“He’ll, you know, I guess be given a fair trial,” the US President added during a Cabinet meeting at the White House.
The court hearing was expected to see Maduro push for the dismissal of his case as lawyers tussle over who will pay the former leader’s legal fees.
Venezuela’s government is seeking to cover the costs but, because of Washington’s sanctions, his lawyer Barry Pollack must obtain a US licence, which has not yet been issued.
Pollack argued in a court submission that the licence requirement violated Maduro’s constitutional right to legal representation and demanded the case be thrown out on procedural grounds.
‘Desperate’ for justice
A police convoy believed to be carrying Maduro and Flores left the jail at around 4am GMT to reach the Manhattan court, AFP journalists saw.
Several backers and opponents of Maduro gathered outside the courthouse, including some with a large inflatable doll depicting him in an orange prison jumpsuit with handcuffs.
“We are desperate for any sort of justice regarding everything that we’ve been through,” said Carlos Egana, 30, who supports the prosecution of Maduro.
At one point, a brief scuffle broke out between protesters before police intervened and escorted a man from the area.
Detained in Brooklyn’s Metropolitan Detention Centre, a federal prison known for unsanitary conditions, Maduro is reportedly alone in a cell with no access to the internet or newspapers.
A source close to the Venezuelan Government said the incarcerated Maduro reads the Bible and is referred to as “President” by some of his fellow detainees.
He is only allowed to communicate by phone with his family and lawyers for a maximum of 15 minutes per call, the source added.
“The lawyers told us he is strong. He said we must not be sad,” said his son, Nicolas Maduro Guerra, adding his father told him: “We are fine, we are fighters.”
US pressure
Maduro and his wife were forcibly taken by US commandos in the early hours of January 3 in airstrikes on the Venezuelan capital backed by warplanes and a heavy naval deployment.
At least 83 people died and more than 112 people were injured in the assault, according to Venezuelan officials. No US service members were killed.
At his first US court appearance in January, Maduro struck a defiant tone as he identified himself as the President of Venezuela despite being captured.
The South American country is now led by Delcy Rodriguez, who had been Maduro’s Vice-President since 2018.
Under US pressure, she is grappling with leading a country saddled with the world’s largest proven oil reserves but an economy in shambles.
Rodriguez has since enacted a historic amnesty law to free political prisoners jailed under Maduro and reformed oil and mining regulations in line with US demands for access to her country’s vast natural wealth.
This month, the State Department said it was restoring diplomatic ties with Venezuela in a sign of thawing relations.
-Agence France-Presse