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UConn women’s basketball rolls past Seton Hall for 31st straight win

HARTFORD, CT — The UConn women’s basketball team continued its Big East dominance, defeating Seton Hall, 84-48, on Saturday at PeoplesBank Arena.

The Huskies (15-0, 6-0 Big East) have won 53 consecutive games against conference opponents and are on 31-game win streak overall going back to last season’s 12th national title.

UConn starting point guard KK Arnold returned to the lineup after breaking her nose in practice on Tuesday. She had five points, five assists and five steals.

‘In KK’s case, there’s nobody else on the team that will be able to replicate what she does,’ UConn coach Geno Auriemma said. ‘So when you do have her in the game … she does become incredibly valuable as a tone setter. You know that the game is going to start a certain way, that there’s going to be a kind of a frenetic pace to it, that the other team may not be equipped to handle.’

Sarah Strong had 18 points and eight rebounds to lead UConn. Azzi Fudd added 16 points including four 3-pointers. Allie Ziebell had 12 points on four 3-pointers. Jana El Alfy scored 10 to round out players in double figures.

Despite the margin of victory, Auriemma had some notes. The Huskies continued to struggle with turnovers. They had five in the first quarter and 17 for the game.

‘It’s one of the not so perky perks of coaching women’s basketball at UConn, you get a lot of unselfish players,’ Auriemma said. ‘And we watch on a film and (you ask) … ‘Why didn’t you shoot that?’

‘(We’re) trying to do things that are a little bit more difficult than they need to be. So it’s a good problem to have that they want to be very unselfish. There’s a fine line there.’

The Huskies has 20 steals and 35 points off turnovers. The Pirates had 32 turnovers.

Jordana Codio scored 12 points and Savannah Catalon added 11 to lead Seton Hall (10-5, 4-2 Big East).

Third quarter: UConn 67, Seton Hall 26

UConn dominated in the third quarter and is poised to get its 53rd straight victory in Big East play.

Sarah Strong has 18 points and eight rebounds. Azzi Fudd has 16 points including four 3-pointers. Both have given way to backups as the Huskies outscored to Pirates, 29-8, in the quarter.

Since an 11-all tie in the first quarter, UConn has outscored Seton Hall 55-15.

Azzi Fudd starts second half strong

Fudd got the scoring started with another 3.

Halftime: UConn 38, Seton Hall 18

UConn found its offense in the second quarter. The Huskies outscored the Pirates 19-7. Azzi Fudd has 13 points and Sarah Strong 12 points and five rebounds. UConn has 12 steals and 21 points off turnovers.

Mariana Valenzuela has eight points and four rebounds for Seton Hall.

UConn’s Sarah Strong from range

After being relatively quiet in the early going, Sarah Strong hit back-to-back 3s. She now has 10 points. UConn is on a 21-4 run and up 32-15 on Seton Hall.

Azzi Fudd into double figures

Azzi Fudd, who leads the Huskies by averaging 18.1 points a game, has 11 in the early going. She is 4 for 10 from the field including 3 for 7 from behind the arc.

First quarter: UConn 19, Seton Hall 11

The Huskies went on a 8-0 run to end the quarter including a pair of 3s. Azzi Fudd leads the Huskies with 9 points. Sarah Strong has four points and four rebounds.

Huskies struggling from behind the arc

UConn is shooting 3-for-10 from 3-point range with Ashlynn Shade just cashing in. The Huskies hold a 14-11 lead.

We are underway in Hartford

UConn’s missed its first two shots before Azzi Fudd hit a 3-pointer to get the offense going.

Here’s everything you need to know about Saturday’s matchup between UConn and Seton Hall:

What time is UConn vs. Seton Hall women’s basketball?

The UConn Huskies will face off against the Seton Hall Pirates on Saturday, Jan. 3 at 12 p.m. ET at PeoplesBank Arena in Hartford, Connecticut.

UConn vs. Seton Hall: TV, streaming

  • Date: Saturday, Jan. 3
  • Time: 12 p.m. ET (9 a.m. PT)
  • Location: PeoplesBank Arena (Hartford, Connecticut)
  • TV: FS1
  • Stream: Fubo

UConn starting lineup

Seton Hall starting lineup

UConn knows how to dish it out

The Huskies lead the nation with 24.3 assists per game. UConn has 20 or more assists in its last 13games. Junior KK Arnold ranks second nationally with a 4.69 assist-turnover ratio.

KK Arnold return to the UConn lineup

After sustaining a nasal fracture in practice Tuesday and missing Wednesday’s game, starting point guard KK Arnold is back against Seton Hall.

