during the Newsnight discussion that she gave Clinton a neck and back massage at an airport in Portugal while the plane refuelled. At the time, she said she wrote in her journal that the former president was humble, kind and charismatic.

The former president was asked about this interaction with Davies when he sat for a deposition in front of the US House Oversight Committee in February. He told the committee he wished Davies had told him about Epstein's wrongdoing.

But Davies said she never considered telling Clinton: "I was never going to speak about this with anyone."

"What would he have done, really? Could [Clinton] have stopped it?" Davies wondered about Epstein's wrongdoing. "I guess we'll never know."

At one point, while in Portugal with Clinton, Davies recalled helping the former president buy jewellery for his daughter, Chelsea.

Clinton has repeatedly said he did not witness Epstein's abuse. His name crops up hundreds of times in the Epstein files. Appearing in documents related to Epstein does not imply any wrongdoing.

Spacey has publicly called for the release of all the Epstein files, saying: "For those of us with nothing to fear, the truth can't come soon enough."

Epstein's 'eerie' New Mexico ranch

Earlier this year, allegations surfaced in justice department files about Epstein that prompted the US state of New Mexico to re-open a criminal probe into his Zorro Ranch.

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The state previously shelved its initial investigation into the ranch in 2019 following a request from federal prosecutors in New York.

"That's where the majority of the assaults happened. I have my darkest memories from Zorro Ranch," Davies said.

When she recalled what it felt like to be there, she told BBC Newsnight she had felt "trapped".

"It had a cold, dark, eerie feeling in there," Davies said.

Lisa Phillips, another survivor who spoke to BBC Newsnight, echoed that sentiment about the ranch. "I remember being like 'this place is really creepy', it just had that feel to it," she said.

Davies said she believes there is a lot more to uncover about what happened at Zorro Ranch.

'I like to have things on people', Epstein told survivor

Epstein loved to brag about his well-connected and well-appointed friends, Davies said.

She said he bragged about lending money to Sarah Ferguson, the former Duchess of York. "It wasn't a secret," Davies told BBC Newsnight.

There were framed photos of Ferguson with her former husband, Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, and their daughters at Epstein's property, Davies said.

Phillips, a fashion model at the time, also spoke about Epstein's connections to Mountbatten-Windsor and retold a story of her friend, who has not spoken publicly and wants to remain anonymous, allegedly being instructed to have sex with Mountbatten-Windsor.

She said her friend went to Epstein's Upper East Side New York City apartment in 2003 where she was directed to go into a room and have sex with a man whom she said was Mountbatten-Windsor.

Mountbatten-Windsor has consistently denied all wrongdoing.

Phillips told BBC Newsnight she later asked Epstein why he had made her friend have sex with Mountbatten-Windsor. She said Epstein smirked and replied: "I like to have things on people."

"He liked the fear in our eyes," she said of Epstein's abuses. "I think he liked that we were frozen and scared and didn't know what to do, and I think he got off on that."

In the Newsnight interview, Phillips called on the UK police to speak to her about what she knows about her friend's alleged assault and Mountbatten-Windsor's involvement.

Mountbatten-Windsor was arrested in February on suspicion of misconduct in public office. The probe centres on accusations he shared confidential, sensitive information Epstein while serving as a UK trade envoy.

The survivors who spoke to BBC Newsnight said they do not believe Epstein killed himself.

"We knew him, we knew the kind of person he was," Phillips said.

Epstein was found dead in his prison cell on 10 August 2019 while he was being held at the Metropolitan Correctional Center, in New York, on sex trafficking and conspiracy charges ahead of trial.

It was ruled a suicide by the New York medical examiner.

'I don't smile the same way now' - Epstein's lasting impact

Jena Lisa Jones and Wendy Pesante both met Epstein when they were 14. The women were friends then and, years later after surviving Epstein's abuse, still are.

"When you go through something like that so young it kind of distorts your reality for a long time," Pesante said. "You shouldn't have the mindset of a sex worker at 14."

At one point during the interview, all five survivors were given photos of themselves at the age they were when they met Epstein.

"I don't smile the same way anymore," Harrison said, looking at the image of her 18-year-old self.

