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Secretary of State Marco Rubio is testifying Tuesday in the trial of former Miami congressman and roommate David Rivera, who is accused of trying to lobby members of Congress and the White House on behalf of former Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro.
Rubio, testifying in a packed federal courtroom in Miami with heightened security, said he and Rivera became “very close” when both overlapped for six years as members of the Florida Legislature in the early 2000s. Rivera, a Republican, was arrested in December 2022 on charges of money laundering and representing a foreign government without registering.
In July 2017, Rubio said he got a call from Rivera saying he needed to see him urgently to discuss Venezuela. The next morning, Rivera traveled to Washington and, at a meeting at his home, said he was working with Raul Gorrin, a media magnate in Venezuela who was Rivera’s main conduit to the Maduro government, on a plan to persuade Maduro to step aside.
“I was skeptical,” said Rubio during his testimony, according to The Associated Press, adding that the Maduro government was full of “double dealers” who were constantly pitching plans to betray Maduro.
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U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio looks on during a meeting with oil and gas executives in the East Room of the White House on Jan. 9, 2026. (Alex Wong/Getty Images)
“But if there was a 1% chance it was real, and I had a role to play alerting the White House, I was open to doing that,” he added.
Within days, borrowing talking points provided by Rivera, Rubio wrote and delivered a speech on the Senate floor signaling the U.S. would not retaliate against Venezuelan government insiders who worked to push Maduro from power, the AP reported.
“He provided me with insight into some of the key phrases that regime insiders would’ve wanted to hear to know this was serious,” Rubio testified. “No vengeance, no retribution.”
In the indictment against Rivera, there’s no indication that Rubio acted improperly as a senator at the time.
The allegations come in connection to a $50 million consulting contract Rivera signed with Venezuela’s socialist government.
The indictment alleges Rivera, at the start of the Trump administration, was part of a conspiracy to lobby on behalf of Venezuela to lower tensions with the U.S., resolve a legal dispute with a U.S. oil company and end U.S. sanctions against the South American nation — all without registering as a foreign agent.
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Former Florida congressman David Rivera addresses members of the press outside the James Lawrence King Federal Justice building in Miami, Florida, on March 24, 2026. (Joe Raedle / Getty Images)
As part of his work, Rivera and his co-defendant are accused of trying to arrange meetings for then-Foreign Minister Delcy Rodríguez — now Venezuela’s acting president — in Dallas, New York, Washington and Caracas, Venezuela, with White House officials, members of Congress and the chief executive officer of Exxon Mobil.
To cloak their activities, prosecutors said, the co-defendants and others set up a chat group called MIA — for Miami — in which they used Spanish-language code words like “Little Cuban” for Rubio, “The Lady in Red” for Rodríguez and “melons” for millions of dollars.
“This case is about two things: greed and betrayal,” prosecutor Roger Cruz said in his opening statement Monday. “The evidence will show that for $50 million these two defendants made a pact to secretly lobby for Nicolás Maduro,” as well as for Rodríguez.
Rivera, 60, counters that his one-man firm, Interamerican Consulting, was hired by an American subsidiary of Venezuela’s state-owned oil company — not the company itself — and therefore did not need to register as a foreign agent.
His three-month contract, his attorney says, was focused exclusively on luring Exxon back to Venezuela — commercial work that is generally exempt from the Foreign Agents Registration Act.
Security teams conduct thorough vehicle inspections outside the James Lawrence King Federal Justice Building in Miami, Florida, on March 24, 2026. (Joe Raedle/Getty Images)
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Separate and wholly distinct from that consulting work were his efforts with the Venezuelan opposition to pave the way for Maduro’s exit, Rivera’s defense said.
‘ Gillian Turner, Digital’s Danielle Wallace and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