Seton Hall in the house

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JD Vance skips Trump’s Venezuela spotlight, but aide says he was ‘deeply involved’ behind the scenes

Vice President JD Vance was not physically present at President Donald Trump’s news conference announcing the capture of Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro because of heightened security and secrecy concerns, according to a spokesperson, despite being closely involved in the planning and execution of the operation.

Trump briefed the press on the mission hours after Maduro was taken into U.S. custody, flanked by Secretary of State Marco Rubio, War Secretary Pete Hegseth and chairman of the joint chiefs, Gen. Dan Caine. 

Vance publicly praised the operation on X but did not attend the briefing. Vance did meet with Trump at Mar-a-Lago on Friday to discuss the strikes, but was not at Trump’s golf club Friday night where senior Trump officials monitored the mission because the national security team ‘was concerned a late-night motorcade movement by the Vice President while the operation was getting underway may tip off the Venezuelans.’ 

‘The Vice President joined by secure video conference throughout the night to monitor the operation. He returned to Cincinnati after the operation concluded.’

Due to ‘increased security concerns,’ Trump and Vance are limiting the ‘frequency and duration’ of time they spend together outside of the White House, the Vance spokesperson told Fox News Digital. 

‘Maduro is the newest person to find out that President Trump means what he says,’ Vance wrote on X after the operation was made public. 

‘And PSA for everyone saying this was ‘illegal’: Maduro has multiple indictments in the United States for narco-terrorism. You don’t get to avoid justice for drug trafficking in the United States because you live in a palace in Caracas,’ he wrote in a separate post. 

Trump, during his news conference, revealed that the U.S. will ‘run’ Venezuela until a ‘safe, orderly’ transition of power can take place. 

Pressed on whether U.S. forces would remain inside the country, Trump did not rule out a sustained troop presence. ‘They always say boots on the ground – so we’re not afraid of boots on the ground if we have to,’ he said, confirming U.S. troops were already involved ‘at a very high level’ during the operation. 

Trump noted Venezuela’s vice president had been ‘picked by Maduro,’ but said U.S. officials were already engaging with her. ‘She’s essentially willing to do what we think is necessary to make Venezuela great,’ Trump said, adding that the issue was being handled directly by his team.

Venezuelan Vice President Delcy Rodriguez has been sworn in as Maduro’s successor, and Trump did not say whether the U.S. will move to install opposition leaders Maria Corina Machado and Edmundo Urutia-Gonzalez. 

Vance, in the past, has voiced skepticism of U.S. interventions. 

In a Signal chat leaked after the Houthi strikes last March, Vance told a group of Trump Cabinet officials, ‘I think we are making a mistake.’

‘[Three] percent of U.S. trade runs through the Suez Canal. Forty percent of European trade does. There is a real risk that the public doesn’t understand this or why it’s necessary,’ Vance said. 

‘I am not sure the president is aware how inconsistent this is with his message on Europe right now.’

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Rubio to Cuba: ‘I’d be concerned’ after US military arrests Venezuelan leader Maduro

Cuban leaders should be concerned following the U.S. military operation in Venezuela and the arrest of Nicolás Maduro, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Saturday, as President Donald Trump signaled that his administration could shift its focus to the Caribbean island.

Cuba has long maintained a presence in Venezuela, with intelligence agents and security personnel embedded amid close relations between Havana and Caracas.

Rubio, the son of Cuban immigrants, said Venezuela’s spy agency was ‘basically full of Cubans,’ as was Maduro’s security detail.

‘One of the biggest problems Venezuelans have is they have to declare independence from Cuba,’ he said during a news conference in which officials revealed details of the military operation. ‘They tried to basically colonize it from a security standpoint.’

He added that the communist island was ‘a disaster. It’s run by incompetent, senile men — and in some cases, not senile, but incompetent nonetheless.’

The secretary has repeatedly denounced Cuba and its leadership as a dictatorship and a failed state.

‘If I lived in Havana, and I was in the government, I’d be concerned — at least a little bit,’ Rubio said.

Trump said Cuba was something his administration would ‘end up talking about because Cuba is a failing nation right now — a very badly failing nation.’

‘And we want to help the people,’ he added. ‘It’s very similar in the sense that we want to help the people in Cuba, but we also want to help the people who were forced out of Cuba and are living in this country.’

Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, were taken by U.S. forces and brought aboard the USS Iwo Jima. They were expected to be transported to the U.S. to face federal charges.

The couple, along with other Venezuelan officials, face ‘drug trafficking and narco-terrorism conspiracies,’ according to an unsealed indictment posted on social media Saturday by U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi.

They are accused of partnering with drug cartels to traffic drugs into the U.S.

