Rubio testifies in trial of ex-Florida congressman allegedly hired by Maduro government to lobby for Venezuela
Secretary of State Marco Rubio is testifying Tuesday in the trial of former Miami congressman and roommate David Rivera, who is accused of trying to lobby members of Congress and...
By Fox News · Fox News
Secretary of State Marco Rubio is testifying Tuesday in the trial of former Miami congressman and roommate David Rivera, who is accused of trying to lobby members of Congress and the White House on behalf of former Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro. Rubio, testifying in a packed federal courtroom in Miami with heightened security, said he and Rivera became "very close" when both overlapped for six years as members of the Florida Legislature in the early 2000s. Rivera, a Republican, was arrested in December 2022 on charges of money laundering and representing a foreign government without registering. In July 2017, Rubio said he got a call from Rivera saying he needed to see him urgently to discuss Venezuela. The next morning, Rivera traveled to Washington and, at a meeting at his home, said he was working with Raul Gorrin, a media magnate in Venezuela who was Rivera’s main conduit to the Maduro government, on a plan to persuade Maduro to step aside. "I was skeptical," said Rubio during his testimony, according to The Associated Press, adding that the Maduro government was full of "double dealers" who were constantly pitching plans to betray Maduro. VENEZUELA’S DELCY RODRIGUEZ REPLACES SANCTIONED LOYALIST DEFENSE MINISTER WITH MILITARY INTEL HEAD "But if there was a 1% chance it was real, and I had a role to play alerting the White House, I was open to doing that," he added. Within days, borrowing talking points provided by Rivera, Rubio wrote and delivered a speech on the Senate floor signaling the U.S. would not retaliate against Venezuelan government insiders who worked to push Maduro from power, the AP reported. "He provided me with insight into some of the key phrases that regime insiders would’ve wanted to hear to know this was serious," Rubio testified. "No vengeance, no retribution." In the indictment against Rivera, there’s no indication that Rubio acted improperly as a senator at the time. The allegations come in connection to a $50 million consulting con…