Ex-Rep. David Rivera convicted in Venezuela case

May 2, 2026

Summary

A Miami jury convicted former Rep. David Rivera in a $50 million secret lobbying case tied to Venezuela’s government.

Why this matters

The verdict closes a closely watched foreign lobbying case involving a former member of Congress and highlights legal risks around undisclosed efforts to influence U.S. policy. It also underscores Miami’s role in U.S.-Latin America political networks.

Former Miami Congressman David Rivera was convicted Friday on charges tied to a secret $50 million lobbying effort on behalf of Venezuela during President Donald Trump’s first administration.

A jury found Rivera, a Republican, and associate Esther Nuhfer guilty on all counts, including failing to register with the Justice Department as foreign agents and conspiracy to commit money laundering.

Prosecutors said Rivera was recruited by then-Foreign Minister Delcy Rodríguez, now Venezuela’s acting president, to use his Republican contacts to try to persuade the Trump administration to ease sanctions on Venezuela. They said Rivera and Nuhfer concealed the work because disclosure could have damaged Rivera’s standing as an anti-communist politician.

The trial included testimony from Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Rep. Pete Sessions of Texas, and lobbyist Brian Ballard, who said they later learned Rivera had a consulting contract with PDV USA, a U.S.-based affiliate of Venezuela’s state oil company, Petroleos de Venezuela SA.

Prosecutors said Rivera used an encrypted chat group and code words to discuss payments and strategy with Venezuelan media executive Raul Gorrin, who has been charged in the United States with bribing Venezuelan officials. “As long as the money kept coming in, they didn’t care from where,” prosecutor Roger Cruz said in closing arguments.

Defense lawyers said Rivera and Nuhfer believed they did not have to register because Rivera’s three-month contract with his consulting firm involved commercial efforts to bring ExxonMobil back to Venezuela, an activity they argued was exempt from the Foreign Agents Registration Act.

Prosecutors said the contract was a cover for political lobbying and that the pair later tried to hide the work by backdating documents and creating sham agreements, including one tied to a $3.75 million wire transfer to a South Florida company that maintained Gorrin’s yacht.

Rivera, a former Florida legislator who once shared a Tallahassee home with Rubio, also previously faced other political and campaign-related investigations.

More top news

\top\

Italy suspends Israel defense pact amid tensions

Israeli officials said the immediate operational impact would likely be limited.

Full story +

Italy moved to suspend renewal of a long-standing defense cooperation agreement with Israel as tensions rose over Israel’s military actions in the Middle East.

The agreement, signed in 2003 and ratified in 2005, set a framework for military training, procurement, and defense technology exchanges between the two governments.

Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni said the decision was driven by the “current situation” in the region.

The move followed criticism from Italian officials over Israeli military operations, especially in Lebanon, where strikes raised concerns among European governments about civilian casualties and regional stability.

Tensions increased after reports that Israeli forces fired on United Nations peacekeepers, including Italian personnel in southern Lebanon, prompting a formal diplomatic protest from Rome.

Italian officials publicly condemned attacks affecting civilians and said military cooperation must reflect humanitarian and legal concerns, contributing to the decision to halt the agreement.

Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman Oren Marmorstein said, “We have no security agreement with Italy. We have a memorandum of understanding from many years ago that has never contained any substantive content. This will not affect Israel’s security.”

The decision also reflected domestic pressure in Italy, where opposition groups and advocacy organizations called for tighter limits on military cooperation and arms exports tied to the conflict.

Italy’s more cautious approach was also evident in late March, when it refused to allow U.S. military aircraft to use Sigonella Air Base in Sicily for operations related to the Middle East conflict. The government cited requirements for prior authorization under Italian law and existing agreements.

Critics have also challenged arms exports to Israel, arguing that continued transfers could conflict with Italian law regulating weapons sales and international humanitarian obligations.

Italy and Israel have maintained close defense and technological ties for decades, including joint training, industrial partnerships, and research cooperation. The suspension did not end those ties, but it marked a clear sign of strain in the relationship.
Military & National Security

GAO finds flaws in military cost-of-living pay

The GAO said the department used unsound sampling practices and inconsistent processes, raising questions about whether payments matched local expenses.

Full story +

Service members stationed in high-cost areas may not always receive cost-of-living allowances that reflect local prices, according to a Government Accountability Office report released Thursday.

The Department of Defense uses location-specific surveys, price data, and military spending data to set cost-of-living allowances, known as COLAs.

Service members stationed in Hawaii, Japan, Alaska, Germany, and Virginia receive COLA to help offset higher living costs. Payments also vary based on the number of dependents in a household.

The GAO said most COLA payments go to service members stationed outside the continental United States, known as OCONUS, rather than those stationed within the continental United States, or CONUS. Auditors cited inconsistencies in how the department calculated payments for OCONUS and CONUS duty locations.

