AYESHA RASCOE, HOST:
The president of Venezuela and his wife could appear in an American courtroom this week to answer criminal charges brought by the U.S. Justice Department. The U.S. military captured and extracted them from the capital city of Caracas in the middle of the night. NPR justice correspondent Carrie Johnson has been following the story, and she's here with us now to talk more about it. Welcome.
CARRIE JOHNSON, BYLINE: Thank you.
RASCOE: So, Carrie, what do we know about the criminal charges against Maduro and his family?
JOHNSON: A grand jury in Manhattan first indicted Maduro in 2020 on drug charges, but new prosecutors there added charges and defendants to that older case. Maduro now faces allegations of narcoterrorism, conspiracy to import tons of cocaine and possession of machine guns and other destructive devices. The unsealed indictment described him as misusing government power to promote illegal activity, basically lining his pockets while protecting the violent drug cartels. U.S. authorities also charged Maduro's wife, Cilia Flores, and his adult son. U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi said in a social media post that they will soon face the full wrath of American justice on American soil in American courts. That could happen this week. And here's how President Trump described the allegations at a news conference.
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PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: The illegitimate dictator Maduro was the kingpin of a vast criminal network responsible for trafficking colossal amounts of deadly and illicit drugs into the United States.
RASCOE: So those are the allegations. But what's the legal basis for this extraordinary operation by the U.S. government against a foreign leader who was forcibly removed from his own country?
JOHNSON: Really a stunning turn of events. And the administration has not so far released any white paper or detailed explanation of its legal rationale, but there are some clues. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Maduro was not the legitimate president of Venezuela. He was referring to questionable elections there that the American government and others have refused to recognize as fair and free from corruption. Rubio also said flooding the U.S. with drugs and detaining Americans in Venezuela posed a direct threat to the United States. Here's more from Marco Rubio.
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MARCO RUBIO: He is a fugitive of American justice with a $50 million reward, which - I guess we save $50 million.
JOHNSON: The U.S. government seems to be relying on a Justice Department legal memo from 1989 during the George H.W. Bush administration. That memo paved the way for American law enforcement to make arrests in other countries, even if those actions might violate international law. And that memo was issued before the U.S. captured Panamanian leader Manuel Noriega and sent him to the U.S. to face charges. Noriega was caught 36 years ago, also on January 3. Noriega fought back against the U.S. charges and mostly lost, but that legal fight took many years.
And then, just yesterday, Senator Mike Lee from Utah posted online, he spoke with the U.S. Secretary of State, and Rubio suggested military forces in Venezuela were playing a role to protect the U.S. law enforcement agents serving the arrest warrant against Maduro. So that's another possible legal rationale the Trump administration may be using here.
RASCOE: The Trump administration is talking tough about drug trafficking in Venezuela. But the president recently pardoned another foreign official for similar crimes, right?
JOHNSON: Just a month ago, President Trump pardoned Juan Orlando Hernandez, the former leader of Honduras. A jury in New York had found him guilty of misusing his role to help drug traffickers import more than 400 tons of cocaine into the U.S. Prosecutors in New York say he used drug money to fund his campaign and that he used his power to protect drug lords. Hernandez had been serving a prison sentence of 45 years, but Trump friend and ally Roger Stone had advocated for his pardon. And Virginia Senator Mark Warner, a Democrat, said in a statement yesterday that this new arrest of Maduro in Venezuela is a glaring hypocrisy. Here's how President Trump responded to that yesterday.
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TRUMP: The man that I pardoned was - if you could equate it to us, he was treated like the Biden administration treated a man named Trump. That didn't work out too well for them. This was a man who was persecuted very unfairly.
RASCOE: So, Carrie, what's next?
JOHNSON: Military operators put Maduro and his wife on the USS Iwo Jima. Trump posted a photo of Maduro apparently on that ship wearing what looks like a gray sweatsuit. They've since arrived in New York, where they could make an initial appearance in court this coming week. The federal courts in New York have handled a lot of high-profile cases, including ones that involve major drug crimes.
Now, Democrats in Congress say they want answers about why the administration did this without congressional approval. But Republicans control the White House and both chambers of Congress. They don't have much appetite for oversight. And American courts typically do not weigh in on these kinds of national security matters.
RASCOE: That's NPR's Carrie Johnson. Thanks, Carrie.
JOHNSON: My pleasure.
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