Nicolas Maduro's lawyer weirded out as Reagan-era attorney he 'did not authorize' shows up to represent client

Source: Law & Crime

Jan 9th, 2026, 1:05 pm


Just days into the Trump administration's narco-terrorism case against captured and deposed Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro, two high-profile additions have been made to his legal team. Oddly, one of those lawyers, who famously represented WikiLeaks' Julian Assange, is now saying the other has no business being involved at all.

It all started on Tuesday, when Bruce Fein, once the associate deputy attorney general and FCC general counsel during the Ronald Reagan administration, filed a motion to be added to the case pro hac vice, meaning for this occasion only. Such an application, for permission to practice in a jurisdiction where one is not licensed, is generally a yawner, provided that the attorney is in "good standing." Federal judges routinely grant pro hac vice admissions, and that's what Senior Judge Alvin Hellerstein did the next day for Fein, writing, "It is hereby ordered that Applicant is admitted to practice pro hac vice in the above-captioned case in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York."

Then came the headlines — "Maduro hires Reagan-era DOJ attorney in narco-terrorism case," "Venezuela's Maduro Adds Ex-Reagan Era DOJ Lawyer to Legal Team" — and then came the posts on X about the addition of a "constitutional law mastermind." Fein was also quoted at length in Turkish media, which described him as "Maduro's lawyer," on the U.S. raid in Venezuela to capture and arrest Maduro. "If you allow courts to benefit from an unlawful kidnapping, you are granting states a license to commit crimes and then claim that the end justifies the means," he reportedly said. "At that point, no one will be safe."

But there was just one problem, according to Maduro attorney Barry Pollack, a prominent criminal defense lawyer who reached the plea deal that brought Assange's long-running Espionage Act case to an end. Fein was not "authorized" to "hold himself out as" Maduro's lawyer but did so anyway, Pollack told the judge Thursday in a motion to strike Fein's appearance from the record.

Read more: https://lawandcrime.com/high-profile/its-a-mess-nicolas-maduros-lawyer-weirded-out-as-reagan-era-attorney-he-did-not-authorize-shows-up-to-represent-client/