International intrigue. An assassination plot. Millions of secret dollars. Code names. Secret meetings.
- Venezuela's shadowy dealings with the first Trump administration were laid bare by Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Tuesday when he testified against his longtime friend, David Rivera.
- The former Miami congressman is on trial in federal court for allegedly acting as an unregistered foreign agent in a $50 million scheme.
Why it matters: Rivera's trial is a behind-the-scenes glimpse into Venezuela's push to manipulate the U.S. into normalizing relations by throwing around big money and promises for government reforms before Nicolas Maduro established himself as an election-rigging dictator in 2017.
- Maduro's run finally came to an end Jan. 3, when U.S. special forces removed him from Caracas in an operation pushed by Rubio a year into the second Trump administration.
Zoom in: Rubio's testimony revolved around his close relationship with Rivera and two meetings in the summer of 2017. Rubio was a U.S. senator then.
- He testified Rivera didn't mention he had struck a $50 million consulting deal with CITGO, the U.S.-based subsidiary of Venezuela's state-owned oil company PDVSA.
- "It would have been of interest to me because I would have known that ... he was representing an entity controlled by the Venezuelan government," Rubio testified.
Rubio challenged Rivera's defense that he didn't have to register as a foreign agent because CITGO is a U.S.-based company.
- The secretary also said he wouldn't have met with Rivera then if he'd known of the CITGO contract.
Yes, but: Rubio also testified that Rivera, like him, is "a vociferous anti-communist voice ... one of the leading voices against the Castro regime" and "a strong anti-Maduro voice."
Friction point: Rubio's testimony cut to key questions in the case:
- Was Rivera working on behalf of Maduro's government (as the government alleges) as it sought to normalize relations?
- Or was Rivera (as he argues) actually working against the interests of Maduro by seeking to have him peacefully leave office.
- Put another way: Was Maduro's regime trying to bribe Rivera to get to Rubio and ultimately Trump, but did Rivera double-cross Maduro?
The intrigue: Rubio and Rivera had a don't-ask-don't-tell relationship when it came to Rivera's business and political dealings, which Rubio hinted at when prosecutors asked him about his friend's consulting business.
- "I was generally aware he was doing something," Rubio said.
- One former aide told Axios that Rubio had told him Rivera was a CIA operative or asset, which helped explain Rivera's two-decade-long history of avoiding state and federal criminal investigations and indictments in other scandals.
- Rivera's chats with his alleged co-conspirator on trial, Esther Nuhfer, show how they spoke in code and referred to Maduro (as "El Guaguero," or the bus driver), money {as "la luz," or the light) and even the senator (as "Miss Clairol," because the company sells hair-coloring and Rubio's name in Spanish means blond).
The backstory: Their shared politics, longtime friendship and Rivera's reputation as a mysterious operator involved in overseas business dealings help explain Rubio's two 2017 meetings with his friend that are at the heart of the case.
On July 9, 2017, Rivera met with Rubio in D.C. to say that Venezuelan TV magnate Raúl Gorrín had persuaded Maduro to step down, and the dictator had memorialized it in a letter that Gorrin wanted to hand-deliver to Rubio, who could give it to President Trump.
- Rubio testified that Gorrín was a "corrupt" insider in a regime that "was plagued with double dealers that were constantly making these claims."
- To try to prove Gorrín's bonafides, Rubio said, Rivera opened a laptop displaying "some bank account and showed me a bunch of money deposited ... a large amount. It was an impressive amount" that Gorrín allegedly was providing to help the opposition in Venezuela.
July 11, 2017: In case Gorrín was telling the truth, Rubio mentioned the situation to Trump and then gave a speech on the Senate floor, intentionally using "key phrases" such as "no vengeance and "no retribution" that Rivera suggested to him. That way, the Maduro regime in Caracas would know the senator was serious about the alleged offer.
- "The theory was there were regime insiders that were prepared to be a part of a peaceful transition to democracy, but were afraid to do so because if the opposition took power, they would prosecute them, they would put them in jail, they would exile and they would kill them," Rubio testified.
July 12, 2017: Rubio met with Rivera, Nuhfer, Gorrín and others at the Mayflower Hotel in D.C., where the senator expected to receive the letter. But Gorrín didn't have it. Rubio said he realized then it was a "waste of time."
- Rubio said he wouldn't meet Gorrín in his Capitol office out of concern that "the guy would implant listening devices" in the office.
- Shortly afterward, Rubio was angered to learn that another Venezuelan leader, Interior Minister Diosdado Cabello Rondon, allegedly had ordered an assassination of the senator.
July 30, 2017: Maduro's regime held a rigged election to replace the country's National Assembly with a pro-Maduro body called the Constituent Assembly, to write a new constitution and keep him in power, according to Human Rights Watch.
July 31, 2017: Rubio gave a Spanish-language address to the people of Venezuela on Gorrín's Globovision network.
- "For Nicolás Maduro, who I am sure is watching, the current path you are on will not end well for you," Rubio said.
- 8½ years later, Rubio made good on his threat by leading the plot to snatch Maduro and haul him to the U.S. to face narco-terrorism charges.
- Maduro, now in a New York lockup, has refused to testify in Rivera's trial, citing his Fifth Amendment rights.
