Nicolás Maduro and his wife back in federal court for first time since arraignment
Ousted Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, appeared in a federal courtroom Thursday in New York where their lawyers urged the judge to throw out their drug trafficking indictment because the U.S. government is blocking their ability to pay for their defense.
Dressed in beige prison outfits and separated from each other by their lawyers, the former first couple of Venezuela wore headsets to hear the translation of the proceedings into Spanish and appeared to be listening intently as the arguments got underway.
Security was heavy at the courthouse in Lower Manhattan where large groups of supporters and opponents of the ousted leader held noisy demonstrations outside under the watchful eyes of police.
One Maduro opponent was seen holding a “Maduro-Rot in Jail” sign.
Maduro lawyer Barry Pollack kicked off the proceedings by making the case that the U.S. should let Maduro access Venezuelan government funds to pay for his defense.
Just as he did last month when Maduro and his wife formally moved to dismiss the case, Pollack argued that the U.S. government was improperly restricting their ability to pay for their legal defense.
“He is entitled to use those resources to defend himself,” Pollack said.
Kyle Wirshba, an assistant U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York disagreed.
“The defendants have a right to defend themselves with money that is lawfully theirs, they do not have the ability to access third party funds,” Wirshba said.
In Washington, President Donald Trump accused Maduro of being a “major purveyor of drugs coming into our country,” but said he would have “a fair trial.”
“But I would imagine there are other trials coming,” Trump added, without providing details, during a cabinet meeting. He also suggested the current charges Maduro is facing might be “a fraction of the kind of things that he’s done.”
In a filing submitted to Judge Alvin Hellerstein, prosecutors have also requested a restrictive protective order that would bar Maduro and his wife from sharing discovery materials with four co-defendants who remain at large.
They argued that Maduro has a history of threatening opponents and allowing such access would pose “an unacceptable risk” to witnesses and their families, could lead to the destruction of evidence and might compromise ongoing investigations.
Maduro and his wife were captured during a nighttime raid in Caracas by U.S. forces on Jan. 3 and flown to New York City, where they were arraigned two days later on charges including narco-terrorism and drug trafficking.
Both have pleaded not guilty. Maduro is currently being held in an extra-secure section of the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn with other high-profile prisoners like accused murderer Luigi Mangione and the three Alexander brothers who were recently convicted of sex trafficking.
Maduro and his alleged co-conspirators, according to a federal indictment, spent decades partnering with some of the world’s most violent drug traffickers and corrupt regional officials to move large quantities of cocaine into the U.S.
