WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The US will bring additional cases against deposed Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro, President Donald Trump told reporters during a cabinet meeting at the White House on Thursday.
Maduro, who was captured by US forces during a raid in Venezuela in January, currently faces narcoterrorism and narcotics-related charges in New York.
Maduro returns to a Manhattan court on Thursday where he will argue that drug trafficking charges against him should be thrown out more than two months after he and his wife were captured in a surprise US military raid in Caracas.
Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, have been embroiled in a dispute over U.S. sanctions that prevent the Venezuelan government from paying for the couple’s legal defense.
Maduro, 63, and Flores, 69, have each pleaded not guilty to charges including narcoterrorism conspiracy and are jailed in Brooklyn pending trial.
They have asked US District Judge Alvin Hellerstein to dismiss the charges, saying their inability to rely on Venezuelan public funds is interfering with their right to have a lawyer of their choosing under the Sixth Amendment of the US Constitution.
Their lawyers have said Maduro and Flores cannot afford to pay their defense fees on their own.
Maduro’s lawyer, Barry Pollack, who represented WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, has said he wants to withdraw from the case if Hellerstein doesn’t dismiss the charges and the Venezuelan government cannot pay his fees. It was unclear how much Pollack is charging Maduro for his services. Pollack did not respond to a request for comment.
The hearing was scheduled to begin at 11 a.m. EDT (1500 GMT).
