Where things stand
• NOW: Ousted Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, are back in a New York court today arguing that the US government is interfering with their defense. Sigue nuestra cobertura en vivo en español.
• About the case: Maduro’s lawyer said the couple have testified they cannot pay their legal fees on their own, and he argued the Venezuelan government should be able to pay for it. The Maduros and Venezuelan government are both sanctioned by the US, meaning anybody seeking payment needs to obtain a license to avoid violating US sanctions laws.
• Not guilty plea: The ousted Venezuelan leader and first lady have pleaded not guilty to drug and weapons charges. The two were captured from their presidential compound in Caracas in January in a stunning overnight US military operation.
Venezuelan government should be able to pay for Maduro's defense, his lawyer argues
Nicolás Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, are seated at the defense table wearing headphones as the hearing gets underway.
The judge has asked to hear from Barry Pollack, Maduro’s attorney, about their argument over the ousted Venezuelan leader’s right to counsel.
Pollack said defendants have a right to “not just competent counsel, but counsel of his choice, and the right to use untainted funds for that purpose.”
Maduro and his wife have testified they cannot pay their legal fees on their own, Pollack said, and the Venezuelan government should be able to pay for it.
“They have an absolute right to use their funds to pay for their defense,” Pollack said.
Maduro's hearing is now underway
Judge Alvin Hellerstein is on the bench and Nicolás Maduro’s hearing is now underway.
The legal team for the ousted Venezuelan leader is expected to argue that the US government is interfering with his defense. Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, pleaded not guilty to drug and weapons charges after they were captured from their presidential compound in Caracas in January in a stunning overnight US military operation.
Maduro’s attorney said last month he will need to withdraw from the case if the US doesn’t allow the government of Venezuela to pay his legal fees. The Maduros and Venezuelan government are both sanctioned by the US, meaning anybody seeking payment needs to obtain a license to avoid violating US sanctions laws.
Trump says "other cases are going to be brought" against Maduro
Shortly before Nicolás Maduro’s appearance in a New York court, President Donald Trump at a Cabinet meeting at the White House said “other cases are going to be brought” against the ousted Venezuelan leader.
Maduro currently faces drug and weapons charges, to which he has pleaded not guilty.
At the White House, Trump touted the the capture of Maduro, calling it “a great military operation.”
He went on to accuse Maduro of having “killed a lot of people” and “emptied his prisons into our country.”
SOON: Maduro will appear in court
Ousted Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro will soon appear for a hearing in a New York federal court.
The hearing, which was originally set to begin at 11 a.m. ET, has been delayed by more than a half hour and is now expected to begin shortly before noon. CNN reporters have yet to see Maduro appear in the courtroom.
There’s already been a colorful spectacle surrounding Maduro’s second hearing, with protesters holding flags, signs and props joining a large crowd of journalists and other onlookers outside the courthouse.
Remember: Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, have pleaded not guilty to drug and weapons charges. The two were captured from their presidential compound in Caracas in January in a stunning overnight US military operation.
The former president will try to convince a federal judge that the US government is interfering with his ability to defend against narco-terrorism related charges and the case should be dismissed.
This post has been updated to note the delayed start time to today’s hearing.
Maduro supporters rally in Caracas during his hearing
Supporters of ousted Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro are holding a rally at Bolívar Square in Caracas during his hearing in New York.
Dozens of people have been waving Venezuelan flags and holding up posters of Maduro and his wife Cilia Flores, demanding their release from US custody. Screens have been set up at the square to watch updates on the hearing. However, there are no cameras in the court.
Venezuela’s ruling party had called on supporters to gather at the rally on Thursday.
“This is an important day for the nation, as with love and patriotism we will demonstrate the innocence of our leaders,” the party said. It has been regularly publishing images of Maduro and Flores with hashtags such as “We want them back” and “Free Maduro.”
Where US-Venezuela relations stand since Maduro's capture
Since removing President Nicolás Maduro from power, the US has maintained steady pressure on Venezuela’s acting government, forcing it to meet a series of demands and priorities outlined by the secretary of state: stabilization, economic recovery, and reconciliation and transition.
Venezuela’s acting leader Delcy Rodríguez has complied at almost every turn. She and her ruling party have reopened US investments in Venezuela’s oil industry, passed a law to release hundreds of political prisoners and began reestablishing diplomatic relations with Washington after a break of seven years.
In return, the US has been easing some of the punishing sanctions it imposed on the country during Maduro’s reign.
Rodríguez, who has also made dozens of changes within the cabinet and military, has insisted that her country is experiencing a new political moment.
But civilians and experts have questioned whether the so-called transition will restore some of the democratic rights that were dismantled under Maduro. Nearly three months since his capture, Venezuela’s government remains centralized, people are still reporting being searched and detained without probable cause, and there are no signs that an election will be held any time soon.
A look at Maduro's life inside a notorious Brooklyn jail
Nicolás Maduro and Cilia Flores are being held at the Metropolitan Detention Center (MDC) in Brooklyn, New York – a facility known both for its tough conditions and for having housed high profile inmates such as the Jeffrey Epstein accomplice Ghislaine Maxwell and hip-hop mogul Sean “Diddy” Combs.
“I would expect their routine to be 23 hours a day in solitary confinement,” explained Cameron Lindsay, a former director of the facility. That implies near-total confinement to a cell, meals delivered through a slot in the door, little or no contact with other inmates, and limited recreation, usually alone.
