Rubio to testify today in criminal trial of ex-congressman accused of illegal lobbying for Venezuela
Secretary of State Marco Rubio is expected to testify in federal court Tuesday in the ongoing criminal trial against the former Florida congressman. David Riveraaccused of secretly lobbying for the Venezuelan government during the first Trump administration.
Federal prosecutors say Rivera worked alongside her co-defendant, Esther Nuhfer, to influence the first Trump administration on behalf of then-Venezuelan dictator Nicolas Maduro and former Foreign Minister Delcy Rodriguez in an effort to reduce political tensions and ease sanctions between the South American country and the United States. Rodriguez is now acting president, after the United States removed Maduro from power in January and brought him to the United States to be prosecuted on charges including narcoterrorism conspiracy.
In 2022, Rivera and Nuhfer were indicted by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Florida on charges of money laundering and failure to register as a foreign agent. Prosecutors say the two men were hired in a $50 million deal in exchange for three months of lobbying work in 2017 on behalf of a U.S.-based subsidiary of a Venezuelan state oil company, PDVSA, which does business as CITGO.
In the indictment, Rivera and Nuhfer are accused of trying to pressure Rubio, then a Republican senator from Miami, and former White House adviser Kellyanne Conway on behalf of people in the highest ranks of the Venezuelan government. Attempts to meet with Conway were unsuccessful, prosecutors said, but added that the two men arranged two meetings with Rubio, who is a longtime friend of Rivera and has been an outspoken critic of the affair. Maduro regime.
Rubio, who is currently heavily involved in the Trump administration’s diplomatic efforts regarding the war in Iranis expected to be the first sitting member of the president’s cabinet to take the stand in a criminal trial since 1983. Rubio is not charged with a crime in this case and has not been accused of doing anything illegal in his interactions with Rivera.
Rubio and Rivera are former roommates who lived together in Tallahassee when they both served in the Florida State Legislature, and Nuhfer was a former political adviser to Rivera and Rubio.
In an interview with CBS News Miami Before Rivera was charged, Rubio said Rivera’s lobbying work had “nothing to do” with him or their relationship.
“He’s someone I’ve known for a very long time. We’ve worked closely, but not on this topic. And no one claims otherwise,” Rubio said.
“This case is about two things: greed and betrayal,” prosecutor Roger Cruz said in his opening statement Monday, the Associated Press reported. “The evidence will show that, for $50 million, these two defendants entered into a pact to covertly lobby for Nicolás Maduro, the communist director, and his deputy Delcy Rodríguez.”
Rivera has denied any wrongdoing. The Associated Press reported that Rivera’s lawyers argued in their opening statement that Rivera’s lobbying was exempt from the Foreign Agents Registration Act because it was aimed at bringing the Exxon oil company back to Venezuela, for the Texas-based subsidiary.
“It’s like a murder case without murder, a drug case without drugs, a kidnapping case without kidnapping,” Rivera’s lawyer, Ed Shohat, said in his opening statement Monday, the Associated Press reported, adding that “no policy” in the United States has been affected by Rivera’s work.
Shohat argued Monday that Rivera’s meetings with Rubio had nothing to do with consulting work on behalf of the Maduro regime, the Associated Press reported, and were allegedly focused on Exxon’s return to Venezuela.