The report also found differences in the amount and type of information local commands gave service members in areas that receive COLA. In some cases, service members reported confusion about what they were entitled to receive or why payments changed.

Investigators said some Defense Department personnel told them changes in COLA made household budgeting difficult.

“In nine of the 17 discussion group summaries we held in locations that receive a COLA, participants mentioned that COLA fluctuates so much that they cannot rely on it as part of their budgets,” the report said.

The report cited one example in Japan, where a senior officer linked COLA issues to readiness.

“Eating a beans and rice diet has a direct impact on our ability to fight,” he told auditors.

The GAO recommended that the Defense Department align CONUS and OCONUS payments for dependents, apply its location-cost processes more consistently, use random sampling for service members’ shopping patterns, and require local commands to provide COLA information to service members.

The department agreed with the first two recommendations, but did not agree with using random sampling. It partially agreed with requiring local commands to provide information, saying the Defense Travel Management Office already maintains public information and that the department does not have a central point of contact for COLA inquiries.
Military & National Security

Woman files $7 million claim against Navy, Pentagon

A woman accused Navy sailors of assaulting her in San Diego and sharing videos of the attack, filing a $7 million claim.

Full story +

A woman filed a $7 million administrative claim against the U.S. Navy and Defense Department, alleging Navy sailors assaulted her outside a San Diego nightclub in June 2024 and that videos of her assault were later shared online and within the Navy community.

The woman, identified as Jane Doe in the Federal Tort Claims Act complaint filed Wednesday, said she was a civilian married to a sailor assigned at the time to the USS Carl Vinson. According to the complaint, 10 to 15 people assaulted her after she left a birthday celebration at a Navy nightclub, and at least seven were active-duty sailors assigned to the carrier.

Doe said the attackers removed her clothing, beat her, and left her unconscious. She was hospitalized for six days. Her attorney, Jillian Seymour of Sanford Heisler Sharp McKnight, said Doe’s husband was also injured while trying to help her.

The complaint alleged the attack was recorded on phones and area surveillance cameras, and that videos were later shared on platforms including Snapchat, TikTok, and Reddit, as well as aboard the Carl Vinson. It also alleged that Navy security personnel knew of the video’s circulation but failed to stop it.

According to the complaint, San Diego police initially treated the case as a sex crime. Doe said police later told her the Naval Criminal Investigative Service (NCIS) had jurisdiction. NCIS began investigating in October 2024, four months after the assault, according to the complaint.

Doe’s attorneys said NCIS later told her the case had been closed after interviewing her, but they said no interview had occurred. NCIS reopened the matter and investigated for about 11 months, interviewing witnesses and suspects, before declining to bring charges related to the assault or the videos.

The complaint said Doe suffered an orbital wall blowout fracture, back, neck, and facial injuries, double vision, pain, reduced mobility, and facial numbness. Seymour said Doe’s husband also faced harassment aboard the Carl Vinson and later transferred to a base in Florida.

The Navy has six months to respond to the claim. After that, Doe may file a lawsuit.
US

Pope names West Virginia bishop from El Salvador

At a Friday morning news conference, Menjivar-Ayala said he accepted the appointment “with great joy and humility.”

Full story +

Pope Leo XIV appointed Bishop Evelio Menjivar-Ayala of Washington as the new bishop of Wheeling-Charleston, West Virginia, after accepting the resignation of Bishop Mark E. Brennan, OSV News reported.

Menjivar-Ayala, 55, was born Aug. 14, 1970, in Chalatenango, El Salvador. He moved to the United States in 1990 after multiple attempts to reach the country, including one in which he entered hidden in the trunk of a car. He previously told the Catholic Standard that he and his family narrowly survived being fired upon by soldiers while fleeing their home during El Salvador’s civil war.

After two failed attempts to reach the United States, including deportation and a trip in which a guide abandoned the migrant group, he succeeded on his third try after a brief imprisonment in Mexico and a desert crossing.

Recalling the journey, he said he carried “a backpack with only one change of clothes, but it was full of dreams, of illusions that sometimes we do not understand. That dream is a light that guides you and, although you don’t understand the plan, you launch yourself with confidence in God.”

Once in the United States, Menjivar-Ayala learned English, earned a General Educational Development credential, and worked janitorial and construction jobs before beginning priesthood studies at a parish in Silver Spring, Maryland.

In 2023, he became the first Salvadoran bishop in the United States, serving as an auxiliary bishop in the Archdiocese of Washington.
US

Trump says Navy seized ship amid Iran blockade

“We’re sort of like pirates. But we’re not playing games,” Trump said.

Full story +

President Donald Trump said Friday that the U.S. Navy had seized a ship and its cargo during the U.S. blockade of Iranian ports and the Strait of Hormuz, describing the operation at a Florida rally as “a very profitable business.”