Ousted Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, who just days ago was living in a presidential palace in Caracas, is now being held at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn—one of the most notorious federal prisons in the United States. CNN senior legal analyst Elie Honig looks back at the history of the MDC, a facility widely described as “hell on Earth.”
The Federal Bureau of Prisons did not confirm which specific unit he is in or give details about the conditions of his detention. However, experts and lawyers say prisoners of this profile are usually held in the Special Housing Unit. “It’s the most restrictive level within the facility,” criminal and civil rights attorney Daniel McGuinness explained. Even if he wasn’t in solitary confinement, Maduro would be unable to see his wife.
Venezuelan lawmaker Nicolás Maduro Guerra said Monday that his father remains “in high spirits” and “very strong,” that he exercises daily, and that he could reappear looking “thinner, more athletic.” But there’s another possible explanation: the quality of the food inside the center. For years, lawyers have alleged that inmates receive expired, undercooked or contaminated food, including spoiled meat and deteriorated dairy products.
The Metropolitan Detention Center is dark, overcrowded and noisy, according to Elie Honig, a senior legal analyst for CNN, who has been inside the facility numerous times.
Here's a recap of Maduro's capture and how we got here
US forces carried out a large-scale military operation to seize President Nicolás Maduro and his wife from a fortified compound in Venezuela in the early morning of January 3.
At the beginning of the daring raid, a series of US strikes hit targets across Venezuela. Radar, communications and air defense infrastructure were knocked out, according to CNN’s review of videos and satellite imagery, clearing a path for special operations helicopters to move in.
At 1:58 a.m. two US transport helicopters were seen flying low toward Fort Tiuna in Caracas, Maduro’s likely extraction point. These aircraft would have unloaded US troops near the compound to capture the president.
In the second phase of the mission, US attack helicopters arrived to provide protective overhead cover and fight Venezuelan air defenses, as US transport helicopters removed Maduro and the forces that captured him from his compound.
One of the transport helicopters was seen leaving the Fort Tiuna area before disappearing into the darkness. The gunfire and explosions in Caracas – which left more than 100 people dead – had stopped by 3 a.m., a witness said.
US forces flew out of Venezuelan airspace at around 4:29 a.m., according to a US general.
Trump later posted a photo of Maduro aboard the USS Iwo Jima, where the ousted Venezuelan president and his wife were held before being transported to New York to face charges.
What it's like outside the courthouse ahead of Maduro's hearing
There were already 30 people in line to enter Nicolás Maduro’s hearing shortly before 6 a.m. ET, five hours before court is scheduled to begin.
Most identified themselves as journalists. One of them, Jorge Torrealba, was waiting to enter the courtroom to draw Nicolás Maduro. The day before, the 35-year-old Venezuelan had collected scrap materials and spent two days assembling a huge effigy of the ousted president, dressed in prison clothes and with a mustache made from broom bristles.
“It’s a way to leave a record of this historic moment,” he told CNN. Some of the people in line began joking around the effigy, which is as tall as the real Maduro. One of them was imitating his voice.
It’s all part of the colorful spectacle surrounding the second hearing in the trial against the deposed Venezuelan president and his wife, Cilia Flores, who face drug trafficking charges in a federal court in New York.
Later in the morning, protesters started gathering outside the federal courthouse, with some holding signs that read “Free Maduro” and “Hands Off Venezuela.”
There have been some altercations between protesters and counterprotesters, with some accusing others of not being Venezuelan and not understanding the struggles of the people who endured life under the Maduro regime.
What happened at Maduro's last court appearance
Nicolás Maduro and his wife Cilia Flores pleaded not guilty to drug and weapons charges during their first court appearance in New York on January 5.
That took place two days after they were captured by US forces in a daring operation in Venezuela’s capital.
Maduro, whose comments to the court were translated to English, accused the US government of abducting him from his home in Caracas and insisted he was still president of Venezuela.
Flores also pleaded not guilty and said she was “completely innocent.”
The ousted first lady had bandages on her forehead and right temple when she entered the courtroom. Her attorney said she would need a physical evaluation and potential treatment for “significant injuries” sustained during the “abduction.”
Last month, lawyers for Maduro and Flores asked a judge to throw out narco-terrorism charges, arguing the defendants’ constitutional rights were violated when the US government refused to grant the lawyers licenses to receive legal payments from the government of Venezuela.
Federal prosecutors later asked a judge to deny the request. They also raised what will likely become another thorny legal issue in the case: whether Maduro and his wife are legitimate leaders of Venezuela and what benefits or protections they would be entitled to receive.
Maduro is back in court today to argue the US is interfering with his defense
Nicolas Maduro, the former president of Venezuela, will to try to convince a federal judge today that the US government is interfering with his ability to defend against narco-terrorism related charges and the case should be dismissed.
Judge Alvin Hellerstein initially set the hearing to give lawyers for Maduro and his wife Cilia Flores de Maduro time to review evidence and sketch out a schedule for legal motions and potentially set a trial date.
In a twist in the already unusual case, Maduro’s attorney, Barry Pollack, said last month he will need to withdraw, if the US doesn’t allow the government of Venezuela to pay his legal fees.
Maduro and his wife were captured from their presidential compound in Caracas in early January in a stunning overnight US military and law enforcement operation and brought to New York to face charges.
Pollack said the Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control granted and then revoked a license permitting the Venezuelan government to pay his legal fees. The Maduros and Venezuelan government are both sanctioned by the US so anybody seeking payment needs to obtain a license to avoid violating US sanctions laws.