Phillips looked at the photo of herself in a light-pink ensemble, on a boat, and realised Epstein's island was in the background.

"I was enjoying my life, and I had no idea what was about to happen to me," she said of herself in the image. "This is not what I looked like when I left the island."

UK users can watch the full interview on Newsnight on BBC Two at 22:30 GMT and later onBBC iPlayer

Read more

• Who is in the Epstein files?

• Email appears to confirm Andrew and Virginia Giuffre photo is real

• Sarah Ferguson is keeping a low profile, but pressure is mounting for her to give evidence on Epstein

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'He liked the fear in our eyes', Epstein survivors tell BBC

Joanna Harrison never wanted to speak about the abuse she faced at the hands of convicted sex offenderJeffrey Epstein....

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At Sweet 16, the coaches supply the star power. We rank them 1-16

If the performance matches thecoaching talent, then thisSweet 16will be elite.

ThisNCAA Tournamentdidn't give us much in the way of Cinderella. Instead, we'll see a who's who list of coaches from Power conferences this week. As good as players likeDarius Acuff Jr.andCameron Boozerare, the coaches supply the top star power in this March Madness.

RE-SEEDING THE SWEET 16:Separating the contenders from pretenders

Here's my ranking of theSweet 16coaches, with the caveat there's no true weak link on this list:

How sweet it is. Sixteen teams remain in the March Madness 2026 tournament. Here are some top players and matchups to watch.
No. 11 Texas vs. No. 2 Purdue Texas: Matas Vokietaitis

" style="max-width:100%; height:auto; border-radius:6px; margin:10px 0;" loading="lazy" /> No. 11 Texas vs. No. 2
Purdue Purdue: Braden Smith

" style="max-width:100%; height:auto; border-radius:6px; margin:10px 0;" loading="lazy" /> No. 9 Iowa vs. No. 4 Nebraska
Iowa: Bennett Stirtz

" style="max-width:100%; height:auto; border-radius:6px; margin:10px 0;" loading="lazy" /> No. 9 Iowa vs. No. 4 Nebraska
Nebraska: Pryce Sandfort

" style="max-width:100%; height:auto; border-radius:6px; margin:10px 0;" loading="lazy" /> No. 4 Arkansas vs. No. 1 Arizona
Arkansas: Darius Acuff Jr.

" style="max-width:100%; height:auto; border-radius:6px; margin:10px 0;" loading="lazy" /> No. 4 Arkansas vs. No. 1 Arizona
Arizona: Brayden Burries

" style="max-width:100%; height:auto; border-radius:6px; margin:10px 0;" loading="lazy" /> No. 3 Illinois vs. No. 2 Houston
Illinois: Keaton Wagler

" style="max-width:100%; height:auto; border-radius:6px; margin:10px 0;" loading="lazy" /> No. 3 Illinois vs. No. 2 Houston
Houston: Emanuel Sharp

" style="max-width:100%; height:auto; border-radius:6px; margin:10px 0;" loading="lazy" /> No. 5 St. John's vs. No. 1 Duke
St. John's: Zuby Ejiofor

" style="max-width:100%; height:auto; border-radius:6px; margin:10px 0;" loading="lazy" /> No. 5 St. John's vs. No. 1 Duke
Duke: Cameron Boozer

" style="max-width:100%; height:auto; border-radius:6px; margin:10px 0;" loading="lazy" /> No. 4 Alabama vs. No. 1 Michigan
Alabama: Labaron Philon Jr.

" style="max-width:100%; height:auto; border-radius:6px; margin:10px 0;" loading="lazy" /> No. 4 Alabama vs. No. 1 Michigan
Michigan: Yaxel Lendeborg

" style="max-width:100%; height:auto; border-radius:6px; margin:10px 0;" loading="lazy" /> No. 3 Michgan State vs. No. 2 UConn
Michigan State: Jeremy Fears Jr. (1)

" style="max-width:100%; height:auto; border-radius:6px; margin:10px 0;" loading="lazy" /> No. 3 Michgan State vs. No. 2 UConn
UConn: Alex Karaban

