Judge rejects lawyer’s disputed bid to join ex-Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro’s defense team

By MICHAEL R. SISAK and LARRY NEUMEISTER, Associated Press

NEW YORK (AP) — A federal judge on Monday nixed a former high-ranking Justice Department official’s attempt to join the team defending ex-Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro’s defense team, ruling that lawyer Bruce Fein had “no legal basis” to do so.

Judge Alvin K. Hellerstein had initially approved Fein’s application to join Maduro’s drug trafficking case but reversed course after the deposed leader’s actual lawyer, Barry Pollack, objected to his involvement.