BREAKING: MAJOR UPDATE at Maduro court appearance

I'm joined now by All Rise News's Adam. Klasfeld. Adam, you are in New York. right now at the arraignment for. Nicholas Maduro, uh the the you know. former or ousted president of Venezuela. who was brought to the US. So first and. foremost, can you talk about what. happened at the arraignment today? >> So what happened at the arraignment in. essence was that Nicolas Maduro and his. wife Celia Flores pleaded not guilty uh. to the counts of the indictment charged. against them. But there was more of. course that happened beyond that. These.

are historic proceedings. And as Nicolas. Maduro entered the courtroom, uh he uh. immediately noticed the filled. ceremonial courthouse, the fact that the. uh jury box was filled with reporters as. was the gallery. He uh greeted them. happy new year uh three times before. sitting down. And these are if you've. ever attended an arraignment, these are. very formal proceedings. You are alerted. of your rights. You are you're things.

like verifying your name is something. that happens. And so the 92year-old. judge Alvin Helerstein uh prompted Mr. Maduro to give his name. And Maduro. replied with a speech. He said, "I'm the. president of Venezuela." He said that he. was kidnapped uh in a military. operation. He was interrupted by the. judge at that point. Said, "You will. have all the time you need to air this. when the proceedings proceed, but right.

now I am simply asking you your name.". He repeated his name. And so, uh, quite. a lot happened surrounding the. proceedings. Uh there was a a man in the. gallery, Pedro Wilcox, uh who when uh. Maduro started on that speech when when. he described himself as the president of. Venezuela shouted out kamas meaning. never in Spanish. Uh and there was a.

little exchange with them at the end of. the proceedings. Uh tensions are high, Mr. Roott said outside the courtroom. speaking to reporters. uh that he. himself uh was targeted by the. government which is what brought him. there to watch the proceedings. >> All right. So I I have a few questions. here but the first and and this might. betray a little of my naivity on this. topic but can you talk about the. legality of basically extracting a a.

world leader a president of a different. country and bringing them into the. United States? And I mean, does that. open the floodgates for any foreign. leader who we view as as a criminal to. be extracted and brought to the United. States? >> It's absolutely great question, Brian, and we found out today that it is a. question that will be litigated in these. proceedings. Nico Maduro is represented. by Julian Assange's attorney, Barry. Pollock, uh, also by David Wickstrom, who is a public defender who previously.

represented a relative excuse me, a. codefendant of former Anduran President. Juan Erlando Ernnandez who Trump. pardoned. So to your question, Brian, the legality of the raid that whisked. Maduro to this New York federal. courthouse today is something that Barry. Pollock, his attorney, promised to. litigate. And here's a backdrop. I. expect the government to say that this.

happened with former Panameanian. dictator Manuel Noriego back in the. 1980s under George HW Bush. But I expect. that this will be distinguished by the. fact that the Panameanian government at. the time declared war on the United. States. Courts will have to grapple with. the fact of what guard rails if there is. an indictment anywhere in the world. Um. will an indictment justify uh taking.

away a purported head of state or any. national anywhere? Uh will it is a. formal extradition process is a thing of. the past. In the Noriega case, Noriega's. convictions for drug traffing and other. offenses were affirmed. Uh they and so. there is precedent for something like. this happening. Although we heard today. from Barry Pollock, the defense attorney. for Mr. Maduro that he will challenge.

him. They are going to claim that uh. they that Mr. Maduro has sovereign. immunity and I expect that the US. government will say that he has been. illegitimately serving uh as the. president of Venezuela since the 2018. election and the national assembly uh. declaring Mr. Maduro a usurper in 2019. So the question that you posed is a very. good one. It's one that we will hear.

more about. There's going to be a. hearing in this very courthouse right. behind me on March 17th that I think. will engage in these very questions. >> I mean, would this lead us into a world. where, you know, if a if an opponent of. Vladimir Putin comes into office and. says, "Well, Putin clearly didn't win. his election with 98% of the vote or. whatever vote total he claims to have. gotten." And so does that give us. grounds then to go into Russia into the. Kremlin and just you know pluck Vladimir.

Putin out of office and bring him into. the United States uh in very much the. same way that that Nicholas Maduro was. >> right. So I mean to your point Brian. there are two different uh things that. we're grappling with. This is US law and. the entire international order. And you. talk about uh other authoritarian rulers. anywhere around the globe. There this. these are norms that are going to be set. around the world. What about other. governments? One of the uh benefits we. have as a US citizen is that if a.

foreign dictatorship uh decides that. someone has committed a crime because. they have spoken badly about the regime. that our courts are there as a bullworth. that you can go to your court. There. will be a former formal extradition. process. You can contest it. Are we. moving into a world? Uh, and I think. this is going to be part of a broader. conversation, although not necessarily. the conversation that transpires in this. courthouse of what does this do for US.

salon president and what does this do. for the world moving forward? >> By that same logic, is there a world. where another country can say that. Donald Trump is as bad as we say. Nicholas Maduro is? uh and that they. then have grounds based on what we're. doing here in the United States to come. in and pluck Donald Trump out of the. United States and and bring him into, you know, some some judicial proceedings. in in a different country, >> you know, right after the raid uh in.