" style="max-width:100%; height:auto; border-radius:6px; margin:10px 0;" loading="lazy" /> No. 6 Tennessee vs. No. 2 Iowa State
Tennessee: Ja'Kobi Gillespie (0)

" style="max-width:100%; height:auto; border-radius:6px; margin:10px 0;" loading="lazy" /> No. 6 Tennessee vs. No. 2 Iowa State
Iowa State: Milan Momcilovic

" style="max-width:100%; height:auto; border-radius:6px; margin:10px 0;" loading="lazy" />

Men's Sweet 16 players to watch during March Madness

How sweet it is. Sixteen teams remain in theMarch Madness 2026tournament. Here are some top players and matchups to watch.No. 11 Texas vs. No. 2 PurdueTexas: Matas Vokietaitis

16. Fred Hoiberg, Nebraska

Commission the statue in Lincoln, Nebraska. Hoiberg led the Huskers to theirfirst NCAA win in program history. Two days later, they gottheir second tourney win. Basketball looks good on Nebraska all of a sudden. Hoiberg's NBA foray was a bust, but he was quite good at Iowa State and now historic for Nebraska. No shame being No. 16 on this list of luminaries.

15. TJ Otzelberger, Iowa State

It's a testament to the Sweet 16 coaching talent that Otzelberger ranks this low. Iowa State won just two games the year before his arrival. Insert Otzelberger. He won 22 games in his first season, then continued winning more and more with blue-collar teams that defend the heck out of you. His tournament record is 7-6. Polish that a smidge, and Otzelberger will keep trending up.

14. Ben McCollum, Iowa

If you needed any more proof McCollum can flat-out coach, he just bested wunderkind Todd Golden, and hisHawkeyes stunned No. 1 Florida. McCollum won four Division II national titles at Northwest Missouri State, then turned Drake into a Cinderella success story, and now he's in the Sweet 16 in Year 1 at Iowa. Buy your stock in McCollum, 44, now.

MORE:Why Ben McCollum is top newcomer coach in Big Ten

13. Brad Underwood, Illinois

Underwood restored a program that had lost its way into top-20 status, where it belongs. He's an NCAA Tournament regular, dating to his years as a Cinderella at Stephen F. Austin. A hard-nosed, high-intensity coach, he's starting to develop a calling card for signing and developing international talent. Consider his latest team the Euro-Illini.

12. Sean Miller, Texas

Miller's career winning percentage tops .700, and he's made the Elite Eight four times. Pretty good. Two critiques, aside from that whole corruption scandal at Arizona: His resume lacks a Final Four, and his predecessors were better (Thad Matta at Xavier and Lute Olsen at Arizona). At age 57, he's got time to make Texas his best stint yet.

Iowa State Cyclones fans cheer against the Kentucky Wildcats during the first half in the second round of the 2026 NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament at Enterprise Center on March 22, 2026 in St Louis, Missouri.

" style="max-width:100%; height:auto; border-radius:6px; margin:10px 0;" loading="lazy" /> Nebraska's Berke Buyuktuncel celebrates with fans following a second-round game in the NCAA men's basketball tournament between Nebraska Cornhuskers and Vanderbilt Commodores at Paycom Center in Oklahoma City on March 21, 2026.

" style="max-width:100%; height:auto; border-radius:6px; margin:10px 0;" loading="lazy" /> Arkansas Razorbacks cheerleaders in the second half against the Hawaii Rainbow Warriors during a first round game of the men's 2026 NCAA Tournament at Moda Center on March 19, 2026 in Portland, Ore.

" style="max-width:100%; height:auto; border-radius:6px; margin:10px 0;" loading="lazy" /> A Texas Christian University Horned Frogs cheerleader practices before the game during a first round game of the men's 2026 NCAA Tournament at Bon Secours Wellness Arena on March 19, 2026 in Greenville, SC.

" style="max-width:100%; height:auto; border-radius:6px; margin:10px 0;" loading="lazy" />

See best of March Madness 2026, from mascots and fans to celebrities

Iowa State Cyclones fans cheer against the Kentucky Wildcats during the first half in the second round of the2026 NCAA Men's Basketball Tournamentat Enterprise Center on March 22, 2026 in St Louis, Missouri.

