The Latest: Former Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro to appear in New York City court

Former Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro returns to a New York courtroom Thursday as he seeks to have his drug trafficking indictment thrown out over a geopolitical dispute over legal fees.

It’s the first time that Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, will be in court since a January arraignment at which he protested their capture by U.S. military forces and declared: “I am not guilty. I am a decent man, the constitutional president of my country.” Flores has also pleaded not guilty.

Both remain jailed at a detention center in Brooklyn, and neither has asked to be released on bail. Judge Alvin Hellerstein has yet to set a trial date, though that could happen at the hearing.

Here is the latest:

Maduro’s attorney is arguing that if the former Venezuelan president gets public defenders, that would sap legal resources that are meant for people who can’t afford their own attorneys.

Pollack is telling the judge that doesn’t make sense in “a case where you have someone other than the U.S. taxpayer standing ready, willing and able to fund that defense.”

Maduro lawyer Barry Pollack is making complex legal arguments for why the U.S. should let Maduro access Venezuelan government funds to pay for his defense.

The judge is asking questions.

Maduro appears to be taking notes.

Maduro, in a jail uniform, is seated between his attorneys at a defense table.

He glanced at his wife, who is sitting between her own attorneys to the right of him and his attorneys. She’s also in a jail uniform.

The couple are both wearing headphones to hear interpretation.

Former Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro has been brought into a New York courtroom as he seeks to have his drug trafficking indictment thrown out over a geopolitical dispute over legal fees.

Thursday’s hearing is the first time Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, have been in court since a January arraignment at which he protested their capture by U.S. military forces and declared: “I am not guilty. I am a decent man, the constitutional president of my country.” Flores has also pleaded not guilty.

Judge Alvin Hellerstein has yet to set a trial date, though that could happen at Thursday’s hearing.

In Caracas, Eduardo Cubillan condemned the violation of Venezuela’s sovereignty during the Jan. 3 operation. But the 80-year-old retiree hesitated to say whether he would like Maduro to return as president.

While Maduro’s ruling party remains in power, he has slowly been erased from the government of Delcy Rodríguez, Venezuela’s acting president. Cubillan’s hesitation reflected a dilemma that many ruling party supporters face as they see Rodríguez reach agreements with the U.S. that could bring economic improvements.

“We hope that in the United States, if justice truly exists, a trial will be held that will lead to President Maduro’s freedom, because this kidnapping violated international legal principles, and we want justice to be served,” Cubillan said.

During his Cabinet meeting, President Trump accused Maduro of being a “major purveyor of drugs coming into our country.”

Trump said Maduro would be given “a fair trial. But I would imagine there are other trials coming.” He didn’t provide details, but suggested the current charges Maduro is facing might be “a fraction of the kind of things that he’s done.”

Protesters and supporters are still gathering. They’re chanting, blowing horns and beating drums and cowbells.

Among the anti-Maduro contingent, one person is waving a sign reading, “Maduro rot in prison.”

On the other side of a metal barrier, people wave signs saying, “Free President Maduro.”

The officer prefaced Thursday’s hearing with a warning to spectators to stay quiet and seated while the former Venezuelan president is in the courtroom.

People who speak out will be removed and could face legal consequences, he said. The officer acknowledged, “This may be a sensitive case for some of you” and added, “you’re in a federal courthouse. Please respect the institution and what it stands for.”

In Caracas, many attendees wore the uniform of their state agency employer, took selfies to report to managers their participation at the event and waved Venezuelan flags as a group played regional music.

A woman attached action figures modeled after Maduro and Flores to her flag.

A screen behind the stage showed a photo of the couple taken during Maduro’s January 2025 swearing in ceremony and the phrase “83 days have gone by since their kidnapping.”

In Venezuela’s capital, a couple hundred people, among them ruling party supporters, state employees and civilian militia members, gathered at a public plaza Thursday morning, planning to pray for Maduro and Flores and to watch the couple’s hearing, unaware that U.S. federal courts do not allow cameras.

A large screen mixed footage of Maduro, the Venezuelan flag and the country’s recent World Baseball Classic championship win.

“We are going to see him today,” ruling party leader Carmen Melendez told the crowd. “We may see him skinnier. … But that’s our president.”

A group of demonstrators held Venezuela flags and signs saying “Free President Maduro.” They also shouted “No boots on the ground, no bombs in the air. U.S. out of everywhere,” denouncing U.S. military actions abroad.

Some carried an inflatable doll depicting Maduro in orange clothing resembling prison garb.

Signs indicated some of the protesters were affiliated with the Workers World Party, which describes itself as a revolutionary socialist party.

The last time Maduro appeared at the courthouse, he was brought there in spectacular fashion.

A helicopter flew him from Brooklyn to a heliport in Manhattan, where a motorcade of law enforcement vehicles whisked him to the courthouse in just a few minutes.

The city’s multiple local and federal law enforcement agencies have made an art form out of transporting important people through streets that are often choked with traffic.

When Trump was on trial at a courthouse in the same Lower Manhattan neighborhood in 2024, police made sure his Secret Service motorcade also had an unobstructed and traffic-free path to the courthouse.

The judge presiding over Maduro’s case is 92 years old.

A native New Yorker, Alvin K. Hellerstein was nominated to the court by President Bill Clinton in 1998.

He’s not the oldest judge on the federal bench in New York. That honor belongs to Judge Louis L. Stanton, who is 98.

Hellerstein has handled many other big cases. For nearly 25 years, he has also presided over civil litigation resulting from the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks on New York.

Legal issues surrounding the drug trafficking case against Maduro are expected to be complex, but they are unlikely to surface in a prolonged way at Thursday’s hearing.

The main subject of the court appearance involves how to pay his lawyers. Because of U.S. sanctions, the legal team can’t simply accept a check from Venezuela’s government. They need permission from the U.S. government. But U.S. authorities don’t want to grant it. They say Maduro can pay for his defense himself.

The dispute will get worked out in court.

Seating will be limited inside the courtroom where Maduro was to appear, and the line to get in started forming a day early.

Several professional line sitters in tiny tents were set up outside the court by Wednesday afternoon.

Some news organizations spent hundreds of dollars to pay people to hold spots for reporters who would arrive in the morning when the courthouse opened.

The indictment against Maduro accuses him of carrying out a wide-ranging conspiracy to traffic illegal drugs into the U.S. for more than a quarter century.

It says he cleared the way for thousands of tons of cocaine to enter the United States by teaming up at times with Venezuelan law enforcement to aid drug kingpins.

Maduro says he’s innocent. His supporters say that the U.S. military seized Maduro because U.S. President Donald Trump wanted regime change in Venezuela.