NEW YORK (AP) — Rapper Tekashi 6ix9ine admitted Wednesday that he violated the conditions of his supervised release from prison by possessing drugs, marking his latest run-in with the law since he completed a federal prison sentence on racketeering and conspiracy charges.
The 29-year-old performer, whose real name is Daniel Hernandez, told a Manhattan federal judge that his home in Miami was raided on March 12 and that “residual” cocaine and MDMA — the party drug known as Molly or ecstasy — were found in his bedroom cabinet.
In exchange for the admission, prosecutors agreed to drop two other counts he faced stemming from the incident.
The Brooklyn rapper, who shot to fame with the 2017 release of his song “Gummo,” will be sentenced Sept. 25.
He doesn’t face any state charges related to the raid, but U.S. District Judge Paul Engelmayer warned him that the “consequences will be severe” if he violates any of the conditions of his release before he is sentenced.
Federal sentencing guidelines call for between three and nine months in prison for each count, but Hernandez could face up to five years in prison and a lifetime of supervised release, the judge added.
The rapper, who was dressed in a black hoodie and who wasn't sporting his trademark colorful hairstyle, declined to comment as he left the courthouse.
Hernandez pleaded guilty in 2018 to his involvement with a violent New York-based gang, the Nine Trey Gangsta Bloods.
He was handed a lenient sentence of two years in prison in 2019 followed by five years of supervised release for his cooperation in the prosecution of other gang members.
He was even released from federal prison several months early during the height of COVID-19 pandemic.
But last November, Hernandez was found in violation of his probation for failing to show up for drug tests, traveling to Las Vegas from his Florida home without permission and lying to his probation officer.
At the time, Engelmayer sentenced him to another 45 days in federal custody, saying the infractions showed a lack of respect for the law.
This story was updated to correct that Hernandez admitted that he violated the terms of his prison release, not that he pleaded guilty to doing so.
FILE - Rapper Daniel Hernandez, known as Tekashi 6ix9ine, is escorted by police at the Palace of Justice, in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, Jan. 20, 2024. (AP Photo/Ricardo Hernández, file)
FILE - Rapper Daniel Hernandez, known as Tekashi 6ix9ine, is escorted by police as he arrives for a court hearing at the Palace of Justice, in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, on Jan. 25, 2024. (AP Photo/Ricardo Hernandez, File)
WASHINGTON (AP) — Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado was at the White House on Thursday discussing her country's future with President Donald Trump even though he has dismissed her credibility to take over after an audacious U.S. military raid captured then-President Nicolás Maduro.
Trump has raised doubts about his stated commitment to backing democratic rule in Venezuela and signaled his willingness to work with acting President Delcy Rodríguez, who was Maduro’s No. 2. Along with others in the deposed leader’s inner circle, Rodríguez remains in charge of day-to-day government operations and was set to deliver her first state of the union speech Thursday.
In endorsing Rodríguez so far, Trump has sidelined Machado, who has long been a face of resistance in Venezuela. She also had sought to cultivate relationships with Trump and key administration voices like Secretary of State Marco Rubio among the American right wing in a gamble to ally herself with the U.S. government.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said Trump had been looking forward to the lunchtime meeting with Machado and called her “a remarkable and brave voice” for the people of Venezuela. But Leavitt also said Trump's opinion of Machado had not changed, calling it "a realistic assessment."
Trump has said it would be difficult for Machado to lead because she “doesn’t have the support within or the respect within the country.” Her party is widely believed to have won 2024 elections rejected by Maduro.
Leavitt went on to say that Trump supported new Venezuelan elections “when the time is right” but did not say when he thought that might be.
Leavitt said Machado sought the face-to-face meeting without setting expectations for what would occur. Machado previously offered to share with Trump the Nobel Peace Prize she won last year, an honor he has coveted.
“I don’t think he needs to hear anything from Ms. Machado," the press secretary said, other than to have a ”frank and positive discussion about what’s taking place in Venezuela.”
After her White House stop, Machado plans to have a meeting at the Senate. Her Washington visit began after U.S. forces in the Caribbean Sea seized another sanctioned oil tanker that the Trump administration says had ties to Venezuela.
It is part of a broader U.S. effort to take control of the South American country’s oil after U.S. forces seized Maduro and his wife at a heavily guarded compound in the Venezuelan capital of Caracas and brought them to New York to stand trial on drug trafficking charges.
Leavitt said Venezuela's interim authorities have been fully cooperating with the Trump administration and that Rodríguez's government said it planned to release more prisoners detained under Maduro. Among those released were five Americans this week.
Rodríguez has adopted a less strident position toward Trump then she did immediately after Maduro's ouster, suggesting that she can make the Republican administration's “America First” policies toward the Western Hemisphere, work for Venezuela — at least for now.
Trump said Wednesday that he had a “great conversation” with Rodríguez, their first since Maduro was ousted.
“We had a call, a long call. We discussed a lot of things,” Trump said during an Oval Office bill signing. “And I think we’re getting along very well with Venezuela.”
Even before indicating the willingness to work with Venezuela's interim government, Trump was quick to snub Machado. Just hours after Maduro's capture, Trump said of Machado that “it would be very tough for her to be the leader.”
Machado has steered a careful course to avoid offending Trump, notably after winning the peace prize. She has since thanked Trump, though her offer to share the honor with him was rejected by the Nobel Institute.
Machado’s whereabouts have been largely unknown since she went into hiding early last year after being briefly detained in Caracas. She briefly reappeared in Oslo, Norway, in December after her daughter received the Nobel Peace Prize on her behalf.
The industrial engineer and daughter of a steel magnate began challenging the ruling party in 2004, when the nongovernmental organization she co-founded, Súmate, promoted a referendum to recall then-President Hugo Chávez. The initiative failed, and Machado and other Súmate executives were charged with conspiracy.
A year later, she drew the anger of Chávez and his allies again for traveling to Washington to meet President George W. Bush. A photo showing her shaking hands with Bush in the Oval Office lives in the collective memory. Chávez considered Bush an adversary.
Almost two decades later, she marshaled millions of Venezuelans to reject Chávez’s successor, Maduro, for another term in the 2024 election. But ruling party-loyal electoral authorities declared him the winner despite ample credible evidence to the contrary. Ensuing anti-government protests ended in a brutal crackdown by state security forces.
Garcia Cano reported from Caracas, Venezuela, and Janetsky from Mexico City. AP Diplomatic Writer Matthew Lee in Washington contributed to this report.
FILE - U.S. President George Bush, right, meets with Maria Corina Machado, executive director of Sumate, a non-governmental organization that defends Venezuelan citizens' political rights, in the Oval Office of the White House, Washington, May 31, 2005. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak, File)
FILE - Opposition leader Maria Corina Machado gestures to supporters during a protest against President Nicolas Maduro the day before his inauguration for a third term, in Caracas, Venezuela, Thursday, Jan. 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Ariana Cubillos, file)