Maduro and his wife ‘will soon face the full wrath of American justice on American soil in American courts,’ Bondi wrote.

They are charged with narco-terrorism conspiracy, cocaine importation conspiracy, possession of machine guns and destructive devices, and conspiracy to possess machine guns and destructive devices against the U.S.

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Patriots’ handling of allegations against star players raises concerns

Just when it seemed the New England Patriots were riding the perfect, storybook wave of momentum toward their return to the NFL playoffs, stuff hits the fan.

Look at Stefon Diggs. Accused of smacking his former chef and trying to choke her during an alleged Dec. 2 incident as a beef over apparent back pay escalated. Really? The go-to receiver is facing a felony charge for strangulation or suffocation.

Consider Christian Barmore. Accused of throwing the mother of his 2-year-old child to the floor and issuing threats during an alleged Aug. 8 argument that stemmed from disagreements about the room temperature and that she was making food. Seriously? The 315-pound defensive tackle is facing a misdemeanor charge of domestic assault and battery.

Two key players, two rounds of allegations that they committed heinous crimes surfaced on back-to-back days this week. Bad timing. Bad optics. The NFL had enough regular season-finale plotlines to set up Week 18, but as 2025 transitioned to 2026, the Patriots have another version of in-with-the-new drama.

At this point, as Patriots coach Mike Vrabel insisted, they are allegations. Attorneys representing both players have flatly denied the accusations.

“We’ve made a statement, we’ve taken the allegations very seriously, and what comes of that, I think then we’ll have another discussion,” Vrabel said during a midweek news conference. “But I don’t think we have to jump to any sort of conclusions right now and let the process take its toll.”

Of course, Vrabel has a vested interest in keeping the players on the field. This isn’t to question the coach’s integrity. Trumped-up allegations happen. Yet it sure sounds like the Patriots might have jumped to some conclusions.

In their Tuesday statement, the team said, “We support Stefon.”

In the Wednesday statement, the team indicated that it was aware of the incident involving Barmore shortly after it occurred. Yet apparently, the team reached the conclusion that whatever happened wasn’t serious enough to remove a key player from the lineup.

Which reminds me: In 1996, the Patriots renounced their rights to fifth-round defensive tackle Christian Peter a week after drafting him because Myra Kraft, wife of the team owner, learned of Peter’s history of violence against women and insisted as much while backlash from women’s groups mounted. Early in Robert Kraft’s ownership, it set a tone for the Patriots standards.

That was a long time ago. Myra, bless her, passed in 2011.

Then again, as Vrabel maintains, these are allegations. It’s just that the nature of the allegations are disturbing enough to raise red flags. Yet unlike the assault on a fan by Pittsburgh Steelers receiver DK Metcalf that was captured on video and resulted in a two-game suspension, it’s difficult to assess when there’s no apparent evidence (at least in Diggs’ case).   

You might think Roger Goodell – no stranger to managing sticky fallout from domestic violence cases – would step right in and take the players off the field and put them on the Commissioner’s exempt list while the legal process plays out.

Indeed, that’s a possibility – just not this week, with the worst-to-first Patriots (13-3) hosting the Miami Dolphins on Sunday.

According to the fine print of the NFL’s personal conduct policy, a player can be placed on the exempt list, which amounts to a paid leave of absence, when formal charges for a felony or violent crime are forwarded with a grand jury indictment, charges by a prosecutor or an arraignment in a criminal court.

Diggs is scheduled to be arraigned Jan. 23 – two days before the AFC title game.

Barmore has an arraignment date of Feb. 3 – five days before Super Bowl 60.

Of course, there’s no guarantee the Patriots will advance to the AFC Championship Game or the franchise’s first Super Bowl since the Tom Brady era. But the way things have gone this season, you can’t call it a pipe dream.

Vrabel returned to jolt New England to prominence ASAP, illustrating just how impactful the right coach in the right situation can be. New England was 4-13 in Jerod Mayo’s only campaign as Bill Belichick’s successor in 2024. Now the Patriots have a chance to seize the No. 1 seed in the AFC playoffs. And while Drake Maye has blossomed into an MVP candidate in his second season – with Diggs assisting that effort with big plays and big leadership – the Patriots snapped Buffalo’s streak of five consecutive AFC East titles.

None of that, however, should matter when weighing the status of Diggs and Barmore.

And no, Goodell doesn’t have to wait on the arraignment dates to make a call. There’s also fine print in that same personal conduct policy that stipulates a player can be placed on the exempt list on a limited, temporary basis to allow time for the league to conduct a preliminary investigation of an alleged crime of violence.

