Trump calls for more charges against Maduro

President Donald Trump has been speaking during his Cabinet meeting at the White House, where he just mentioned Former Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro.

He called the ex-Venezuelan leader a “very dangerous man who has killed a lot of people”.

Maduro and his wife Cilia Flores were back in court in New York after being charged with narco-terrorism and weapons offences

The president claims Maduro “emptied his prisons into our country", and Trump says he “hopes that charge will be brought at some point, because that’s a big charge that hasn’t been brought yet”.

Trump also says he imagines there are "other trials coming" for Maduro.

Attorney Barry Pollack is representing Nicolás Maduro today in court.

Judge Alvin Hellerstein rejected a bid by attorney Bruce Fein to join Maduro's defence saying Maduro had not personally appointed Fein.

Pollack has made a name for himself for representing high profile people, most notably WikiLeaks co-founder Julian Assange, who faced espionage charges in the US. He helped Assange make a deal with federal prosecutors that allowed Assange to avoid serving prison time in the US despite pleading guilty to publishing US military documents after a long drawn-out extradition case in Britain.

According to a biography on his law firm's website, he obtained his law degree from Georgetown University and his practice areas include public corruption and white collar investigations. Pollack, a former tax accountant, has also represented wrongfully accused prisoners and helped win compensation for them, his firm says.

In February, Pollack also appointed Timothy P O’Toole, an attorney who specialises in US sanctions, to advise on the case. Maduro and Venezuela have been under US sanctions for several years.

Maduro's wife Cilia Flores is represented by a different lawyer, Texas-based Mark Donnelly.

In the Miami suburb of Doral - where more than 40% of Doral’s residents are of Venezuelan origin - many flocked to El Arepazo, a Venezuelan restaurant and community hub in the area.

By noon, the crowd had swollen to hundreds, blasting music, chanting, with motorists honking horns and waving flags on nearby roads.

Many were clearly relieved that Maduro, whom they blame for Venezuela's economic and political woes, was gone.

"I don't even know how to put it into words," one Venezuelan told me.

"We suffered under them [Maduro]. It was humiliating. That's why so many of us left. The economic situation was bad, there was insecurity. We just wanted a better life.”

Many, however, expressed dismay at the possibility that vestiges of the Maduro government would be left in place running the country.

This has so far come true, with Trump happy to work with Delcy Rodriguez, the former vice president and now acting president of Venezuela.

I’ve kept in touch with a few since then, and many have been dissapointed at the turn of events, even if they remain happy that Maduro is gone.

“That’s what exactly what we wanted,” one young woman told me. “But it’s a start.”