President Maduro’s lawyer said the U.S. government’s actions denied his client the right to choose a lawyer.
listen to this article2 minutes
information
Published February 27, 2026
Kidnapped Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro has asked a US judge to drop drug trafficking charges brought against him by the Trump administration, saying the US government is interfering with his constitutional right to self-defense.
President Maduro’s lawyers argued Thursday that the case should be thrown out because the U.S. government is blocking the Venezuelan government from paying the legal costs of the abducted president and his wife.
Recommended stories
list of 3 itemsend of list
By blocking the funds, Maduro’s lawyer Barry Pollack said in a filing with a federal judge in Manhattan that the U.S. administration is “interfering with Mr. Maduro’s ability to hire an attorney and, by extension, his Sixth Amendment right to one of his own choice.”
Pollock said interference with Maduro’s right to counsel under the Sixth Amendment requires dismissal of the charges.
Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, have been jailed in New York without bail since their Venezuelan home was seized in a bloody nighttime raid by U.S. forces on January 3.
U.S. prosecutors allege that Mr. Maduro abused his power in office to support drug traffickers and that his wife was an accomplice in these crimes.
Both have maintained their innocence.
Mr. Pollack said in a court filing that the U.S. Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control, which administers sanctions against Venezuela, on January 9 authorized the Venezuelan government to pay Mr. Maduro’s legal costs.
But less than three hours later, the Trump administration revoked the license “without explanation,” but left in place the license that allowed Caracas authorities to pay a lawyer for Maduro’s wife, Pollack said.
A spokesperson for the Manhattan federal prosecutor’s office, which filed the charges, did not respond to a request for comment, according to Reuters.
If the U.S. government allows Venezuela to pay for Maduro’s defense, it could complicate prosecutors’ efforts in court to refute the deposed leader’s claims that his detention is illegal and that as a foreign head of state he is immune from prosecution under U.S. and international law, according to the Associated Press.
