NEW YORK (AP) — A federal judge on Monday nixed a former high-ranking Justice Department official’s attempt to join the team defending ex-Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro’s defense team, ruling that lawyer Bruce Fein had “no legal basis" to do so.
Judge Alvin K. Hellerstein had initially approved Fein’s application to join Maduro’s drug trafficking case but reversed course after the deposed leader’s actual lawyer, Barry Pollack, objected to his involvement.
Fein, an associate deputy attorney general during Ronald Reagan’s presidency, claimed in court papers that “individuals credibly situated” within Maduro’s inner circle or family had sought out his assistance. Fein claimed that Maduro “had expressed a desire” for his “assistance in this matter.”
But Hellerstein said in a written order that only Maduro has the authority to retain Fein as his lawyer, not unidentified individuals. He rejected Fein's request for the judge to summon Maduro to court to ask him if he would like Fein added to the defense team.
“If Maduro wishes to retain Fein, he has the ability to do so," Hellerstein wrote. "Fein cannot appoint himself to represent Maduro."
Messages seeking comment were left Monday for Fein and Pollack.
Pollack, a prominent Washington lawyer whose clients have included WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, was the only lawyer with Maduro at his Jan. 5 arraignment in Manhattan federal court, days after U.S. special forces seized Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, from their home in Caracas.
In court, Maduro called it a kidnapping and declared himself a prisoner of war. Pollack told Hellerstein he expected to make “substantial” court filings challenging the legality of his military abduction" and invoking immunity as the head of a sovereign state.
As Fein sought to join the case, Pollack said in a court filing last week that he'd spoken with Maduro and that the ex-leader confirmed to him that he doesn't know Fein and has not communicated with him, much less retained him or authorized him to join the case.
Fein acknowledged in a written response that he'd had no contact with Maduro by telephone, video or any other direct way.
Maduro and Flores have pleaded not guilty to charges alleging he worked with drug cartels to facilitate the shipment of thousands of tons of cocaine into the U.S. They remain held without bail at a federal jail in Brooklyn and are due back in court on March 17.
FILE - Barry Pollack arrives for opening arguments for the extradition of Wikileaks founder Julian Assange outside Belmarsh Magistrates' Court in south east London, Feb. 25, 2020. (AP Photo/Matt Dunham, File)
FILE - Bruce Fein testifies on Capitol Hill in Washington, April 1, 2009. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta, File)
KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Russia launched a second major drone and missile bombardment of Ukraine in four days, officials said Tuesday, aiming again at the power grid and apparently snubbing U.S.-led peace efforts as the war approaches the four-year mark.
Russia fired almost 300 drones, 18 ballistic missiles and seven cruise missiles at eight regions overnight, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on social media.
One strike in the northeastern Kharkiv region killed four people at a mail depot, and several hundred thousand households were without power in the Kyiv region, Zelenskyy said. The daytime temperature in the capital was -12 C (around 10 F). The streets were covered with ice, and the city rumbled with the noise from generators.
Four days earlier, Russia also sent hundreds of drones and dozens of missiles in a large-scale overnight attack and, for only the second time in the war, it used a powerful new hypersonic missile that struck western Ukraine in what appeared to be a clear warning to Kyiv’s NATO allies that it won’t back down.
On Monday, the United States accused Russia of a “ dangerous and inexplicable escalation ” of the fighting, when the Trump administration is trying to advance peace negotiations.
Tammy Bruce, the U.S. deputy ambassador to the United Nations, told an emergency meeting of the U.N. Security Council that Washington deplores “the staggering number of casualties” in the conflict and condemns Russia’s intensifying attacks on energy and other infrastructure.
Russia has sought to deny Ukrainian civilians heat and running water in the freezing winter months over the course of the war, hoping to wear down public resistance to Moscow’s full-scale invasion, which began on Feb. 24, 2022. Ukrainian officials describe the strategy as “weaponizing winter.”
In Ukraine’s Kharkiv region, the Russian attack also wounded 10 people, local authorities said.
In the southern city of Odesa, six people were wounded in the attack, said Oleh Kiper, the head of the regional military administration. The strikes damaged energy infrastructure, a hospital, a kindergarten, an educational facility and a number of residential buildings, he said.
Zelenskyy said that Ukraine is counting on quicker deliveries of agreed upon air defense systems from the U.S. and Europe, as well as new pledges of aid, to counter Russia’s latest onslaught.
Meanwhile, Russian air defenses shot down 11 Ukrainian drones overnight, Russia’s Ministry of Defense said Tuesday. Seven were reportedly destroyed over Russia’s Rostov region, where Gov. Yuri Slyusar confirmed an attack on the coastal city of Taganrog.
Ukrainian officials have previously said that they have targeted Atlant Aero, a company in Taganrog that produces components for combat drones. The city also hosts the Beriev aircraft company.
Katie Marie Davies contributed to this report from Manchester, England.
Follow AP’s coverage of the war in Ukraine at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine
In this photo provided by the Ukrainian Emergency Service, emergency services personnel work to extinguish a fire following a Russian attack in Kharkiv, Ukraine, Tuesday, Jan. 13, 2026. (Ukrainian Emergency Service via AP)
In this photo provided by the Ukrainian Emergency Service, emergency services personnel work to extinguish a fire following a Russian attack in Kharkiv, Ukraine, Tuesday, Jan. 13, 2026. (Ukrainian Emergency Service via AP)
In this photo provided by the Ukrainian Emergency Service, emergency services personnel work to extinguish a fire following a Russian attack in Kharkiv, Ukraine, Tuesday, Jan. 13, 2026. (Ukrainian Emergency Service via AP)
In this photo provided by the Ukrainian Emergency Service, emergency services personnel work to extinguish a fire following a Russian attack in Kharkiv, Ukraine, Tuesday, Jan. 13, 2026. (Ukrainian Emergency Service via AP)
In this photo provided by the Ukrainian Emergency Service, emergency services personnel work to extinguish a fire following a Russian attack in Kyiv region, Ukraine, Tuesday, Jan. 13, 2026. (Ukrainian Emergency Service via AP)