So, what’s happening with that feature of the policy in these cases?

In the allegations against Barmore, first reported by Boston-area television station WCVB, the police report includes photographs the woman provided of her bruises. And the Patriots were aware of the incident back in August? Hmmm.

The team apparently had no qualms about putting him on the field. It makes you wonder what type of evidence is needed – an elevator video, maybe – to have some domestic violence cases hit home.

“Again, allegations,” Vrabel said, “and we want to make sure that the court – that those ongoing court proceedings – and once those are satisfied, then we’ll come to whatever decision that we have to make.”

It’s a decision that goes far beyond the Patriots. Sure, there are nuances.

In the allegations against Diggs, there are no photographs of bruises. No third-party witnesses. It seems to be a classic case of he-said, she-said. Does it matter that the apparent victim didn’t alert police until Dec. 16 – two weeks after the incident – and didn’t decide to press charges until Dec. 23?

Sometimes, it takes a while for victims to come forward. And in this case, there are discussions about a potential monetary settlement.

In the meantime, Vrabel insists the fresh revelations are not a distraction for his team.

Yeah, right. No, it shouldn’t interfere with game-planning and practices. Yet the timing of this is less than ideal for the Patriots, with the playoffs looming. And there’s still some level of energy expended on this by the participants and others inside the organization. So, distraction or not, it’s not exactly business as usual – at least not for everyone.

Said Vrabel, “It’s things we have to handle, and every day there’s distractions, some are smaller than others.”

It’s just that this developing issue has the potential of growing into a much bigger distraction for the Patriots – complete with bad optics.

Contact Jarrett Bell at jbell@usatoday.com or follow on X: @JarrettBell

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Lane Kiffin’s foolish pride blinded him to what he had at Ole Miss

  • Former Ole Miss coach Lane Kiffin’s departure for LSU has become a central storyline in the team’s College Football Playoff run.
  • New head coach Pete Golding and offensive coordinator Charlie Weis Jr. have been credited with the team’s continued success.

We’ve reached the point of this Shakespearean tragic comedy where a single, undeniable question must be asked. 

Was it foolish pride that prevented Lane Kiffin from seeing what he had at Ole Miss — or worse, did he even believe it?

Either way, the entire college football world is now an Ole Miss fan. Everyone is on board.

‘Sip on that, Lane Train.

“I don’t want it to end,” new Ole Miss head coach Pete Golding said after the Rebels wrote another chapter of this quickly evolving and beautifully blossoming middle finger of a College Football Playoff opus from Ole Miss to all things Kiffin.

Two games up, two games down. And two more to go before this sublime soliloquy is complete.

The universe has spoken, and let’s just say it’s not a big fan of Kiffin.

In one crazy unthinkable night in the French Quarter, all the wrongs of the last month that felt like 10 years to the betrayed and bewildered Ole Miss community, have one by one been resolved with the sheer, indomitable force of it’s about us, not you.

It’s about a former Division II quarterback, and the assistant coach who recruited and developed him in such a short time this offseason. 

Ole Miss offensive coordinator — wait, or is that LSU offensive coordinator? — Charlie Weis Jr. recruited Trinidad Chambliss as a backup to starter Austin Simmons (Kiffin’s long-running, five-star project), and then got Chambliss ready to play when Simmons was injured in the second game of the season. 

Now Chambliss — not Heisman Trophy winner Fernando Mendoza — looks like the guy who should be hoisting the bronze statue. Now Weis, not Kiffin, looks like the architect of this dangerously devastating Ole Miss offense. 

Because he always has been. 

That’s the big misnomer of this story: Weis, not Kiffin, runs the offense and calls the plays at Ole Miss. Has since Kiffin took the job in 2020.

It was Weis who walked into Kiffin’s office at LSU last month, and told him — in the spirit of all great Shakespearean tragic comedies — he had deep, emotional conflict about leaving the Ole Miss players to fend for themselves in the CFP.  Told Kiffin he couldn’t do it, and not that he wanted to help the Ole Miss players — but that he had to help them. 

A 32-year-old assistant coach stepping forward as the only adult in the room, while a university and its former coach aired a bitter, publicly divorce for all to see.

A source with direct knowledge of the situation, speaking on the condition of anonymity, told USA TODAY Sports that Weis will continue coaching Ole Miss in the Fiesta Bowl semifinal against Miami. But this story isn’t just about the unique Weis dynamic.

It’s also about Ole Miss athletic director Keith Carter, who stood firm in the face of criticism he was willfully tanking the greatest season in school history out of spite. He wasn’t letting Kiffin coach this team in the CFP, and you better believe that reality — in Carter’s heart of hearts — was the baseline factor for every single move he made during the separation process. 

