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NEW YORK — <\/span>A federal judge on Monday nixed a former high-ranking Justice Department official\u2019s attempt to join the team defending ex-Venezuelan President Nicol\u00e1s Maduro\u2019s defense team, ruling that lawyer Bruce Fein had \u201cno legal basis” to do so.<\/p>\n Judge Alvin K. Hellerstein had initially approved Fein\u2019s application to join Maduro\u2019s drug trafficking case but reversed course after the deposed leader\u2019s actual lawyer, Barry Pollack, objected to his involvement.<\/p>\n Fein, an associate deputy attorney general during Ronald Reagan\u2019s presidency, claimed in court papers that \u201cindividuals credibly situated\u201d within Maduro\u2019s inner circle or family had sought out his assistance. Fein claimed that Maduro \u201chad expressed a desire\u201d for his \u201cassistance in this matter.\u201d<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n \u201cIf Maduro wishes to retain Fein, he has the ability to do so,” Hellerstein wrote. “Fein cannot appoint himself to represent Maduro.”<\/p>\n Messages seeking comment were left Monday for Fein and Pollack.<\/p>\n Pollack, a prominent Washington lawyer whose clients have included WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange<\/a>, 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.<\/p>\n In court, Maduro called it a kidnapping and declared himself a prisoner of war. Pollack told Hellerstein he expected to make \u201csubstantial\u201d court filings challenging the legality of his military abduction” and invoking immunity as the head of a sovereign state.<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n Fein acknowledged in a written response that he’d had no contact with Maduro by telephone, video or any other direct way.<\/p>\n Maduro and Flores have pleaded not guilty<\/a> to charges alleging he worked with drug cartels to facilitate the shipment of thousands of tons of cocaine<\/a> into the U.S. They remain held without bail at a federal jail in Brooklyn and are due back in court on March 17.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n