Tampa Bay Buccaneers quarterback Baker Mayfield (6) throws a pass during the first half of an NFL football game against the Carolina Panthers Saturday, Jan. 3, 2026, in Tampa, Fla. (AP Photo/Chris O'Meara)2026-01-04T00:30:42Z TAMPA, Fla. (AP) Baker Mayfield and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers find themselves in the uncomfortable position of rooting for the New Orleans Saints. The Carolina Panthers are pulling for the Atlanta Falcons.The winner of the NFC South will have a losing record and be crowned at home watching on television. Mayfield threw a touchdown pass to Cade Otton, Chase McLaughlin kicked three field goals and the Buccaneers avoided elimination with a sloppy 16-14 victory over the Carolina Panthers on a rain-soaked Saturday.The Buccaneers (8-9) need New Orleans (6-10) to beat or tie Atlanta (7-9) on Sunday to clinch a fifth straight NFC South title.If the Falcons win, the Panthers (8-9) will secure their first division championship since coach Ron Rivera and quarterback Cam Newton led them to a 15-1 record and a Super Bowl appearance 10 years ago. The Buccaneers hold a two-team tiebreaker over the Panthers. But Carolina holds the three-team tiebreaker over Tampa Bay if Atlanta also finishes 8-9.I never thought Id see a day where Im rooting for the Saints, Bucs veteran linebacker Lavonte David said. Before the Bucs faced New Orleans in October, Mayfield accused the Saints of dirty play and said: I do not like them.Now, Tampa Bays playoff hopes hinge on the Saints beating the Falcons on the road on Sunday.A tie still gets us in, Mayfield said with a smirk. Bucs coach Todd Bowles plans to watch the game at home. Mayfield said some players might have a watch party. I think well all be on the edge of our seats, Panthers coach Dave Canales said. Hoping for the Falcons to come through, but at the same time, at least we have that hope to look at. We have to look at ourselves and we have to make sure that in these championship moments that we play our best.The Buccaneers were 0-8 in games where Mayfield threw an interception before overcoming his ninth pick in the last eight games. It was a gutsy performance, Bowles said. We gave ourselves a chance. Its all we can ask for.After McLaughlins 38-yard field-goal try was blocked with just over five minutes remaining, Carolina got within 16-14 on Bryce Youngs 8-yard TD pass to Jalen Coker with 2:27 left.Mayfield tossed a short pass to Otton for a 20-yard gain on third-and-4 to extend Tampa Bays drive and run off more time. The Panthers got the ball back at their 3 with 18 seconds and no timeouts left. The game ended on a desperate series of laterals that resulted in a fumble.Mayfield connected with Otton on an 18-yard TD pass for a 7-0 lead as the Bucs scored a touchdown on their opening drive for the third straight game. It was Ottons first TD of the season.Down 10-0, the Panthers turned Christian Rozebooms interception into a quick score. Rozeboom returned the pick 20 yards to Tampa Bays 19. Young then connected with Tommy Tremble on an 8-yard TD pass to cut it to 10-7.Jacob Parrish picked off Young late in the second half and the Buccaneers got a 36-yard field goal from McLaughlin to take a 13-7 halftime lead. McLaughlin kicked a 48-yard field goal early in the fourth to extend Tampa Bays lead.Carolinas Ryan Fitzgerald missed a 54-yarder short on the opening drive of the third quarter.Mayfield completed his first six passes before misfiring on a cross-field, 13-yard toss to Payne Durham, who was wide open in the end zone. The Bucs settled for McLaughlins 29-yard field goal and a 10-0 lead.End of an eraGene Deckerhoff, the voice of the Buccaneers for 37 years on radio, is retiring after the season. Six-time Pro Bowl wide receiver Mike Evans and David could have played their last game with the Buccaneers and possibly in the NFL if they choose to retire.David was a second-round pick in 2012, made one Pro Bowl, was a first-team All-Pro once and second team All-Pro twice.Evans, the No. 7 overall pick in 2014, had a 1,000-yard season every year of his career until this one, when he broke his clavicle in October and missed several games.InjuriesPanthers: DT Bobby Brown III (head) left the game to be evaluated for a concussion.Buccaneers: LB Anthony Walker (ankle) was injured on the opening kickoff. ... CB Jamel Dean (shoulder) and OLB Anthony Nelson (knee) didnt play. ... DT Calijah Kancey (pectoral) was active for the first time since Week 2. Up nextPanthers: Host a wild-card game or start the offseason.Buccaneers: Host a wild-card game or start the offseason.___AP NFL: https://apnews.com/hub/nfl ROB MAADDI Maaddi is senior NFL writer for The Associated Press. Hes covered the league for 24 years, including the first two decades as the Eagles beat writer. mailto RSShttps://feedx.net https://feedx.site

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The operation revives disputes over the legality of the 1989 Panama intervention, enhanced by President Trumps vow to run Venezuela and Nicols Maduros formal status as president.

