On 7 July 2021, President Moïse was assassinated and First Lady Martine Moïse was injured during an attack at their residence in Pétion-Ville. Joseph assumed political control of the government, and blamed the attack on "a group of unidentified individuals, some of whom spoke in Spanish and English." At that time, Joseph stated that he was in control of the country. The legal succession to the presidency was unclear, Meanwhile, eight out of ten sitting members of Haiti's Senate chose the Senate speaker Joseph Lambert as the interim President on 9 July.