This wasn’t about Kiffin recruiting the Ole Miss roster as the LSU coach, it was about Kiffin walking away from a job that would pay him whatever he wanted, and — in this new era of player procurement — could produce a national champion just as easily as LSU could.

Kiffin’s decision was a slap in the face to Ole Miss. There’s no chance he was coaching this team in the CFP. 

So Kiffin walked away from a team that’s now two wins from winning the whole damn thing — for a program that just fired a coach for winning 34 games in three and a half seasons.

It’s about Golding, the career Group of Five and NCAA lower division assistant that former Alabama coach Nick Saban hand-picked to run his defense in Tuscaloosa. Kiffin eventually hired Golding at Ole Miss in 2023, and it should come as no surprise that a defense that couldn’t get off the field in Kiffin’s first three seasons, is a critical component to 34 wins since.

So yeah, it wasn’t that difficult for Carter to see what he had in Golding after Kiffin decided to drop everything he had built and leave for LSU. Wasn’t a stretch to see what could be in raging storm of what is.

It’s about a loyal and unwavering Ole Miss community and its deep-pocket boosters, who did everything Kiffin wanted and built an NIL war chest for Kiffin to compete with the likes of LSU. No one in the SEC was going to outspend Ole Miss, and frankly, no one did.

It was simply a matter of Kiffin building a product that attracted elite players, and when he finally did and had the program primed for greatness, ego and the desire for more finally got the best of a coach who had turned around his wayward life off the field within the safe embrace of Oxford.

But this Shakespearean tragic comedy isn’t over, everyone. Not by a long shot. 

Profound loss has been followed by restoration. Elite, high-status characters have been humbled with magical (CFP) moments.

The only thing left is the cyclical nature of life. Death to joy, despair to rebirth. 

The entire college football world is an Ole Miss fan now, united in its desire to see one man get his just comeuppance. 

A villain by necessity, a fool by heavenly compulsion. 

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House GOP critics break with Trump over Venezuela operation that captured Maduro

President Donald Trump’s House GOP critics are ripping the administration’s operation in Venezuela that resulted in the capture of the country’s president, Nicolás Maduro.

Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., was the first to criticize the Trump administration’s operation in Venezuela, again breaking from the majority of his party and butting heads with the commander-in-chief.

Massie, a longtime critic of U.S. foreign intervention, appeared to question the legality of the federal government’s Venezuela strikes.

‘If this action were constitutionally sound, the Attorney General wouldn’t be tweeting that they’ve arrested the President of a sovereign country and his wife for possessing guns in violation of a 1934 U.S. firearm law,’ Massie posted to X on Saturday morning.

The Department of Justice (DOJ) unsealed a four-count indictment against Maduro after Trump confirmed the U.S. took custody of the Venezuelan leader and his wife following strikes in the capital of Caracas.

Attorney General Pam Bondi said in a statement those charges were ‘Narco-Terrorism Conspiracy, Cocaine Importation Conspiracy, Possession of Machineguns and Destructive Devices, and Conspiracy to Possess Machineguns and Destructive Devices against the United States.’

It’s not immediately clear what Maduro’s wife, Celia Flores, has been charged with.

In a follow-up posted on the charges, Massie said, ’25-page indictment but no mention of fentanyl or stolen oil. Search it for yourself.’

Trump said on Fox News that Maduro and Flores were being flown to the U.S.S. Iwo Jima, which will bring them to the U.S. where they will face criminal proceedings led by the Southern District of New York.

Massie’s criticism was followed by scathing comments by Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., another Trump critic who is retiring from Congress early next week before finishing her term.

‘If U.S. military action and regime change in Venezuela was really about saving American lives from deadly drugs, then why hasn’t the Trump admin taken action against Mexican cartels? And if prosecuting narco terrorists is a high priority, then why did President Trump pardon the former Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernández, who was convicted and sentenced for 45 years for trafficking hundreds of tons of cocaine into America?’ part of Greene’s statement read.

‘The next obvious observation is that by removing Maduro this is a clear move for control over Venezuelan oil supplies that will ensure stability for the next obvious regime change war in Iran. And of course, why is it ok for America to militarily invade, bomb, and arrest a foreign leader, but Russia is evil for invading Ukraine and China is bad for aggression against Taiwan? Is it only ok if we do it? (I’m not endorsing Russia or China).’

Meanwhile, Rep. Don Bacon, R-Neb., praised the operation itself but expressed concerns about what precedent is being set.

