{"id":1955,"date":"2026-07-22T17:10:15","date_gmt":"2026-07-22T17:10:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/topmovingpross.com\/?p=1955"},"modified":"2026-07-22T17:10:15","modified_gmt":"2026-07-22T17:10:15","slug":"june-1-trial-date-set-for-venezuelas-nicolas-maduro-in-his-us-drug-trafficking-case","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/topmovingpross.com\/?p=1955","title":{"rendered":"June 1 trial date set for Venezuela\u2019s Nicol\u00e1s Maduro in his US drug trafficking case"},"content":{"rendered":"
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NEW YORK (AP) \u2014 A June 1 trial date was set Wednesday for Nicol\u00e1s Maduro to face drug trafficking charges along with his wife as his lawyers continue to object to the U.S. military action that snatched the Venezuelan president from power and deposited him in New York.<\/p>\n

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Maduro, 63, and his wife, Cilia Flores, 69, have been held at a Brooklyn jail since U.S. forces seized them from their Caracas home<\/span> in a middle-of-the-night raid and brought them to New York in early January.<\/p>\n

Neither spoke during Wednesday\u2019s 15-minute hearing. Both have pleaded not guilty. They face potential life prison sentences if a jury agrees that they were part of a conspiracy to send cocaine into the U.S.<\/p>\n

Judge Alvin K. Hellerstein set the trial date at the request of lawyers on both sides. Under the approved schedule, defense lawyers will begin filing motions in early September to challenge the indictment.<\/p>\n

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President Donald Trump\u2019s administration has defended the raid<\/span> as a \u201csurgical law enforcement operation\u201d in a criminal case first brought<\/span> six years ago. Maduro has called himself a prisoner of war and his capture a kidnapping.<\/p>\n

U.S. prosecutors say Maduro carried out a conspiracy to move thousands of tons of cocaine into the U.S. by colluding with Venezuelan law enforcement to help drug kingpins.<\/p>\n

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\u201cI am not guilty. I am a decent man, the constitutional president of my country,\u201d he said in Spanish at his arraignment in January.<\/p>\n

Maduro\u2019s lawyer, Barry Pollack, has said he expects to contest the legality of Maduro\u2019s \u201cmilitary abduction.\u201d<\/p>\n

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During Wednesday\u2019s hearing, Pollack said he will first challenge the indictment on sovereign immunity grounds because if that is successful, Maduro won\u2019t have to continue litigating the case afterward.<\/p>\n

The lawyers have said there are complex legal defenses that the court must address before a trial can begin.<\/p>\n

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Maduro and Flores have not asked to be released on bail.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A June 1 trial date has been set for Nicol\u00e1s Maduro to face drug trafficking charges in New York. The trial date was set on Wednesday during a brief hearing. His lawyer says he plans to contest the charges against his client on sovereign immunity grounds. Defense lawyers have objected to the U.S. military action that snatched Venezuela\u2019s president from power. Maduro was brought to the Manhattan courthouse early Wednesday from a Brooklyn jail. Maduro and his wife have pleaded not guilty to charges that they sided with drug dealers in a multidecade scheme to ship large quantities of drugs to the United States.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1954,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1955","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-u-s-news"],"yoast_head":"\nJune 1 trial date set for Venezuela\u2019s Nicol\u00e1s Maduro in his US drug trafficking case - Top Moving Pros<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/topmovingpross.com\/?p=1955\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"June 1 trial date set for Venezuela\u2019s Nicol\u00e1s Maduro in his US drug trafficking case - Top Moving Pros\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"A June 1 trial date has been set for Nicol\u00e1s Maduro to face drug trafficking charges in New York. The trial date was set on Wednesday during a brief hearing. His lawyer says he plans to contest the charges against his client on sovereign immunity grounds. Defense lawyers have objected to the U.S. military action that snatched Venezuela\u2019s president from power. Maduro was brought to the Manhattan courthouse early Wednesday from a Brooklyn jail. 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