11. Tommy Lloyd, Arizona

Lloyd's record in five seasons at Arizona sparkles, and he's a couple of wins away from having his national profile skyrocket. His Wildcats smoothly pivoted from the Pac-12 to the Big 12. Why not rank him higher? Well, Lloyd hasn't advanced past the Sweet 16. Past teams didn't live up to their NCAA seed.His latest teamcould change how we look at Lloyd.

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10. Rick Barnes, Tennessee

Barnes should've made more than one Final Four at Texas. He endured a few tourney fizzles at Tennessee, too. He's no shark in March. That's a familiar critique. The upsides are clear, though. His teams always play defense. He thrives in the shadows at football schools. He's an NCAA Tournament regular. He's a no-drama coach seeking a third straight Elite Eight.

9. Matt Painter, Purdue

Painter gets consistent results without signing McDonald's All Americans. You could focus on what he isn't — a national champion — oryou could credit his consistent success, even if his teams come up short of the pinnacle in March. Gene Keady became a Purdue legend. Painter has been a notch better than Keady.Some might call that legendary, too.

8. John Calipari, Arkansas

No mystery as to Calipari's strategy. A recruiting dynamo with ample funding, he's going to assemble McDonald's All Americans, roll the ball out, and let the freshmen play. That strategy worked until it didn't at Kentucky.A change of scenery to Arkansas suited him. He's two wins away from becoming the first coach to take four schools to the Final Four.

7. Jon Scheyer, Duke

A legend's succession plan doesn't often unfold as smoothly as this one did. Scheyer kept Duke humming, and so Mike Krzyzewski can enjoy retirement. Duke is a recruiting machine, and credit Scheyer for getting return on that investment. Just 38 years old, he's gotten better each season. After last year's Final Four,the next task is obvious: National title.

6. Nate Oats, Alabama

Oats' teams have an established identity. His Crimson Tide will shoot a lot of 3s. And they'll make a lot of 3s, consistently ranking among the nation's most prolific offensive teams. He's a force of consistency, too, with four straight Sweet 16s, including the program's first Final Four in 2024. He turned a football school into a basketball force.

5. Tom Izzo, Michigan State

Call it a rite of spring. Mister March is back in theSweet 16 for the 17th time. Izzo's 2000 Spartans remain thelast Big Ten team to win a national title, and just when it had started to look like he'd entered the twilight of his career, he's enjoyed a renaissance, with 57 wins the past two seasons.

4. Dusty May, Michigan

Others on this list have a longer list of career accomplishments, but there aren't many coaches you'd rather have in this moment than the 49-year-old May. He took Florida Atlantic to the Final Four in 2023, and Michigan is roaring in his second season. He's 120-26 the past four seasons. Superb.

3. Kelvin Sampson, Houston

Sampson's teams consistently rank among the nation's best defensively. He's an excellent in-game tactician, too. The 70-year-old Sampson gets better with age. He's won 30-plus games in five straight seasons. He came oh-so-close to his first national title last season. Perhaps, these Cougars will give him that final line on the resume.

2. Rick Pitino, St. John's

How many rings would Pitino have if he'd never left Kentucky? Big Blue Nation must wonder. As it is, he's got two rings. Pitino and John Calipari are the only coaches to lead three schools to a Final Four. Now, he's got St. John's into its first Sweet 16 since 1999. Pitino's NCAA Tournament record is 57-22. Insanely good.

1. Dan Hurley, UConn

If nice guys finish last, what's the opposite of that? Guys who throw temper-tantrums finishing first. No matter what you think of his antics, there's no denying Hurley's success. He just keeps winning, with a chance at three national titles in the past four seasons. Hurley elevated UConn to blue-blood status.

Blake Toppmeyeris a columnist for the USA TODAY Network. Email him atBToppmeyer@gannett.comand follow him on X@btoppmeyer.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY:Ranking college basketball Sweet 16 coaches, Dan Hurley to Fred Hoiberg

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At Sweet 16, the coaches supply the star power. We rank them 1-16

If the performance matches thecoaching talent, then thisSweet 16will be elite. ThisNCAA Tournamentdidn't g...

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