Supporters of Venezuelan President Nicols Maduro embrace in downtown Caracas, Venezuela, Saturday, Jan. 3, 2026, after U.S. President Donald Trump announced that Maduro had been captured and flown out of the country. (AP Photo/Cristian Hernandez)2026-01-04T06:26:32Z CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) Deposed Venezuelan leader Nicols Maduro arrived in the United States to face criminal charges after being captured in an audacious nighttime military operation that President Donald Trump said would set the U.S. up to run the South American country and tap its vast oil reserves to sell to other nations.Maduro landed Saturday evening at a small airport in New York following the middle-of-the-night operation that extracted him and his wife, Cilia Flores, from their home in a military base in the capital city of Caracas an act that Maduros government called imperialist. The couple faces U.S. charges of participating in a narco-terrorism conspiracy.The dramatic action capped an intensive Trump administration pressure campaign on Venezuelas autocratic leader and months of secret planning, resulting in the most assertive American action to achieve regime change since the 2003 invasion of Iraq. Legal experts raised questions about the lawfulness of the operation, which was done without congressional approval. Venezuelas vice president, Delcy Rodriguez, meanwhile, demanded that the United States free Maduro and called him the countrys rightful leader as her nations high court named her interim president. Some Venezuelan civilians and members of the military were killed, said Rodrguez, who didnt give a number. Trump said some U.S. forces were injured, but none were killed.Speaking to reporters hours after Maduros capture, Trump revealed his plans to exploit the leadership void to fix the countrys oil infrastructure and sell large amounts of oil to other countries. Trump says US will run the countryThe Trump administration promoted the ouster as a step toward reducing the flow of dangerous drugs into the U.S. The president touted what he saw as other potential benefits, including a leadership stake in the country and greater control of oil.Trump claimed the U.S. government would help lead the country and was already doing so, though there were no immediate visible signs of that. Venezuelan state TV aired pro-Maduro propaganda and broadcast live images of supporters taking to the streets in Caracas in protest.Were going to run the country until such time as we can do a safe, proper and judicious transition, Trump said at a Mar-a-Lago news conference. He boasted that this extremely successful operation should serve as warning to anyone who would threaten American sovereignty or endanger American lives.Maduro and other Venezuelan officials were indicted in 2020 on narco-terrorism conspiracy charges, and the Justice Department released a new indictment Saturday of Maduro and his wife that painted his administration as a corrupt, illegitimate government fueled by a drug-trafficking operation that flooded the U.S with cocaine. The U.S. government does not recognize Maduro as the countrys leader.The Trump administration spent months building up American forces in the region and carrying out attacks on boats in the Caribbean Sea and eastern Pacific Ocean for allegedly ferrying drugs. Last week, the CIA was behind a drone strike at a docking area believed to have been used by Venezuelan drug cartels the first known direct operation on Venezuelan soil since the U.S. campaign began in September. Early morning attackTaking place 36 years to the day after the 1990 surrender and seizure of Panama leader Manuel Antonio Noriega following a U.S. invasion, the Venezuela operation unfolded under the cover of darkness early Saturday. Trump said the U.S. turned off almost all of the lights in Caracas while forces moved in to extract Maduro and his wife.Gen. Dan Caine, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said U.S. forces had rehearsed their maneuvers for months, learning everything about Maduro where he was and what he ate, as well as details of his pets and his clothes.We think, we develop, we train, we rehearse, we debrief, we rehearse again and again, Caine said. Not to get it right, but to ensure we cannot get it wrong.Multiple explosions rang out that morning, and low-flying aircraft swept through Caracas. Maduros government accused the United States of hitting civilian and military installations, calling it an imperialist attack and urging citizens to take to the streets. The explosions at least seven blasts sent people rushing into the streets, while others took to social media to report what they saw and heard. Under Venezuelan law, Rodrguez would take over from Maduro. Rodrguez, however, stressed during a Saturday appearance on state television that she did not plan to assume power, before Venezuelas high court ordered that she become interim president.There is only one president in Venezuela, Rodriguez said, and his name is Nicols Maduro Moros. Some streets