92 year-old judge overseeing the Maduro case has previously disputed Trump claims of Venezuelan gang associations
...from April:
"People are being thrown out of the country because of their tattoos."
"The law is clear: If you are kicking out a person, you give them an opportunity to defend themselves," the judge said. "You can't kick someone out by guilt by association."
The judge also cast doubt on the legitimacy of Trump's proclamation invoking the use of the Alien Enemies Act, writing that the plaintiffs were likely to prove that the proclamation violates Immigration and Nationality Act and humanitarian protections.
https://abcnews.go.com/US/hearing-set-new-york-judges-order-blocking-deportations/story?id=121051676
U.S. District Judge Alvin Hellerstein has handled numerous weighty cases in his nearly three decades on the bench, including matters involving Trump, the 9/11 attacks and Sudanese genocide.
Hellerstein, a Clinton appointment, has been presiding over cases involving some of Maduro’s co-defendants. He denied Trump's bid to move his hush money case from New York state court to a federal venue, among other high-profile cases.
https://www.nbcnewyork.com/new-york-city/maduro-court-appearance-judge-alvin-hellerstein/6439171/
= new reply since forum marked as read
...I was just saying that to my wife.
Shouldn't have 92 year old judges, imo, but here we are.
He'll do fine. 
Last edited Tue Jan 6, 2026, 05:20 PM - Edit history (4)
...who do we call to make this happen with our own president and first lady in crime? 
Or is staging a coup in another country just the exclusive privilege of this supposedly democratic and ostensibly democracy-supporting nation?
What the fuck business does the U.S. have kidnapping someone we've already recognized as a head of state in two successive administrations including Trump's first?
You'll have to look somewhere else to find someone stupid enough to buy the administration line that this is about some drug charges, accusations which are almost identical to what Trump pardoned the already convicted Honduran leader for just weeks ago.
It should be a caution to anyone cheering on a Trump DOJ prosecution of Venezuelans that he's done nothing but smear the refugees in this country with unsupported charges of drug gang associations, extending that propaganda to Venezuela even though Trump's own intelligence agency denied those direct ties to Maduro; steady killing people boating in international waters off of Venezuela with claims unsupported by any evidence presented at all that they are smuggling drugs, much less pose a security threat to America.
Venezuelans should be in charge of who they prosecute, and there's nothing at all credible about the Trump DOJ that should give anyone any confidence that he can get a fair trial in the U.S. after all of the propaganda from the WH and their minions.
Moreover, the remarks from the president indicate that this is nothing more than a theft of Venezuela's oil, the administration excuses alternating between the indictment and their demands that the Venezuelan government kowtow to them.
Certainly the anti-democratic coup led by Trump against the Venezuelan government should be considered a threat to Venezuelans, as it's unasked for and actively opposed even by the people there Trump says he's recognizing in power..
Do you have any concern for democracy or the rule of law, or is all of that to be superfluous to this effort to prosecute Maduro?
And yes, although the Biden administration did not originally place a bounty on Nicolas Maduro, it did increase an existing reward that had been established years earlier.
On March 8, 2015, then-President Barack Obama signed Executive Order 13692, declaring a national emergency over the threat posed by Venezuela’s government to US national security. Maduro had been in office for two years at that point.
Obama’s order targeted Venezuelan officials accused of anti-democratic actions, human rights violations, suppression of freedom of expression, and public corruption. Those sanctioned were barred from entering the United States.
On March 26, 2020, the Trump administration announced indictments against Nicolas Maduro, accusing him of narco-terrorism, corruption, and drug trafficking.
On January 10, 2025, the United States Department of the Treasury modified Barack Obama’s executive order to sanction eight Venezuelan government officials.
Then, in August of last year, the Trump administration’s Departments of State and Justice announced they were increasing the reward for information leading to Maduro’s arrest or conviction to $50 million.
https://news.meaww.com/fact-check-did-joe-biden-place-a-25-m-reward-on-nicolas-maduro-during-his-tenure
...maybe you can tell me where the Obama or the Biden admin called for the US military extradition of Maduro, and tell us how much confidence you have in this Trump DOJ's charges that they are are valid and true, seeing how this ultra politicized and corrupt DOJ are the only administration's to level them.
Also, how the fuck does the Trump administration have any credibility complaining about the following as they openly work to destabilize the Venezuelan government?
...some of the reasons for the bounty included in the Obama order:
... erosion of human rights guarantees, persecution of political opponents, curtailment of press freedoms, use of violence and human rights violations and abuses in response to antigovernment protests, and arbitrary arrest and detention of antigovernment protesters, as well as the exacerbating presence of significant government corruption.
Ffs, we need to cure our own corrupt government before pretending to care about the corruption and threat of others.
I'm surprised he's not shopping around for a Heritage approved judge. 