US to let Venezuela pay Maduro's lawyer in drug trafficking case

The Treasury Department issued a sanctions licence allowing the Venezuelan government to wire money to a US lawyer defending Nicolás Maduro against narcoterrorism charges in New York. The angle: Washington designated Maduro a narco-terrorist, then carved out a sanctions exemption so the regime can pay his US legal bills. This sits awkwardly beside extrajudicial Pacific drug-boat strikes and a pending federal indictment — same administration, opposite postures. Lead with the contradiction: how the same Treasury that freezes Iran's central bank is signing checks for Maduro's defence team.