Maduro and wife plead not guilty to drug trafficking charges in New York court
The captured Venezuelan leader could be seen exiting a vehicle and making his way to a helicopter under an armed guard, as ITV News US Correspondent Dan Rivers and Correspondent Robert Moore report
Deposed Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro declared himself “innocent” and a “decent man” as he pleaded not guilty to federal drug trafficking charges in a US courtroom on Monday.
“I’m innocent. I am not guilty. I am a decent man, the president of my country," Maduro told a New York judge.
Maduro and his wife Cilia Flores were making their first appearance in an American courtroom on Monday, answering the charges the Trump administration used to justify their capture and extraction to New York.
The pair both pleaded not guilty to all charges laid against them.
Maduro, wearing a blue jail uniform, and his wife were led into court around noon for a brief, but required, legal proceeding that will likely kick off a prolonged legal fight over whether he can be put on trial in the US.
Both put on headsets to hear the English-language proceedings as they were translated into Spanish.
Following Maduro’s plea, Hellerstein turned to Maduro’s wife and asked her to confirm her identity.
After confirming her name, Cilia Flores said in Spanish, through an interpreter: “I am first lady of the Republic of Venezuela.”
Asked to enter a plea, she responded: “Not guilty. Completely innocent.”
Mark E. Donnelly, her lawyer, said that Cilia Flores had suffered “significant injuries” during her capture and that he believes she has a fracture or severe bruising on her ribs.
The judge directed prosecutors to ensure that she gets the proper care.
The couple were transported under armed guard early Monday from the Brooklyn jail, where they've been detained, to a Manhattan courthouse.
A motorcade carrying Maduro left jail around 7.15am and made its way to a nearby athletic field, where Maduro slowly made his way to a waiting helicopter.
They then flew across New York Harbour and landed at a Manhattan heliport, where Maduro, limping, was loaded into an armoured vehicle.
A few minutes later, the police motorcade was inside a garage at the courthouse complex.
Across the street from the courthouse, the police separated a small but growing group of protesters from about a dozen pro-intervention demonstrators, including one man who pulled a Venezuelan flag away from those protesting the US action.
According to US Attorney General Pam Bondi, Maduro faces charges of narco-terrorism conspiracy, cocaine importation conspiracy, possession of machine guns and destructive devices, and conspiracy to possess machine guns and destructive devices against the US.
As a criminal defendant in the US legal system, Maduro will have the same rights as any other person accused of a crime, including the right to a trial by a jury of regular New Yorkers.
Maduro’s lawyers are expected to contest the legality of his arrest, arguing that he is immune from prosecution as a sovereign head of state.
Watch as Maduro and his wife are transported from a detention centre in New York ahead of a US court hearing
The former military leader of Panama, Manuel Noriega, unsuccessfully tried the same defence after the US captured him in a similar military invasion in 1990.
The US however, doesn’t recognise Maduro as Venezuela’s legitimate head of state, particularly after a much-disputed 2024 re-election.
Venezuela’s new interim president, Delcy Rodríguez, demanded that the US return Maduro, who has long denied any involvement in drug trafficking, although late Sunday she struck a more conciliatory tone in a social media post, inviting collaboration with President Trump and “respectful relations” with the US.
Trump threatened the new interim president of Venezuela, saying that if she doesn't cooperate, she could "pay a very big price".
Trump told reporters on Sunday night that Vice President Delcy Rodriguez is “cooperating” but reiterated the threats that she would have to give the US access to much of her country.
Before his capture, Maduro and his allies claimed US hostility was motivated by lust for Venezuela’s rich oil and mineral resources.
“We need access to the oil and to other things in their country that allow us to rebuild their country,” Trump said.
On Monday, China reiterated its condemnation of the US's actions, joining a host of other nations like Brazil and Uruguay that have been critical of the operation.
The Chinese foreign ministry said the US must “cease attempts to subvert the Venezuelan government, and resolve differences through dialogue and negotiations".
After Maduro was seized, Trump said the US would "run" Venezuela temporarily, but Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on Sunday that it would not govern the country day-to-day, other than enforcing an existing " oil quarantine".
Trump suggested on Sunday that he wants to extend American power further in the western hemisphere and took aim at Colombian President Gustavo Petro.
He called Petro "a sick man who likes making cocaine and selling it to the United States. And he’s not going to be doing it very long.”
When responding to a question about whether the US should do a similar military operation in Colombia as it did in Venezuela, the president responded, "sounds good".
Trump repeated on Sunday that the US needs the huge north Atlantic island of Greenland “from the standpoint of national security.”
“We need Greenland… It’s so strategic right now. Greenland is covered with Russian and Chinese ships all over the place,” Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One.
“We need Greenland from the standpoint of national security, and Denmark is not going to be able to do it.”
Responding to Trump’s latest comments, Greenland’s Prime Minister Jens Frederik Nielsen said Monday that “the current and repeated rhetoric coming from the United States is entirely unacceptable. When the President of the United States speaks of ‘needing Greenland’ and links us to Venezuela and military intervention, it is not only wrong. It is disrespectful.”
“Our country is not an object in great-power rhetoric. We are a people. A country. A democracy,” Nielsen added.
Trump has repeatedly stated that he wants to annex Greenland - a huge, resource-rich 836,000 square miles (2,166,000 square kilometer) island in the Atlantic and self-governing territory of Denmark - claiming that this is needed for American security purposes.
Both Greenland and Denmark, a Nato ally of the US, are staunchly opposed to the idea.
Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper said on Monday she had raised the importance of international law with her US counterpart after President Donald Trump’s intervention in Venezuela.
She stopped short of saying whether the military action that saw Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro captured and taken to New York was a breach of such laws and told MPs it was for the US to set out the legal basis for the move.
Ms Cooper also reiterated that the UK will “shed no tears” for the end of Maduro’s rule as she accused him of using “fear, coercion and violence” to cling to power.
Both the PM and Cooper have expressed support for Denmark and Greenland with the former saying he “stands” with Denmark, and the latter asserting Greenland’s future was for Nuuk and Copenhagen to decide – “not for anybody else, notwithstanding any of the things that we have heard the US say or others say as well”.
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A 25-page indictment made public Saturday accuses Maduro and others of working with drug cartels to facilitate the shipment of thousands of tons of cocaine into the US. They could face life in prison if convicted.
It wasn't clear as of Sunday whether Maduro had hired a US lawyer yet.
He and his wife, Cilia Flores, have been under US sanctions for years, making it illegal for any American to take money from them without first securing a license from the Treasury Department.
While the indictment against Maduro says Venezuelan officials worked directly with the Tren de Aragua gang, a US intelligence assessment published in April, drawing on input from the intelligence community's 18 agencies, found no coordination between Tren de Aragua and the Venezuelan government.
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