Rubio testifying in trial of ex-Rep. accused of illegal lobbying for Venezuela
Former Rep. David Rivera of Florida is accused of secretly lobbying for the Venezuelan government during the first Trump administration.
Updated on: March 24, 2026 / 12:38 PM EDT / CBS News
Federal prosecutors allege that Rivera worked alongside his codefendant, Esther Nuhfer, to influence the first Trump administration on behalf of then-Venezuelan dictator Nicolas Maduro and then-Foreign Minister Delcy Rodriguez with the goal of lowering political tensions and easing sanctions between the South American country and the U.S. Rodriguez is now the interim president, after the U.S. removed Maduro from power in January and brought him to the U.S. for prosecution on charges including narco-terrorism conspiracy.
In 2022, Rivera and Nuhfer were indicted by a grand jury in the Southern District of Florida on money laundering charges and for failing to register as a foreign agent. Prosecutors allege that the pair were hired in a $50 million contract in exchange for three months of lobbying work in 2017 on behalf of a U.S.-based subsidiary of a Venezuela state oil company, PDVSA, which operates under the name CITGO.
In the indictment, Rivera and Nuhfer are accused of attempting to lobby Rubio, then a Republican senator from Miami, and former White House advisor Kellyanne Conway on behalf of people in the highest ranks of the Venezuelan government. The attempts to meet Conway were unsuccessful, prosecutors said, but added that the pair did arrange two meetings with Rubio, who is a longtime friend of Rivera's and had been an outspoken critic of the Maduro regime.
Rubio, who is currently heavily involved in the Trump administration's diplomatic efforts regarding the war in Iran, is set to be the first sitting member of the president's Cabinet to take the stand in a criminal trial since 1983. Rubio isn't charged with a crime in the case and has not been accused of doing anything illegal in his interactions with Rivera.