George Washington University law professor Jonathan Turley said Monday that former Venezuelan dictator Nicolas Maduro would find reading his indictment more frightening than being arrested.
Maduro pleaded not guilty during his arraignment on drug trafficking and firearms charges that were presided over by United States District Judge Alvin Hellerstein of the Southern District of New York, a Clinton appointee, on Monday. Turley said on “The Faulkner Focus” that federal prosecutors had “a lot” of evidence against the deposed dictator.
WATCH:
🚨THE HORROR! @JonathanTurley explains to @FaulknerFocus host @HARRISFAULKNER why Nocilas Maduro will be more terrified reading the indictment than he was during his arrest. @DailyCaller 🚨 pic.twitter.com/MqAdMOd7ds
— Harold Hutchison (@HaroldHutchison) January 5, 2026
“A criminal enterprise like this is not based on some type of aspirational common goals. This is a pure cash and carry operation,” Turley told Fox News host Harris Faulkner. “If Maduro thought the operation was scary, wait until he reads the superseding indictment. It is really scary if you are on the defense side. They have got a lot, including potentially high-ranking cooperating witnesses.”
“You know that criminal organization’s symbol of the sun was not accidental. That was also the symbol of Venezuela,” Turley continued. “It was clear they wanted to convey a certain degree of state support. And they effectively created, ironically enough for a socialist country, a type of monopoly in Venezuela. This was the government cartel, and they really were the only dog on the block.”
Hellerstein cut Maduro off when the former dictator and alleged drug lord tried to claim he was still the president of Venezuela.
“I am the president of Venezuela. I was captured at my home in Caracas, Venezuela,” Maduro claimed during the hearing. Maduro also requested a chance to read the indictment for himself during the hearing, Inner City Press reported.
Maduro was arrested by federal law enforcement officers protected by the United States military, including the United States Army’s elite special operations unit known as Delta Force, President Donald Trump announced in a Saturday post on Truth Social. Most congressional Democrats claimed the operation was an illegal use of military force, while prominent leftists, including podcasters Keith Olbermann and Dean Obeidallah, took to the social media site BlueSky to demand Trump’s impeachment.
Attorney General Pam Bondi announced the superseding indictment on X, posting a link to the 25-page document, which described, among other actions, the shipment of five and a half tons of cocaine on a DC-9 jet flown from a hangar reserved for the use of the president of Venezuela’s jet.
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