Karacas and the arrest of Maduro going. and uh and his being sent first to. Guantanamo Bay to be handed off and sent. to the Southern District of New York. There was a big international response. and political scientist uh Ian Brener. said uh essentially be careful that uh. what we do today one's enemies can do. the next day and that the law of the. jungle the might makes right world yeah. uh can can harm everyone uh we other.

things that we learned in court today uh. I I would say that so Celia Cruz you. could see at the defense table had a. bandage over her right eye uh some uh on. her temple uh and so she appeared a. little injured and her attorney made a. point to say that he wanted a medical. examination that these are injuries. He. said that she sustained during the raid. on the compound. I expect that will be.

litigated. We're going to hear a lot. more about uh this is once things come. to court. What is going to be explored. are for one the allegations of the. indictment um the narot trafficking uh. conspiracy the allegations of terrorism. links uh and all of that yes but also. the legality of the raid what actually. happened uh what is what sovereign. immunity uh arguments are there and what.

kind of world are we going to have going. forward in terms of US law and the. international award. >> Adam, does the fact that Trump just. pardoned the former Honduran president. for basically importing 400 tons of. drugs into the United States, does that. undermine this case where the US. government claims to take such a hard. line against narco uh narot terrorists. when the last thing they did with the. previous narot terrorist who just so. happened to be another South American.

world leader uh was to basically give. that person immunity. So, we'll see if Maduro's lawyers bring. it up. It certainly undermines the. public rationale for this. If you have a. foreign government leader, foreign uh. Honduran uh president, Juan Orlando, uh who was convicted by a jury of, as. you said, a narot trafficking conspiracy.

that involved 400 tons of cocaine. And. evidence came out at trial that he. accepted brigades from El Chapo and that. Mr. Hernandez was was pardoned by Trump. after appealing to his sense of I am a. prosecuted former president. Uh that it. certainly undermines it in the public. eye. Now will it undermine it over the. course of these proceedings? Well, this. remains to be seen. We'll see. One thing. that is notable is that he has retained.

two lawyers, a a private counsel and a. public defender. And the public defender. represented someone in Juan Orlando's. conspiracy case, a co-conspirator of Mr. Hernandez, is now one of the public. defenders who is representing Mr. Maduro. >> Adam, I was surprised to see that the. judge presiding over this case is 92. years old. I'm curious in in watching. the judge preside, how did how did he. look? It's not every day, especially.

with with the the issue of age so. prevalent in politics today, how is a. 92-year-old judge uh presiding over this. case? >> He's a very sharp non-agenarian. One. thing about uh Alvin Helerstein, he. presided over a case very similar to. this one, not and not counting this. conspiracy case last year in 2025. In. May, he released a ruling blocking. Trump's invocation of the Alien Enemies. Act, which was premised on the idea that.

the uh Venezuelan gang train. is an arm of the Venezuelan state. involved in an invasion of the US. Judge. Helerstein was the one who ruled that. was illegal, that there was no invasion, and that the justification, the legal. justification that premised whisking. away 200 men to what he described as a. notoriously evil prison, El Salvador's. Secott prison.

>> Uh that he this was a judge who is known. as a sharp defender of civil liberties. Um he's been on the bench a long time. He is 92 years old. Uh he ordered the. release as I recall of Abu Grae videos. back in the day. Um but he he one thing. to talk about his age a bit when he. began the proceedings. He said that uh. one of his jobs is to guarantee Mr.

Maduro a fair trial. But he also gave a. crack about his age and his hype. Uh he. said he was taking the bench and sitting. behind one of those monitors where. during a trial the parties and the judge. might take a look at what is in the. running transcript. And he said the. problem with being short is that the. judges are obscured by the modern. technology. So you know he's he's a a. charming person. He's a tough judge and. he's been known as someone who can hold.

the government's feet to the fire. >> Last question here, Adam. What is what. is the environment like there? I mean, this is a historic moment that you're. right in the middle of where the US has. has basically uh extradited a a sitting. president of a foreign country into a a. federal courtroom in New York. And so, what is what is the the the atmosphere. like where you are? >> Well, I mean, the the historic weight of. the moment is apparent. Anyone who. anyone who's been in the court and. surrounding the court, uh Mr. Maduro.

began his speech today by saying, "I am. a kidnapped president." There was a. person in the gallery who was so. incensed uh by what Mr. Maduro was. saying that when he said, "I'm the. president of Venezuela," shouted out. Hamas, meaning never in Spanish. That. after the proceeding, when he when Mr. Maduro said again that he is the. president of Venezuela, he shouted out. illegitimate. illegitimate. Yeah. Um we.

right across the street from where I am. It's was a few hours after the. arraignment so it has broken up but. there were two pretty sizable uh. protests. There were uh strong critics. of the Madura regime on the left and. there were people who were very strong. critics of US actions uh to my right and. uh many of them have been staying along. Many of them have been speaking to. reporters. Um, but this is a place where. tensions are high, where the secrets of.

two governments are spilling out in the. federal courthouse and will do so for. months and maybe years to come. Uh, so I. expect that this won't be the last major. uh demonstration outside 500th Street. related to the case of Nicolas Maduro. Well, I should let everybody know right. now that Adam is, you know, bringing us. the action straight from the courtroom. in New York. He's oftentimes all around. the country, wherever these court cases.

are happening. And so, a small step that. we can all take to support his work as. an independent journalist is to. subscribe to his Substack, uh, his. newsletter. I'm going to put All Rise. News right here on the screen and also. in the post description of this video. Again, he is not backed by some major. media conglomerate. He is doing this on. his own. And so this is exactly the kind. of fearless independent journalism that. we should all be supporting. So again, that link is right here on the screen. and also in the post description of this. video. Adam, as always, thanks for the. time today. >> Thank you so much, Brian. Always a. pleasure. [music].