‘My main concern now is that Russia will use this to justify their illegal and barbaric military actions against Ukraine, or China to justify an invasion of Taiwan,’ Bacon said in a statement. ‘Freedom and rule of law were defended last night, but dictators will try to exploit this to rationalize their selfish objectives.’

Bacon is also retiring from Congress, but unlike Greene, he is serving out his full term.

The vast majority of Republican lawmakers unequivocally backed the operation, as expected. 

Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., and House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., both said they expected congressional briefings from the Trump administration in the coming days when lawmakers return from a two-week recess. 

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María Corina Machado, Venezuelan opposition urge military to back power transfer after Maduro capture

Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado issued an open call for a transfer of power Saturday, urging the military to abandon Nicolás Maduro’s government and recognize opposition-backed candidate Edmundo González as president after the U.S. said Maduro had been captured.

Machado’s statement came hours after President Donald Trump announced that U.S. forces had captured Maduro following what he described as ‘large-scale’ military strikes targeting the Venezuelan government. Trump said Maduro and his wife were flown out of the country, a move that would mark the most direct U.S. military action against a Latin American head of state in decades.

‘The hour of freedom has arrived,’ wrote in a post on X. ‘This is the hour of the citizens. Those of us who risked everything for democracy on July 28th. Those of us who elected Edmundo González Urrutia as the legitimate President of Venezuela, who must immediately assume his constitutional mandate and be recognized as Commander-in-Chief of the National Armed Forces by all the officers and soldiers who comprise it.’

It remained unclear Saturday whether senior commanders have shifted allegiance or whether the opposition has secured control of state institutions.

Machado also called on Venezuelans inside the country to remain ‘vigilant, active and organized,’ signaling that further instructions would be communicated through official opposition channels. To Venezuelans abroad, she urged immediate mobilization to pressure foreign governments to recognize a new leadership in Caracas.

The U.S. conducted strikes on Caracas early Saturday morning and took Maduro and his wife into custody and flew them to New York to face drug trafficking charges.

Machado and González have repeatedly argued that the July 28 presidential election was stolen, pointing to an opposition-run parallel vote count that they say shows González won by a wide margin.

Venezuela’s electoral authorities, which are controlled by Maduro allies, declared him the winner with just under 52% of the vote, compared with roughly 43% for González. The government has rejected allegations of fraud.

The opposition, however, says it collected and published tally sheets from polling stations nationwide showing González received about two-thirds of the vote, compared with roughly 30% for Maduro — a claim cited by several foreign governments that declined to recognize the official results.

Maduro’s government has refused to release detailed precinct-level data to independently verify the outcome, further fueling accusations that the election did not reflect the will of voters.

While González is the opposition-backed presidential candidate, Machado has remained the dominant figure in Venezuela’s opposition movement. Machado won the opposition’s primary by a landslide before being barred from running by Maduro’s government, forcing the coalition to rally behind González as a substitute candidate.

Throughout the campaign, González publicly acknowledged Machado as the movement’s leader, with Machado continuing to direct strategy, messaging and voter mobilization efforts. Machado has remained the public face of the opposition, while González has largely played a formal, constitutional role tied to the presidency.

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Trump vows US will ‘run’ Venezuela until ‘safe’ transition of power

President Donald Trump said the United States is ‘going to run the country’ in Venezuela until what he described as a safe, proper and judicious transition can take place.

Trump framed the role as temporary but necessary, saying the U.S. does not want to allow ‘somebody else get in’ before conditions are stable. He said the goal is peace, liberty and justice for Venezuelans, including those who have fled to the United States and hope to return home.

‘We’re going to run the country until such time as we can do a safe, proper and judicious transition,’ Trump said. 

He also warned the U.S. is prepared to escalate further if needed, saying, ‘We are ready to stage a second and much larger attack,’ and that American forces remain in position. ‘We’re there now, and we’re going to stay until such time as the proper transition can take place,’ Trump said.

Trump spoke during a news conference Saturday hours after U.S. special forces bombed Caracas and captured dictator Nicolas Maduro and his wife Cilia Flores, taking them to New York to face drug trafficking charges. 

Trump said the U.S. plans to directly manage Venezuela alongside partners while rebuilding the country’s oil sector. ‘We’re going to be running it with a group, and we’re going to make sure it’s run properly,’ Trump said. ‘We’re going to rebuild the oil infrastructure, which will cost billions of dollars. It’ll be paid for by the oil companies directly… and we’re going to get the oil flowing the way it should be.’ He said the U.S. would ensure Venezuelans are ‘taken care of,’ including those ‘forced out of Venezuela by this thug.’

