“Rubio’s Old Friend Gets 10 Years” #breakingnews #geopolitics #worldnews #breaking #politics

Description: David Rivera was sentenced to 10 years in prison for conspiracy to commit money laundering and failing to register as a foreign agent, tied to a secret $50 million lobbying campaign on behalf of Nicolás Maduro’s government. Prosecutors say Rivera was tapped by then-Foreign Minister Delcy Rodriguez, now Venezuela’s acting president since Maduro’s January arrest, to use his Republican connections to push the first Trump administration toward easing its hard line on Venezuela. The contract ran through CITGO, the US subsidiary of Venezuela’s state oil company PDVSA. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Rivera’s former Tallahassee housemate, was compelled to testify after prosecutors learned the defense planned to call him first, a potential embarrassment Axios says Rubio’s team worked to avoid. Code names were used in communications, Rubio was allegedly referred to as “Miss Clairol.” Rubio wasn’t accused of any wrongdoing. The judge rejected Rivera’s bid for a lighter sentence, calling it “a classic money laundering case.” Rivera’s lawyers plan to appeal and have applied for a presidential pardon; he faces a related federal case in Washington, DC.

My take: “Having to testify against a decades-long friend and former roommate, in a case directly connected to the now-acting president of Venezuela, is a genuinely unusual position for a sitting Secretary of State to be in, even without any accusation against him personally.”

CTA: “Does the pardon application actually go anywhere, or does this sentence stand?”
#breakingnews #geopolitics #worldnews #Rubio #Venezuela #News #Breaking #Shorts Close description