“We … land on top of it and we took over the ship. We took over the cargo, took over the oil. It’s a very profitable business,” Trump said. “We’re like pirates,” he added.

After the U.S. and Israel attacked Iran on Feb. 28, Tehran retaliated with strikes on Israel and Gulf states that host U.S. bases. Iran also blocked the Strait of Hormuz, a key shipping route through which 20% of global oil and gas passes.

A ceasefire between the U.S. and Iran took effect April 8. Days later, Trump imposed a blockade of Iranian ports and the Strait of Hormuz on April 13 as Pakistan-mediated negotiations continued.

Trump said Friday he was “not satisfied” with Iran’s latest peace proposal and was uncertain whether a deal would be reached. He warned that he would “blast them away” if talks failed.

Iranian officials said Tehran believed it had shown flexibility in negotiations, including talks in Islamabad and during the ceasefire, but had not seen the same from Washington. Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei wrote on X that Americans had an “undeniable right and the solemn duty” to demand accountability from the Trump administration over the U.S.-Israel “war of choice” on Iran.

Baghaei called the war “a clear, unprovoked act of aggression” and reposted video of Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand saying at a recent hearing: “We did not have any evidence that Iran intended to imminently attack this country in any way, shape or form.”
US

U.S. to withdraw 5,000 troops from Germany

Recent German rhetoric had been “inappropriate and unhelpful,” a senior Pentagon official said. “The president is rightly reacting to these counterproductive remarks.”

Full story +

The United States will withdraw 5,000 troops from Germany over the next six to 12 months, the Pentagon said Friday, amid widening differences between President Donald Trump and European allies over the war in Iran.

Trump had threatened a drawdown earlier this week after an exchange with German Chancellor Friedrich Merz. Merz said Monday that Iranians were humiliating the U.S. in talks to end the two-month-old war and that he did not see what exit strategy Washington was pursuing.

Germany hosts about 35,000 active-duty U.S. military personnel, more than any other country in Europe. The official said the reduction would return U.S. troop levels in Europe to roughly pre-2022 levels, before Russia’s invasion of Ukraine prompted a buildup under President Joe Biden.

The official also said the move aligned with the Trump administration’s push for Europe to take primary responsibility for security on the continent.

Trump has criticized several NATO allies for not sending navies to help reopen the Strait of Hormuz during the conflict. Merz said Germans and other Europeans were not consulted before the U.S. and Israel began attacking Iran on Feb. 28 and said he later expressed his doubts about the conflict directly to Trump.

Trump had long sought to reduce the U.S. troop presence in Germany. He pushed for cuts at the end of his first term, but they were not carried out, and Biden later reversed the plan.

As part of the decision, a brigade combat team now in Germany will be withdrawn, and a long-range fires battalion that the Biden administration had planned to deploy there later this year will not deploy.
US

DHS shutdown ends, ICE, CBP funding still pending

The bill provided $48 billion for the Homeland Security agencies excluding ICE and Customs and Border Protection.

Full story +

A 76-day Department of Homeland Security funding lapse ended Thursday when President Donald Trump signed a bill restoring funding for the Coast Guard, the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, FEMA, the Secret Service, and the Transportation Security Administration.

The measure did not include funding for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and U.S. Customs and Border Protection. Republicans said they planned to pursue billions for those agencies through a reconciliation package.

The lapse began Feb. 14 amid a dispute over immigration enforcement following the deaths of Renee Good and Matthew Pretti in Minneapolis. It led to national protests and the departure of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, who was replaced in March by Markwayne Mullin, a former U.S. senator.

After Trump signed the bill, Mullin wrote on X that the reconciliation bill would not require Democratic votes. He also wrote: “To be clear, this Democrat shutdown NEVER should have happened.”

Speaker Mike Johnson had opposed moving the bill without ICE and CBP funding, but House Republicans later backed the measure as some agencies prepared for possible furloughs and Homeland Security employees were expected to receive their final paychecks on May 8, according to an administration official who spoke to Politico.

The bill also restored funding to two offices closed in 2025 by the Trump administration: the Office for Civil Rights and Civil Liberties, and the Office of the Citizenship and Immigration Services Ombudsman.
World Politics

Trump Voices Frustration as Iran Talks Stall

“Maybe we’re better off not making a deal at all,” Trump said without elaborating. “We can’t let this thing go on, you know, it’s going on too long,” he said.

Full story +

U.S. President Donald Trump said Friday he was dissatisfied with negotiations with Iran, but did not threaten to end the ceasefire between the countries or order new airstrikes.

“They want to make a deal but I’m not satisfied with it,” Trump told reporters at the White House. “We just had a conversation with Iran. Let’s see what happens. But I would say that I am not happy.”

Asked about the administration’s options, Trump said that “on a human basis, I prefer not” to restart hostilities in a war that began with U.S. and Israeli strikes on Iran in late February.