in Caracas fill upVenezuelas ruling party has held power since 1999, when Maduros predecessor, Hugo Chvez, took office, promising to uplift poor people and later to implement a self-described socialist revolution.Maduro took over when Chvez died in 2013. His 2018 reelection was widely considered a sham because the main opposition parties were banned from participating. During the 2024 election, electoral authorities loyal to the ruling party declared him the winner hours after polls closed, but the opposition gathered overwhelming evidence that he lost by a more than 2-to-1 margin.In a demonstration of how polarizing Maduro is, people variously took to the streets to protest his capture, while others celebrated it. At a protest in the Venezuelan capital, Caracas, Mayor Carmen Melndez joined a crowd demanding Maduros return.Maduro, hold on, the people are rising up! the crowd chanted. We are here, Nicols Maduro. If you can hear us, we are here!In other parts of the city, the streets were empty hours after the attack.How do I feel? Scared, like everyone, said Caracas resident Noris Prada, who sat on an empty avenue looking at his phone. Venezuelans woke up scared. Many families couldnt sleep.In Doral, Florida, home to the largest Venezuelan community in the United States, people wrapped themselves in Venezuelan flags, ate fried snacks and cheered as music played. At one point, the crowd chanted Liberty! Liberty! Liberty!Questions of legality lingerWhether the United States violated any laws, international or otherwise, was still a question early Sunday. There are a number of international legal concepts which the United States might have broken by capturing Maduro, said Ilan Katz, an international law analyst. In New York, the U.N. Security Council, acting on an emergency request from Colombia, planned to hold a meeting on U.S. operations in Venezuela on Monday morning. That was according to a council diplomat, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss a meeting not yet made public.Lawmakers from both American political parties have raised reservations and flat-out objections to the U.S. attacks on boats suspected of drug smuggling. Congress has not approved an authorization for the use of military force for such operations in the region.Connecticut Rep. Jim Himes, the top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, said he had seen no evidence that would justify Trump striking Venezuela without approval from Congress and demanded an immediate briefing by the administration on its plan to ensure stability in the region and its legal justification for this decision.___Toropin and Tucker reported from Washington. Associated Press writers Jorge Rueda in Caracas, Venezuela; Lisa Mascaro, Michelle L. Price, Seung Min Kim and Alanna Durkin Richer in Washington; Farnoush Amiri in New York; and Larry Neumeister in South Amboy, New Jersey, contributed to this report. ERIC TUCKER Tucker covers national security in Washington for The Associated Press, with a focus on the FBI and Justice Department. twitter mailto

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Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy speaks during a briefing in Kyiv, Ukraine, Saturday, Jan. 3, 2026. (AP Photo/Danylo Antoniuk)2026-01-04T09:22:34Z One person was killed and two others wounded when a Ukrainian drone struck a car in the Russian border region of Belgorod, local officials said Sunday, ahead of peace talks to end the nearly 4-year-old war in Paris this week.Belgorod regional Gov. Vyacheslav Gladkov said a young child was among the wounded.In Ukraine, three people were wounded in the Kharkiv region in drone strikes overnight into Sunday, the countrys State Emergency Service said.Meanwhile, the death toll from a Russian missile attack on the city of Kharkiv on Friday increased to four when two other bodies were found under the rubble of a building, Kharkiv regional head Oleh Syniehubov wrote on Telegram Sunday.The latest attacks came after national security advisers from Europe and other allies visited Kyiv on Saturday to discuss security guarantees and economic support, as a U.S.-led diplomatic push to end the war in Ukraine intensifies. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, preparing to travel to Paris for a meeting with partners, said Saturday that work on the peace proposals could now accelerate as Ukraine has shared all documents under discussion with the 18 national security advisers, including those on security guarantees. He said representatives from Ukraines General Staff and military sector would meet on Monday in Paris, followed by a meeting Tuesday of European leaders, where he said he hoped documents on security guarantees would be finalized. He said there also would be meetings with U.S. representatives in Paris.___Follow APs coverage of the war in Ukraine at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine

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Heres what you need to know about the U.S. incursion into Venezuela.

