Secretary of State Marco Rubio testifies at trial of former Florida congressman

By Rafael Romo, Devon M. Sayers, CNN

Miami (CNN) — The United States is at war with Iran. Hostilities between Russia and Ukraine are in their fourth year. And the Trump administration is trying to manage Venezuela after capturing its former leader in January. But Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s presence was required in Miami Tuesday as a star witness in the trial of David Rivera, a close friend, political ally and former congressman.

Prosecutors say that between 2017 and 2018, Rivera and Esther Nuhfer, Rivera’s former business partner, lobbied US officials including Rubio with the goal of reestablishing diplomatic relations between the United States and Venezuela on behalf of former President Nicolás Maduro’s government.

Relations between the two countries at the time were antagonistic as President Donald Trump, serving his first term in office, had imposed a series of sanctions against Maduro’s socialist regime.

According to the indictment, both Rivera, 60, and Nuhfer, 51, acted as foreign agents without registering with the Department of Justice, a violation of the Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA), and to launder funds to conceal and promote his criminal conduct.

Rubio is not named in the indictment and has not been accused of wrongdoing.

On Tuesday, Rubio testified that he met Rivera in the early 1990s and described his relationship as “close friends.” He also acknowledged that they bought a house together in 2005 so that “we had a place to live together when we were in Tallahassee.” Both Rubio and Rivera served together in the Florida legislature in the 2000s.

Leon County records show Rivera and Rubio bought a house in Tallahassee in 2005 for $135,000. They sold the property 10 years later for $117,000.

But later Rubio said he did not know what Rivera did for a living after his 2011-13 term in Congress, that he was involved in lobbying, or had any knowledge that he had created a company for that purpose. Rubio testified he was “generally aware he was doing something” but was “not aware in 2017 that he was a lobbyist.”

That’s a pivotal year in the case against Rivera and Nuhfer because the Justice Department claims Rivera requested an “urgent” meeting with Rubio in July 2017 to discuss a plan by which Maduro would relinquish power and allow for a peaceful transition to democracy in exchange for easing US sanctions against his country.

The plan was shared by Rivera when he and Rubio met at the then-senator’s Washington, DC, home where the lobbyist told Rubio that part of the plan consisted of Rubio delivering a letter from Maduro to Trump to announce he would relinquish power.

Rivera subsequently arranged a meeting with Rubio at a Washington hotel also attended by Raúl Gorrín, then-owner of Venezuelan TV network Globovision, Nhufer, and Venezuelan opposition leader Henry Ramos Allup who joined by videoconference from New York.

During testimony, Rubio described the meeting as “a waste of my time,” saying both Gorrín and Ramos Allup only spoke told about the dire economic conditions in Venezuela, something he was very well aware of, given that at the time he served as chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Subcommittee on Western Hemisphere. Rubio testified that Rivera encouraged him to give a speech on the Senate floor and another one in Spanish on Gorrín’s TV network.

On Tuesday, Rubio said that he made the White House aware of the plot involving Maduro’s stepping down from power and discussed the issue with Trump who was then serving his first term.

Rubio also recalled he was informed in 2017 by US intelligence agencies that he was the intended target of an assassination plot allegedly masterminded by Diosdado Cabello, the current Venezuelan minister of interior, justice, and peace.

The defense for both Rivera and Nuhfer focused on painting both of their clients as anti-communists who frequently spoke against the Venezuelan and Cuban regimes. During testimony, Rubio described Rivera as “a vociferous anti-communist voice … a strong anti-Maduro voice.” Asked whether he would describe Nhufer as a greedy person, Rubio responded “I wouldn’t call her that.”

The trial also had unusual and even funny moments including Judge Melissa Damian commenting twice that Rubio looked “great” in a photo admitted as an exhibit. Prosecutors asked if he was employed. “I have two jobs, secretary of State and the president’s national security adviser,” Rubio said.

Towards the end of the nearly four-hour testimony, Rubio autographed a copy of his 2012 book “An American Son” for defense attorney Edward Shohat, who had Rubio read the acknowledgments that included both defendants.

Federal prosecutors allege the co-defendants and two others they were dealing with to advance their lobbying efforts “frequently attempted to hide the subject matter of their discussions by using code words to refer to certain individuals and other items.” In emails and encoded text messages, the indictment alleges, they referred to Maduro as “El Guaguero” (the bus driver), a US congressman as “the hat,” money as “La Luz” (the light), and millions of dollars as “melones” (melons).

The maximum sentence for the conspiracy charge is five years; the maximum sentence for failure to register as a foreign agent is five years; and the maximum sentence for the money laundering count is 20 years. The maximum sentence for the five charges of engaging in transactions using the proceeds of criminal activity is 10 years each.

In addition to Rubio, other high profile political figures and former government officials are also listed to testify, including Texas Rep. Pete Sessions, former White House adviser to Trump Kellyanne Conway, and former US Assistant Secretary of State for Western Hemisphere Affairs Otto Reich. The trial began Monday in Miami.

The trial is expected to last as long as four weeks.

CNN’s Jennifer Hansler contributed to this report.

This story has been updated following Rubio’s testimony.

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