Assange's lawyer Barry Pollack to fight Maduro's US narcotics charges

[BumRushDaShow]

Source: Reuters

January 5, 2026 2:26 PM EST Updated 2 hours ago


WASHINGTON, Jan 5 (Reuters) - Barry Pollack — the Washington lawyer who represented WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange — will defend toppled Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro in a U.S. drug case that could test immunity claims for foreign leaders and the legality of his capture.

Pollack appeared with Maduro on Monday as he pleaded not guilty in Manhattan federal court days after Maduro and his wife were seized in a U.S. military raid. Defending Assange gave Pollack a taste of cases steeped in global intrigue and with consequences for America’s standing in the world. The case tested whether U.S. law could criminalize the publishing of sensitive information.

POLLACK NEGOTIATED ASSANGE RELEASE DEAL

Assange faced U.S. Espionage Act charges for WikiLeaks’ mass release of secret U.S. documents, including diplomatic cables and accounts of military actions in Iraq and Afghanistan.

After months of negotiations, he pleaded guilty to a single count of conspiring to obtain and disclose classified defense information. The unusual 2024 deal Pollack struck let Assange walk out of a British prison, enter his plea in the U.S. territory of the Northern Mariana Islands before returning to his native Australia.

Read more: https://www.reuters.com/legal/government/assanges-lawyer-barry-pollack-fight-maduros-us-narcotics-charges-2026-01-05/

[Turbineguy]

1. And in the other corner....

[paleotn]

2. ........

A cut rate real estate attorney?

[EarthFirst]

3. I'm betting that sudden motorcade detour to the strip mall wasn't about marble samples after all...

[no_hypocrisy]

4. I would have opted for Ron Kuby, protegee of William Kunstler

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ron_Kuby

The Law Office of Ronald L. Kuby is devoted to opposing the federal and state government as they come up with creative new ways to disproportionately punish people living outside of the law because of their political beliefs, race, class, gender, immigration status, creative impulses, and perceived deviance.

We do criminal defense for people with open criminal cases. We represent protestors charged for actions taken in resistance. We also do appeals, and post-conviction work (particularly if you are an immigrant facing deportation for an old conviction, or an innocent person who was convicted on the basis of judicial, prosecutorial and/or police misconduct). People often ask whether we are civil rights lawyers—we are, for criminal defendants whose civil rights have been violated. We do not bring law suits.

https://www.kubylaw.com/

[marble falls]

5. Maduro doesn't stand a chance. ...

... Somehow I don't see TACO allowing Maduro to plead at Gitmo as he returns to Venezuela.

Let alone Assange spent about ten years locked up in some way, including his embassy stay.

[azureblue]

6. the problem is

trump has no proof for the charges. and no doubt the DOJ will lie in court, and Pollack has dealt with that in court before..
Then there is teh issue of violations of international law, and if Pollack can manage to get that into the trial, Trump be holding the hot potato..

[LetMyPeopleVote]

7. Deadline Legal Blog-Why the Maduro case will have us talking about presidential immunity again

Expect the Venezuelan leader to raise an immunity defense to his criminal charges. Don’t expect the Trump treatment.

Why the Maduro case will have us talking about presidential immunity again

https://www.vitaminrush.com/284463/why-the-maduro-case-will-have-us-talking-about-presidential-immunity-again/

Immunity is likely to be among the defenses that Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro will raise in a bid to …

— (@vitaminrush.bsky.social) 2026-01-07T06:00:17+00:00

https://www.ms.now/deadline-white-house/deadline-legal-blog/nicolas-maduro-court-new-york-presidential-immunity

Immunity is likely to be among the defenses that Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro will raise in a bid to dismiss his federal indictment in New York. Specifically, he may argue that he is entitled to “head of state” immunity as the leader of Venezuela. Courts have recognized such sovereign protection since long before the Supreme Court granted broad criminal immunity to former U.S. presidents in Trump v. United States.

But Maduro won’t necessarily benefit from that long-recognized form of immunity. The Department of Justice would likely argue that he’s an illegitimate leader and therefore isn’t entitled to such immunity. The indictment refers to Maduro as having “previously” been the Venezuelan president and by “having remained in power despite losses in recent elections” became “the de facto but illegitimate ruler of the country.”

The foreign immunity issue surfaced decades ago in the prosecution of Panama’s Manuel Noriega, whose case may be the most similar to Maduro’s. Ruling against Noriega on appeal after his conviction, a federal appeals court panel noted that the Florida federal trial judge presiding over Noriega’s case rejected his head-of-state immunity claim because the U.S. never recognized him as Panama’s legitimate ruler.

“Noriega has cited no authority that would empower a court to grant head-of-state immunity under these circumstances,” the 11th Circuit appellate panel wrote in its 1997 ruling.

Yet there’s at least one factor that could distinguish the Noriega case in Maduro’s favor. The circuit panel further noted that Noriega “never served as the constitutional leader of Panama,” while the U.S. seems to concede that Maduro was at least at one point Venezuela’s legitimate leader. That alone might not be enough for Maduro to win immunity, but his legitimacy — and who legally gets to decide that legitimacy — may play a key role in this litigation.

Maduro’s case is proceeding in New York, which falls under a different federal circuit, the 2nd, so the 11th Circuit ruling in Noriega’s case isn’t binding in New York. But New York courts can still cite it to inform their rulings in Maduro’s case.

Ultimately, the Supreme Court that granted Trump broad immunity may decide this or other aspects of Maduro’s prosecution, or both.