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'No Legal Justification' For Venezuela Raid Says Christopher Sabatini
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January 5, 2026
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10:28Now PlayingPresident Donald Trump said the US needs "total access" to Venezuela as questions mount about the country's leadership following the capture of President Nicolás Maduro.Trump said the US will work with acting President Delcy Rodríguez but said he hadn't spoken to her. "We're in charge," he said. On elections in the short term, he said, "Well, it depends," before adding, "We have to do one thing in Venezuela — bring it back." Trump's assertion that the US was in charge in Venezuela came after Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on a series of Sunday television shows that the US was focusing on the oil industry and watching for signs of opposition to US policies in Rodriguez's government. Christopher Sabatini, Senior Research Fellow for Latin America, the US and North America at Chatham House joined Caroline Hepker and Lizzy Burden to discuss.
Nicolás Maduro appeared in a New York courtroom on Monday to face narco-terrorism charges just two days after the US captured him in Caracas during a nighttime raid.
Maduro was escorted in front of a federal judge in Lower Manhattan for the first hearing in his criminal case, kicking off an extraordinary legal battle that could take months or longer before a trial begins.
Maduro’s wife, Cilia Flores, who is charged with him, also entered the courtroom. Both were wearing headphones in court for translation purposes. The hearing began with the judge reading the charges against Maduro and his wife.
In an indictment released over the weekend, the US government accused Maduro of conspiring to transport thousands of tons of cocaine to the country. The toppling of Maduro reverberated around the world and signaled President Donald Trump’s willingness to reconfigure the global order.
After Maduro was captured in the military operation early Saturday, he and his wife were transported to the notorious Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn. On Monday morning, they arrived by helicopter at a Manhattan heliport before he was taken to the courthouse for the hearing.
US District Judge Alvin Hellerstein, 92, will preside over the case and oversee an eventual trial before a jury of New York citizens. The judge is expected to order Maduro to remain in jail and may set a calender for lawyers to file pre-trial legal motions.
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