Pressed on whether U.S. forces would remain inside the country, Trump did not rule out a sustained troop presence. ‘They always say boots on the ground — so we’re not afraid of boots on the ground if we have to,’ he said, confirming U.S. troops were already involved ‘at a very high level’ during the operation. 

Trump repeated that the U.S. intends to stay and retain control, saying, ‘We’re there now. We’re ready to go again if we have to. We’re going to run the country… very judiciously, very fairly.’ He added that the U.S. was prepared to launch another attack if necessary and accused Venezuela’s former leadership of stealing American-built oil infrastructure, saying, ‘We’re late, but we did something about it.’

Asked whether the U.S. would back opposition leader María Corina Machado or work with Venezuela’s newly sworn-in vice president, Trump signaled flexibility. He noted the vice president had been ‘picked by Maduro,’ but said U.S. officials were already engaging with her. ‘She’s essentially willing to do what we think is necessary to make Venezuela great,’ Trump said, adding that the issue was being handled directly by his team.

Trump continued, ‘She was quite gracious, but she really doesn’t have a choice. We’re going to have this done right. We’re not going to just do this when they leave like everybody else, leave and say, you know, let it go to hell. If we just left, it has zero chance of ever coming back. We’ll run it properly. We’ll run it professionally. We’ll have the greatest oil companies in the world go in and invest billions and billions of dollars and take out money. Use that money in Venezuela. And the biggest beneficiary are going to be the people of Venezuela.’

Trump was asked by another reporter, ‘Why is running a country in South America ‘America first’?’

Trump replied: ‘We want to surround ourselves with good neighbors. We want to surround ourselves with stability. We want to surround ourselves with energy. We have tremendous energy in that country. It’s very important that we protect it.’

U.S. efforts to run or oversee political transitions in foreign countries have frequently encountered setbacks in recent years, highlighting the uncertainty surrounding Trump’s approach to Venezuela.

The last time the U.S. intervened militarily to remove a leader in Latin America was Panama in 1989, when American forces ousted dictator Manuel Noriega. While the operation succeeded quickly, it was followed by long-term challenges in stabilizing governance.

While the invasion quickly removed Manuel Noriega, it resulted in significant civilian harm. Estimates of civilian deaths vary widely, and entire neighborhoods — most notably El Chorrillo in Panama City — were heavily damaged, leaving thousands homeless. This complicated post-invasion stabilization and fueled lingering resentment among parts of the population.

But after years of soaring hyperinflation that wiped out savings, hollowed out wages and fueled mass migration, some U.S. officials — and many Venezuelans — believe virtually anyone who comes to power would be better than Nicolás Maduro. Venezuelans inside the country and those who fled to the United States were seen celebrating in the streets during moments of heightened U.S. pressure, according to videos that circulated widely on social media.

Venezuelan opposition leaders Edmundo González Urrutia and his running mate Machado have positioned themselves as the alternative to President Nicolás Maduro, insisting they won last year’s presidential election despite the government’s declaration of Maduro as the victor.

Machado, who was barred from holding office by the Maduro-appointed high court, threw her support behind González as a unity candidate, while the opposition and several international observers rejected the official results as fraudulent.

González has since left Venezuela amid pressure from the Maduro government, while Machado’s present whereabouts is unknown, urging continued domestic and international pressure to force a political transition.

After the capture, Machado called on Venezuela’s armed forces to recognize opposition candidate Edmundo González Urrutia as the country’s ‘legitimate president’ and commander-in-chief, while declaring the opposition is prepared to ‘assert our mandate and take power.’ In a defiant statement, she said ‘the hour of freedom has arrived,’ argued President Nicolás Maduro now faces international justice, and urged Venezuelans at home and abroad to mobilize as what she described as the final phase of a democratic transition.

Asked about the U.S.’s track record of ousting dictators, Trump replied: ‘That’s when we had different presidents … That’s not with me. We’ve had a perfect track record of winning. We win a lot and we win. If you look at Soleimani, you look at al-Baghdadi, you look at the Midnight Hammer, Midnight Hammer was incredible … So, with me, you’ve had a lot of a lot of victory. You’ve had only victories, you’ve had no losses yet.’

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Lenny Dykstra facing drug charges following traffic stop, police say

Former MLB star Lenny Dykstra is facing drug charges after a traffic stop on Jan. 1, according to Pennsylvania State Police records.

The 62-year-old was the passenger in a 2015 GMC Sierra that was pulled over by a Blooming Grove Patrol Unit in Pike County, Pennsylvania.

According to the incident details, ‘Troopers conducted a traffic stop for motor vehicle code violations’ and Dykstra ‘was found to be in possession of narcotics and narcotic related equipment/paraphernalia.’

