The United States has agreed to allow the Venezuelan government to cover the legal fees for ex-president Nicolas Maduro, who is on trial for drug trafficking charges after being abducted by US forces. The move comes after Maduro's lawyer, Barry Pollack, had asked a Manhattan-based US District Judge Alvin Hellerstein to dismiss the case, arguing that a prohibition on the government in Venezuela paying the fees constituted a violation of Maduro's legal right to the counsel of his own. The US Department of Justice lawyers agreed to modify US sanctions so that the government could pay Maduro’s defence lawyer. This change makes the defence’verought’mouthed case more viable.