Judge rejects lawyer's disputed bid to join ex-Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro’s defense team

NEW YORK (AP) — A federal judge on Monday nixed a former high-ranking Justice Department official’s attempt to join the team defending ex-Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro’s defense team, ruling that lawyer Bruce Fein had “no legal basis" to do so.

Judge Alvin K. Hellerstein had initially approved Fein’s application to join Maduro’s drug trafficking case but reversed course after the deposed leader’s actual lawyer, Barry Pollack, objected to his involvement.

Fein, an associate deputy attorney general during Ronald Reagan’s presidency, claimed in court papers that “individuals credibly situated” within Maduro’s inner circle or family had sought out his assistance. Fein claimed that Maduro “had expressed a desire” for his “assistance in this matter.”

But Hellerstein said in a written order that only Maduro has the authority to retain Fein as his lawyer, not unidentified individuals. He rejected Fein's request for the judge to summon Maduro to court to ask him if he would like Fein added to the defense team.

“If Maduro wishes to retain Fein, he has the ability to do so," Hellerstein wrote. "Fein cannot appoint himself to represent Maduro."

Messages seeking comment were left Monday for Fein and Pollack.

Pollack, a prominent Washington lawyer whose clients have included WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, was the only lawyer with Maduro at his Jan. 5 arraignment in Manhattan federal court, days after U.S. special forces seized Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, from their home in Caracas.

In court, Maduro called it a kidnapping and declared himself a prisoner of war. Pollack told Hellerstein he expected to make “substantial” court filings challenging the legality of his military abduction" and invoking immunity as the head of a sovereign state.

As Fein sought to join the case, Pollack said in a court filing last week that he'd spoken with Maduro and that the ex-leader confirmed to him that he doesn't know Fein and has not communicated with him, much less retained him or authorized him to join the case.

Fein acknowledged in a written response that he'd had no contact with Maduro by telephone, video or any other direct way.

Maduro and Flores have pleaded not guilty to charges alleging he worked with drug cartels to facilitate the shipment of thousands of tons of cocaine into the U.S. They remain held without bail at a federal jail in Brooklyn and are due back in court on March 17.