Trump ally testifies in trial over secret Venezuela lobbying effort

MIAMI — A top Washington lobbyist with close ties to President Donald Trump testified in federal court that he immediately severed ties with former Congressman David Rivera when he learned in 2020 that the Venezuelan government had awarded the Miami Republican a $50 million contract, shattering his belief that they were both working to hasten the downfall of Nicolás Maduro.

Brian Ballard was, along with Secretary of State Marco Rubio, a star witness at Rivera’s trial in Miami, accused of secretly lobbying for Maduro’s government without registering as a foreign agent.

The trial offered a glimpse into the prehistory of Maduro’s ouster, involving covert lobbying by people close to Trump and Venezuelan leaders and a billionaire who allegedly funneled embezzled oil money to the country’s democratic opposition while seeking partners for Maduro’s efforts to ease U.S. sanctions.

The first-term charm offensive failed, but some of its players — including interim President Delcy Rodríguez and White House chief of staff Susie Wiles — are now behind Trump’s promise to “rule” Venezuela.

Prosecutors say Rivera became a mercenary for Maduro after leaving Congress, leveraging his decades-long friendship with fellow Cuban-American Rubio and other Republican connections to push the White House to abandon its hard line on Venezuela.

Rivera, 60, denies wrongdoing, saying he worked as a business strategist for a U.S. subsidiary of Venezuela’s state-owned oil company and was therefore exempt from the Foreign Agents Registration Act, or FARA.

After Ballard told prosecutors about text messages, emails and lobbying records showing how he came to distrust Rivera, the defense moved Tuesday for a mistrial, accusing prosecutors of falsely suggesting that Rivera tried to implicate Ballard in the alleged plot. Judge Melissa Damian denied the motion.

Ballard had become friends with Rubio and Rivera decades earlier, while he was building his lobbying firm and both served in the Florida Legislature. Ballard Partners went on to represent the Trump Organization in Florida and then became a dominant player in Washington. In 2025, it would collect $88 million in fees, more than any other company, according to lobbying disclosures.

Trump’s first term was just beginning when Ballard said Rivera asked him to represent the Venezuelan opposition. Both men were known as staunch opponents of the Venezuelan government, so “anything we could do to help end the Maduro regime would have been very interesting to me,” Ballard testified.

Additionally, Ballard advised Rex Tillerson, Trump’s first choice for secretary of state, during the confirmation process and relied on Rivera as a conduit to then-Sen. Rubio, who harbored concerns about the former ExxonMobil CEO’s views on Venezuela. Rubio testified last week that he, too, felt betrayed by his friend.

Venezuelan media mogul joins lobbying efforts

At the center of Ballard and Rivera’s interest in Venezuela was Raúl Gorrín, a Caracas media mogul whose repeated attempts to woo power players in Trump’s Washington speak to the dangers of foreign influence campaigns in American politics.

In 2018, Gorrín would be indicted for allegedly bribing Venezuela’s treasurer with yachts and show horses in order to obtain illicit foreign exchange transactions. But when Rivera introduced him to Ballard in 2017, the billionaire presented himself as a Trump admirer promoting democratic change.

The three men then flew from Gorrín to the Dominican Republic to meet with Venezuelan opposition leaders. Ballard also said he met at the Gorrín mansion in Miami with Lilian Tintori, the wife of Maduro’s most prominent imprisoned opponent at the time, Leopoldo López.

A few months later, Gorrín’s network, Globovision, signed an $800,000 contract with Ballard’s company, seeking help to expand in the United States. Ballard said he was reluctant, given reports that, under Gorrín, Globovision had softened its coverage of Maduro, but said he was convinced after due diligence and Tintori’s approval.

“She thought he was a good person, not a Maduro puppet,” he said.

Ballard warns work in Venezuela could violate foreign lobbying laws

Ballard said he quickly regretted the decision. He also testified that he did not know that an associate at his firm helped draft a letter that Gorrín wanted to hand-deliver to Trump in 2017, promising — businessman to businessman — to “dedicate every waking minute to a successful resolution of the crisis in Venezuela.” The letter never reached the Secret Service.

After it was announced that Gorrín was under federal investigation for money laundering, Ballard said he abruptly ended the relationship.

“I finally said it wasn’t worth it,” he said.

Ballard never recruited Venezuelan opposition figures as clients. He offered to waive his fee, but his condition that the advocacy work be publicly disclosed as required by the Justice Department’s website was deemed too risky. He added that Tintori feared this would anger Maduro and put her husband in danger.

Meanwhile, after learning that Gorrín was still involved and claiming to help Tintori financially, Ballard sent a text on February 13, 2017 to Rivera’s co-defendant, Esther Nuhfer, a former Rubio fundraiser: “Please make sure the people you deal with understand the serious nature of FARA laws.

Two days later, Trump called for López’s release, posting a photo of him with Tintori, Rubio and Vice President Mike Pence in the Oval Office.

López, now exiled in Spain, said his wife never received money from Gorrín and accused Rivera of trying to falsely link him to the alleged plot for which he is now on trial. He said that the day his wife visited the White House, masked and heavily armed military intelligence agents burst into his cell.

“It was one of the worst descents I experienced during my four years of imprisonment,” he said.

“I don’t find it funny at all.”

Meanwhile, unbeknownst to Ballard, Rivera was trying to arrange meetings for Rodríguez in New York, Caracas, Washington and Dallas, prosecutors said.

Representative Pete Sessions was also involved. The Texas Republican tried to arrange a meeting for Rodríguez with the Exxon CEO and secretly traveled to Caracas for a meeting with Maduro arranged by Gorrín and Rivera. “My best to your family,” Sessions later wrote in a letter to Maduro.

The congressman is on the defense’s witness list. Rivera’s lawyers also requested testimony from Wiles, who registered himself as one of Ballard’s lobbyists for Globovision, but the White House quashed it.

Prosecutors say Rivera’s three-month, $50 million consulting contract was actually a cover for Venezuelan officials trying to persuade the Trump administration to normalize relations. Ballard testified that he first became aware of it when Rivera was accused in a 2020 lawsuit of failing to perform any work.

When he called his old friend to express his shock, Rivera told him that the Trump administration was fully aware that he was working with Maduro’s opponents, Ballard said. Rivera also reminded Ballard of their meeting three years earlier in the Dominican Republic, where he said the “plot was hatched” by the Venezuelan opposition.

“So you’re part of it too!!!,” Rivera texted, adding laughing emojis.

Ballard was outraged and said he blocked Rivera’s contact on his phone.

“I have nothing to do with this David,” he wrote in a final missive. “I don’t find it funny at all.”