Rubio to testify in friend's trial over Venezuela oil deal
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Secretary of State Marco Rubio is scheduled to testify Tuesday in the federal trial of former U.S. Rep. David Rivera (R-Fla.), a longtime political ally, friend and former housemate who's accused of secretly lobbying for Venezuela's government.
Why it matters: The only-in-Miami trial sheds light on the unseemly world of shadowy, big-dollar foreign influence efforts in Latin America — and underscores how politically toxic Rivera has been to Rubio's career.
- Rubio asked to be called as a prosecution witness after it became clear that Rivera's team planned to call him as a defense witness — a potential embarrassment for the secretary, three sources tell Axios.
Friction point: The timing of the trial comes at an extremely inconvenient time for the secretary of state. He's helping President Trump manage the fallout of the Iran war, the replacement of Maduro's government in Venezuela and the planned takeover of Cuba.
Zoom in: Rivera and his associate, Esther Nuhfer, are charged in an 11-count indictment with alleged money laundering and failing to register as a foreign agent in the U.S. on behalf of Nicolás Maduro's government in Venezuela.
- The case revolves around a $50 million contract Rivera struck in 2017 with CITGO, the Houston-based subsidiary of Venezuela's national oil company, PDVSA.
- In a civil lawsuit filed in 2020, PDVSA sued Rivera, accusing him of breaking the contract with Maduro's government.
- Rivera and Nuhfer said they did nothing wrong and didn't need to register as foreign agents because they worked for the U.S. subsidiary of PDVSA, partly to establish oil business with Exxon.
Zoom out: Rubio will be the first sitting secretary of state in recent history to testify in a criminal trial. Former aides say they're not shocked he's essentially being forced to the witness stand by Rivera.
- Rivera survived several investigations in other state and federal scandals, but Rubio never denounced Rivera even as aides begged him to distance himself from his longtime friend.
- In 2016, when Trump and Rubio ran against each other for president, Trump attacked Rubio in a TV ad over his associations with Rivera and another ally.
- "David always had schemes and we always tried to keep Marco away from him, but they were friends and there's a loyalty thing, so there was only so much we could do," one former aide told Axios.
The intrigue: While they ostensibly represented CITGO, Rivera met twice with Rubio in 2017 while he was in the U.S. Senate.
- Rubio, who's not suspected or accused of any wrongdoing, is referred to in the indictment as "U.S. Senator 1."
- Rubio told the FBI in a 2020 interview that one of the 2017 meetings, with Venezuelan businessman and TV executive Raúl Gorrín, was supposed to concern "a peaceful transition of power" in Venezuela in which Maduro would leave office. But that never came to pass.
- As part of the trial, Rivera tried to call Trump White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles to the stand because she worked as a lobbyist for Ballard Partners in 2017 when it represented Gorrín. But a judge ruled against it.
What they're saying: In his opening remarks Monday, Assistant U.S. Attorney Roger Cruz said the case "is about two things: greed and betrayal," AP reports.
- "The evidence will show that for $50 million these two defendants made a pact to secretly lobby for Nicolás Maduro ... and his second-in-command Delcy Rodríguez," he said. (Rodríguez, has been Venezuela's acting leader since Maduro was arrested in January by U.S. forces on narco-terror and drug trafficking charges.)
- Ed Shohat, Rivera's attorney, compared the case to the TV show "Seinfeld," saying it was "about nothing." He called it "a murder case without a murder and a drug case without drugs."
- Rivera, Shohat said, sought to remove Maduro from power, not help him remain in office.
