Secretary of State Marco Rubio is set to testify Tuesday in the criminal trial of former Rep. David Rivera, R-Fla., his friend and onetime housemate, who is accused of secretly lobbying for the Venezuelan government.
Rivera, who served in Congress from 2011 to 2013 before becoming a lobbyist, and his associate Esther Nuhfer were indicted in 2022 on charges of working as unregistered foreign agents for Venezuela and money laundering.
Federal prosecutors allege that Rivera was lobbying the first Trump administration on behalf of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, with Rubio being a target in his efforts to reach the White House.
Rivera has pleaded not guilty. Rubio is not accused of wrongdoing. He was called by federal prosecutors to take the stand as a witness, making it the first time in more than 40 years that a sitting Cabinet member will testify in a criminal trial.
The two men are longtime friends. They lived in a house in Tallahassee that they bought together when they both served in the Florida state legislature in the 2000s, and The Washington Post described Rivera as instrumental in the now-secretary of state’s political ascent to the Capitol. “He’s someone I’ve known for a very long time,” Rubio said in an interview in 2022. “We’ve worked closely, but not on this. And there’s not a single person claiming otherwise.” This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
Clarissa-Jan Lim is a breaking news reporter for MS NOW. She was previously a senior reporter and editor at BuzzFeed News. Recommended