Iran’s foreign minister said Tehran was ready to continue diplomatic efforts if the U.S. changed its approach and avoided “excessive demands, threatening rhetoric, and provocative actions.”

The Strait of Hormuz, through which about a fifth of the world’s oil and liquefied natural gas normally flows, remained central to the impasse. Iran said the U.S. must end a naval blockade on its ports before Tehran’s leaders would reopen the waterway.

The White House said the blockade was pressuring Iran’s economy and restricting its oil exports. It said it hoped continued naval operations would force Iran to make concessions.

Oil prices eased Friday after reaching highs earlier in the week. Brent crude settled near $108 a barrel, for a weekly gain of 2.7%. U.S. gasoline prices rose to well above $4 a gallon.

Trump repeated his claim that energy prices would fall quickly once the war ended and said talks were slowing because of divisions among Iranian leaders. Many Middle East analysts disputed that view, saying Iranian officials may differ on tactics but broadly support a hard line toward Washington.
US Politics

Ex-Rep. David Rivera convicted in Venezuela case

Judge Melissa Damian ordered Rivera into custody after the verdict, ruling he posed a flight risk because he had access to substantial funds, faced a potentially lengthy prison sentence, and had additional federal charges pending in Washington in a related lobbying case.

Full story +

Former Miami Congressman David Rivera was convicted Friday on charges tied to a secret $50 million lobbying effort on behalf of Venezuela during President Donald Trump’s first administration.

A jury found Rivera, a Republican, and associate Esther Nuhfer guilty on all counts, including failing to register with the Justice Department as foreign agents and conspiracy to commit money laundering.

Prosecutors said Rivera was recruited by then-Foreign Minister Delcy Rodríguez, now Venezuela’s acting president, to use his Republican contacts to try to persuade the Trump administration to ease sanctions on Venezuela. They said Rivera and Nuhfer concealed the work because disclosure could have damaged Rivera’s standing as an anti-communist politician.

The trial included testimony from Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Rep. Pete Sessions of Texas, and lobbyist Brian Ballard, who said they later learned Rivera had a consulting contract with PDV USA, a U.S.-based affiliate of Venezuela’s state oil company, Petroleos de Venezuela SA.

Prosecutors said Rivera used an encrypted chat group and code words to discuss payments and strategy with Venezuelan media executive Raul Gorrin, who has been charged in the United States with bribing Venezuelan officials. “As long as the money kept coming in, they didn’t care from where,” prosecutor Roger Cruz said in closing arguments.

Defense lawyers said Rivera and Nuhfer believed they did not have to register because Rivera’s three-month contract with his consulting firm involved commercial efforts to bring ExxonMobil back to Venezuela, an activity they argued was exempt from the Foreign Agents Registration Act.

Prosecutors said the contract was a cover for political lobbying and that the pair later tried to hide the work by backdating documents and creating sham agreements, including one tied to a $3.75 million wire transfer to a South Florida company that maintained Gorrin’s yacht.

Rivera, a former Florida legislator who once shared a Tallahassee home with Rubio, also previously faced other political and campaign-related investigations.
Hawaii

Hawaiʻi Needs 60,000 More Homes by 2050, Report Says

Residents 65 and older will need 44,000 of those units. The shortage is raising housing costs and contributing to out-migration among younger residents.

Full story +

Hawaiʻi will need nearly 60,000 additional housing units by 2050 to meet projected demand, driven largely by an aging population, according to a new AARP Hawaiʻi report based on 2024 U.S. Census data.

T“It’s not just about kūpuna needing affordable housing. When a lack of affordable housing forces young working families to leave Hawaiʻi, the impacts are felt across generations,” Keali‘i Lopez, state director of AARP Hawaiʻi, said in a statement. “The question becomes not only where our children and grandchildren will live, but who will care for our aging parents and grandparents if families can no longer afford to stay.”

The share of Hawaiʻi residents 65 and older rose from 16% in 2016 to more than 21% in 2024. A University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa Economic Research Organization study projected that 25% of the state’s population will be 65 or older by 2035.

An analysis by Econorthwest, a Portland, Oregon, consulting firm, said 29% of new housing statewide by 2035 will be needed for people ages 65 to 84. By 2050, it said, residents 85 and older will need 40% of new housing.

For residents 65 and older, just under one-third of new units will need to be affordable to those earning less than $63,900, or 60% of area median income, the report said. It also said meeting older residents’ needs will require “prioritizing homes that support aging in place and smaller households.”

Between 2014 and 2024, Hawaiʻi added 43,000 housing units, an 8% increase. Over the same period, the number of households grew 9.5%.

About two-thirds of the additional 60,000 units will be needed by 2035, the report said.

The report said Hawaiʻi had the nation’s third-lowest retention rate for residents ages 20 to 30, behind Alaska and Wyoming.