The incident report concluded with ‘Charges to be filed.’

The driver of the car was not identified.

Dykstra’s lawyer, Matthew Blit, said in a statement to The Associated Press that the former baseball player ‘was not accused of being under the influence of a substance at the scene.’

The three-time All-Star previously faced drug and terroristic threat charges, but a judge dropped them in 2019. Police had said they found Dykstra with cocaine, MDMA and marijuana in his possession following a 2018 altercation with an Uber driver.

Dykstra also had served time in a California prison for bankruptcy fraud. He was released in 2013.

The California native spent 12 seasons in MLB, playing for the New York Mets and Philadelphia Phillies.

The center fielder was a three-time All-Star, a Silver Slugger winner and won the 1986 World Series with the Mets.

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What’s next for Jake Paul and his broken jaw?

Jake Paul has crossed a threshold two weeks after surgery to repair his broken jaw, provided he has not developed complications.

He had the surgery Dec. 20, the day after Anthony Joshua broke Paul’s jaw in two places with the knockout punch that ended their heavyweight fight in Miami – and cast some doubt on Paul’s career.

Although Paul said he’ll box again, he has provided no update on his recovery from a procedure in which two titanium plates and screws were inserted on both sides of his mouth. But two doctors with expertise in corrective jaw surgeries talked to USA TODAY Sports about the situation and offered insight into what Paul might be experiencing.

“Once we get past the 10-day mark and everything’s been squeaky clean, the risk of infection should be pretty close to zero,’’ said Neal Futran, director of head and neck surgery at the Washington School of Medicine. “The risk of plate fracture either short- or long-term is in a couple of percentage points, if that.’’

Neeraj Panchal, an oral and maxillofacial surgeon, said he typically sees patients a week or two after the surgery.

“I would expect that they would still probably have some degree of numbness,’’ said Panchal, the section chief of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery at Penn Presbyterian Medical Center. “I think we would see probably a pretty significant resolution in the swelling. The initial first couple weeks of swelling’s significant.’’

When can Jake Paul box again?

Paul could begin exercise within six weeks of the surgery. according to Futran. He cited the titanium plates and screws, which are used to heal and fuse the jawbones and inserted into Paul’s mouth during his procedure.

“Typically with using plates and screws, we would get decent kind of bony union within six weeks as long as things heal,’’ Futran said. “So you can definitely have light contact.

“Obviously, you want to avoid potential major blows to the jaw for two to three months. But as far as activity exercise and things like that, that are non-contact, those can be resumed any time.”

To allow the bones adequate time to heal, Panchal said, he would prefer to wait at least three to four months before Paul resumes taking risk of facial impact.

“A more conservative approach would be closer to six months, but the decision ultimately depends on his treating physician and the radiographic evidence of healing,” Panchal said.

The baseball sensation

Hours after Paul had the jaw surgery, he made an appearance on his brother’s podcast. Logan Paul asked him what his jaw felt like.

“It’s like a baseball in there,’’ Jake Paul said.

The sensation is no surprise to the doctors.

“The primary reason he perceives the sensation of a baseball in his mouth is, first, due to the swelling,” Panchal said. “Additionally, when these fractures occur or are repaired, the nerves supplying the lower lip and chin are often exposed or stretched, which commonly results in temporary numbness. Sensory recovery can take a significant amount of time.”

Said Futran: “Certainly the first five to seven days, it’s just part of it. But as we get from the two- to six-week mark, we really expect things to actually improve, versus you’ve had the surgery, you’re getting through that first few days of pain and discomfort. We would want ideally for things to be moving in a general trajectory of healing.”

A liquid diet and pureed foods for Paul is probably over, or ending. But pork ribs aren’t on the menu yet.

For now, Panchal said, Paul will have to continue a diet of smoothies and soft food.

“The challenge with a non‑chew diet is that patients typically struggle to consume their usual caloric intake,” he said. “They must rely heavily on calorie‑dense liquids such as smoothies, protein shakes, and other soft, non-chewable options to maintain adequate nutrition.”

At about the two-month mark, Panchal said, softer proteins, such as flaky fish, can be introduced to the diet. That’s followed by chicken and more substantial food.

Although soft foods are used in part to reduce the chances of breaking the titanium plates, Futran downplayed the risk.

“The bone is actually healing around the plate,’’ he said. “So if there’s union or healing of the bone, the plate’s not going to break. And even if it does crack or something, it’s not going to be a problem.

“In those cases where this type of treatment fails, you actually kind of go back in and put on a stronger plate to overcome the forces and you need a little bone graft and things like that. So, there’s lots of ways to fix this in case there’s a failure.’’

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