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

By Rafael Romo, Devon M. Sayers, CNN

Miami (CNN) — US Secretary of State Marco Rubio is testifying Tuesday in the trial of former Florida congressman David Rivera, a close friend and political ally who faces money laundering charges, as the US war with Iran continues.

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. The State Department has not responded to requests for comments about Rubio’s testimony.

His court appearance takes Rubio temporarily away from Washington at a time when foreign policy fires are burning around the world. The Trump administration is grappling with the Iran war and its repercussions on global markets – something that is expected to loom large when Rubio travels to a meeting of the G7 foreign ministers in France later this week.

Rubio is rarely far from the president, spending the majority of his time at the White House rather than the State Department and eschewing long foreign trips in favor of extended day trips or dispatching a deputy in his stead.

He is heavily involved in administration efforts to pressure Cuba into a deal with the US. There is ongoing work in Venezuela with the interim government, led by former Maduro acolyte Delcy Rodríguez, to see continued adherence with US demands.

And the war in Ukraine continues to drag on, as US-led mediation efforts have failed to produce an agreement to end the fighting.

Once jurors entered, Rubio took the stand and was sworn in. He was then asked to give his name, answering, “Marco Rubio.” Prosecutors then asked him if he was employed.

“I have two jobs, secretary of State and the president’s national security adviser,” Rubio said.

Ahead of Rubio being called to the stand, defense attorneys and prosecutors debated the use of personal photos taken of Rubio and Rivera. The defense wanted to enter seven photos of the men in both a political and personal capacity into evidence. But prosecutors had issues with some as they showed small children.

Judge Melissa Damian, a President Joe Biden appointee, while reviewing the photos said, “Secretary Rubio looks great, he may want one of these.” Ultimately, they agreed not to show photos of the children.

Attorneys for Rivera and Nuhfer declined to comment on the charges, as did the government of Venezuela.

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.

Rivera served as a GOP member of Congress between 2011 and 2013, later becoming a lobbyist.

In an interview with CNN-affiliate WFOR in 2022, Rubio acknowledged his close friendship with Rivera.

“The guy and I were roommates in Tallahassee over a decade-and-a-half ago … he’s someone I’ve known for a very long time. We’ve worked closely; but not on this,” Rubio said. “In the end, it’s nothing to do with me … The truth of the matter is that it has nothing to do with me, but people like to ask it because they think it would be interesting if there was something there … nothing to do with me.”

According to the indictment, Rivera was paid millions of dollars for his work by PDV USA, a US subsidiary of Venezuela’s state-run oil company, to lobby American politicians for improved relations between the two nations and prevent “the United States from imposing additional economic sanctions” against Venezuela’s president and “other members of his regime.”

US officials said Rivera signed a $50 million contract with PDV USA in 2017. Rivera’s attorney and the government of Venezuela declined CNN’s request for comment on the charges. An attorney for Nuhfer also declined to comment on the charges.

“The final contract signed by David Rivera provided for five installments payments of $5,000,000 each and a final payment of $25,000,000, for a total of $50,000,000, over the course of three months,” according to the indictment, alleging that both Rivera and Nuhfer prepared invoices on their firm’s letterhead for payment which they sent to PDVSA executives in Caracas, the Venezuelan capital. PDVSA is the Venezuelan government’s oil company.

According to the indictment, Rivera met in 2017 with a US senator at a private residence in Washington, DC, to let the lawmaker know that a foreign individual had persuaded Maduro to accept a deal by which Venezuela would “hold free and fair elections” in exchange for “reconciliation with the United States.” A second meeting was held at a hotel in Washington with an unidentified Venezuelan politician joining by telephone.

Rubio’s office confirmed to CNN in 2022 that the Florida Republican met with Rivera in 2017, and then subsequently met with a close associate of Maduro.

“Senator Rubio communicated directly what he has said publicly for over five years,” a spokesman for Rubio said at the time, “that the only way sanctions should be lifted is if the regime agrees to free and fair elections. If, as is alleged, this was an effort to soften his stance on sanctions, it failed miserably.”

The spokesperson also pointed to the fact that the indictment noted that the group never said to Rubio that they were lobbying on behalf of Venezuela.

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 President Maduro as “El Guaguero” (the bus driver), a U.S. congressman as “the hat,” money as “La Luz” (the light), and millions of dollars as “melones” (melons).

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.

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.

CNN’s Jennifer Hansler contributed to this report.

This story has been updated with additional details.

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