A US judge has said he will not dismiss drug trafficking and weapons possession charges brought against former Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores.
But in a court hearing Thursday, Judge Alvin Hellerstein questioned whether the U.S. government had the right to bar Venezuela from funding Maduro’s legal costs.
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The hearing was the first for Mr. Maduro and his wife since his brief arraignment in January, where he pleaded not guilty.
Mr. Maduro and Mr. Flores have called for the charges to be dropped. Hellerstein refused, but pressed prosecutors on some of the issues Maduro’s lawyers raised in their motion to dismiss the case.
That included a decision by U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration to block the Venezuelan government from funding Maduro’s defense.
Federal prosecutors argued that the United States could not authorize such payments for national security reasons. They also pointed to continued sanctions against the Venezuelan government.
But Hellerstein disputed that claim, noting that President Trump has eased sanctions on Venezuela since Maduro’s abduction on January 3. They also questioned how Maduro could pose a security threat while imprisoned in New York.
“The defendants are here. Flores is here. They pose no further national security threat,” Hellerstein said. “I don’t think there is any lasting national security interest in the right to protect oneself.”
Hellerstein emphasized that in the United States, as part of the Sixth Amendment, all criminal defendants are entitled to vigorous defense.
“The right to be involved, more than any other right, is the right to constitutional counsel,” he said.
Maduro, who led Venezuela from 2013 to 2026, is charged with four crimes, including narco-terrorism conspiracy, conspiracy to import cocaine, possession of a machine gun, and conspiracy to possess a machine gun and other destructive devices.
He and his wife were detained in the United States on January 3 after President Trump launched an attack on Venezuela.
The Trump administration has characterized the military operation as a “law enforcement function,” but experts say it is widely considered illegal under international law protecting local sovereignty.
President Maduro cited his status as a foreign leader as part of his argument for the lawsuit to be dismissed.
In his last court appearance on January 5, he told the judge, “I am still the president of my country.”
At a hearing in February, his lawyers asked for the charges to be dismissed, arguing that preventing Venezuela from paying legal fees “interferes with Mr. Maduro’s ability to hire a lawyer and, therefore, his right under the Sixth Amendment to a lawyer of his choice.”
In an interview with AFP news agency Thursday, Maduro’s son and Venezuelan congressman Nicolás Maduro Guerra said he had faith in the U.S. judicial system but believed his father’s trial was mishandled.
“There are traces of injustice in this trial from the beginning, because the elected president was arrested and kidnapped in a military operation,” Maduro Guerra said in Caracas.
Protests and counter-protests took place outside the New York City courthouse on Thursday, with some denouncing the U.S. action and others holding signs supporting the trial with slogans such as “Maduro rots in jail.”
President Trump himself addressed the matter during Thursday’s Cabinet meeting, suggesting further charges against Maduro may be forthcoming.
President Trump repeatedly made baseless claims about President Maduro, saying, “He emptied Venezuela’s prisons, he emptied our prisons.”
“And I hope that one day that charge will be filed, because it was a big charge that hasn’t been brought yet. It should be brought.”
President Trump has been an enemy of President Maduro since his first term in office, when he offered a bounty for the arrest of the Venezuelan leader. He frequently repeats unsubstantiated claims that Maduro intentionally funneled migrants and drugs into the United States in an effort to destabilize the country.
These claims provided President Trump with an excuse to assert emergency powers in areas such as immigration and national security. On Thursday, Trump said he expected a “fair trial” but also expected further legal action against Maduro.
“There will be other trials coming because we’re actually suing him for a fraction of what he’s done,” Trump said. “As you probably know, there are other lawsuits that will be filed.”
