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The Trump administration is blocking Venezuela’s government from paying for the cost of Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro’s defense against drug trafficking charges in New York, a move that potentially interferes with his constitutional right to counsel, his lawyer says.
Attorney Barry Pollack told a Manhattan federal judge in an email last week that the U.S. Treasury Department had blocked the authorization of legal fees that the government of Venezuela is required to pay for Maduro and First Lady Cilia Flores under its law and custom. The email was entered into the public court record on Wednesday.
Maduro and his wife have been jailed in New York without bail since they were seized from their Venezuelan home Jan. 3 in a stealth nighttime raid by U.S. military forces. They have both pleaded not guilty.
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The stunning capture following a monthslong military buildup in the Caribbean has paved the way for the Trump administration to assert enormous influence over Maduro’s replacement, his vice president and now acting President Delcy Rodriguez. Under pressure from the U.S., Rodriguez has moved swiftly to open up Venezuela’s oil industry to American investment, free political prisoners and reestablish direct communications with Washington — something unseen since the first Trump administration shuttered the U.S. embassy in Caracas in 2019.
In the email, Pollack said that the Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control, which administers sanctions against Venezuela, had granted permission on Jan. 9 approving the payment of legal fees by the Venezuelan governmen
Less than three hours later, though, the Trump administration snatched back the authorization “without explanation,” though it left in place a license granting permission for Maduro’s wife’s lawyers to be paid, Pollack sai.
The dispute over Maduro’s legal fees is intimately linked to U.S. foreign policy. The first Trump administration cut ties with Maduro in 2019, recognizing the then opposition head of the National Assembly as Venezuela’s legitimate leader. The Biden administration hewed closely to the same policy.
However, allowing Rodriguez’s government to pay for the cost of Maduro’s defense could complicate prosecutors’ efforts in court to counter the deposed leader’s argument that his capture was illegal and that as the foreign head of a state he is immune from prosecution under U.S. and international law.
A 25-page indictment against Maduro accused him and others of working with drug cartels and members of the military to facilitate the shipment of thousands of tons of cocaine into the U.S. Both he and his wife face life in prison if convicted.
As part of the purported conspiracy, Maduro and his wife allegedly ordering kidnappings, beatings and murders of those who owed them drug money, according to the indictment. It said that included the killing of a local drug boss in Caracas.
Messages seeking comment from the Treasury Department, White House and the Justice Department were not immediately returned.
Pollack said he asked the Office of Foreign Assets Control on Feb. 11 to reinstate the original license and clear the way for Venezuela to meet its obligation to pay Maduro’s defense costs.
The lawyer added that Maduro “cannot otherwise afford counsel” and will request help from the judge to pay for his defense.
Pollack said the United States was “interfering with Mr. Maduro’s ability to retain counsel and, therefore, his right under the Sixth Amendment to counsel of his choice.”
US President Donald Trump, on Tuesday, accused Nicolas Maduro of imitating his dancing, among other crimes, as he celebrated the capture of the Venezuelan leader in a freewheeling speech to Republican lawmakers.
Trump’s comments come after a New York Times report that Maduro’s regular public dancing in defiance of US threats convinced White House officials that it was time to act.
“He gets up there and he tries to imitate my dance a little bit,” Trump told lawmakers at the Kennedy Arts Center in Washington – which was recently renamed the Trump-Kennedy Center by his handpicked board.
“But he’s a violent guy, and he’s killed millions of people. He’s tortured. They have a torture chamber in the middle of Caracas that they’re closing up.”
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Trump did not give further details about the alleged torture chamber, or elaborate on his so-far vague plans for the United States to “run” oil-rich Venezuela following the fall of Maduro.
Leftist Maduro regularly appeared on stage dancing to a techno remix of his mantra “No War, Yes Peace” as US forces massed in the Caribbean in late 2025.
Trump is known for dancing to the disco song “Y.M.C.A.” at his rallies.
But while Trump hailed the “brilliant” US special forces raid that seized Maduro and his wife on Saturday, most of the speech was about firing the starting gun on the crucial 2026 US midterms.
The 79-year-old returned to the theme of his dancing, and other moves, as he ran through a list of his policy priorities ahead of November’s crucial election to decide who holds Congress.