The raid that extracted President Nicols Maduro was the culmination of a monthslong campaign by President Trump and his aides.

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Members of the media gather outside the Metropolitan Detention Center where captured Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro is being held, Saturday, Jan. 3, 2026, in New York. (AP Photo/Yuki Iwamura)2026-01-04T05:10:26Z NEW YORK (AP) A newly unsealed U.S. Justice Department indictmen t accuses captured Venezuelan President Nicols Maduro of running a corrupt, illegitimate government fueled by an extensive drug-trafficking operation that flooded the U.S. with thousands of tons of cocaine. The arrest of Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, in a stunning military operation early Saturday in Venezuela sets the stage for a major test for U.S. prosecutors as they seek to secure a conviction in a Manhattan courtroom against the longtime leader of the oil-rich South American nation.Attorney General Pam Bondi said in a post on X that Maduro and Flores will soon face the full wrath of American justice on American soil in American courts.Heres a look at the accusations against Maduro and the charges he faces: Maduro faces drugs and weapons charges Maduro is charged alongside his wife, his son and three others. Maduro is indicted on four counts: narco-terrorism conspiracy, cocaine importation conspiracy, possession of machine guns and destructive devices and conspiracy to possess machine guns and destructive devices. Maduro is facing the same charges as in an earlier indictment brought against him in Manhattan federal court in 2020, during the first Trump presidency. The new indictment unsealed Saturday, which adds charges against Flores, was filed under seal in the Southern District of New York just before Christmas. It was not immediately clear when Maduro and Flores would make their first appearance at the courthouse in Manhattan. A video posted Saturday night on social media by a White House account showed Maduro, smiling, as he was escorted through a U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration office in New York by two federal agents grasping his arms. He was expected to be detained while awaiting trial at a federal jail in Brooklyn.Maduro allowed cocaine-fueled corruption to flour ish, US says The indictment accuses Maduro of partnering with some of the most violent and prolific drug traffickers and narco-terrorists in the world to allow for the shipment of thousands of tons of cocaine into the U.S. Authorities allege powerful and violent drug-trafficking organizations, such as the Sinaloa Cartel and Tren de Aragua gang, worked directly with the Venezuelan government and then sent profits to high-ranking officials who helped and protected them in exchange. But a U.S. intelligence assessment published in April, which drew on input from the 18 agencies that comprise the intelligence community, found no coordination between Tren de Aragua and the Venezuelan government.Maduro allowed cocaine-fueled corruption to flourish for his own benefit, for the benefit of members of his ruling regime, and for the benefit of his family members, the indictment alleges. U.S. authorities allege that Maduro and his family provided law enforcement cover and logistical support to cartels moving drugs throughout the region, resulting in as much as 250 tons of cocaine trafficked through Venezuela annually by 2020, according to the indictment. Drugs were moved on go-fast vessels, fishing boats and container ships or on planes from clandestine airstrips, the indictment says. This cycle of narcotics-based corruption lines the pockets of Venezuelan officials and their families while also benefiting violent narco-terrorists who operate with impunity on Venezuelan soil and who help produce, protect, and transport tons of cocaine to the United States, the indictment says. Successive U.S. administrations have warned about Venezuelas role as a transit point for cocaine and a haven for criminal gangs, terrorist groups and drug-smuggling leftist rebels from neighboring Colombia. While reliable data is hard to ascertain, the vast majority of cocaine departs South America from Colombia and Ecuador, making its way northward through the eastern Pacific Ocean, not the Caribbean.Allegations of bribes and orders of kidnappings and murders The U.S. accuses Maduro and his wife of ordering kidnappings, beatings and murders against those who owed them drug money or otherwise undermined their drug trafficking operation. That includes the killing of a local drug boss in Caracas, according to the indictment. Maduros wife is also accused of accepting hundreds of thousands of dollars in bribes in 2007 to arrange a meeting between a large-scale drug trafficker and the director of Venezuelas National Anti-Drug Office. In a corrupt deal, the drug trafficker then agreed to pay a monthly bribe to the director of the anti-drug office as well as about $100,000 for each cocaine-carrying flight to ensure the flights safe passage. Some of that money then went to Maduros wife, the indictment says. Nephews of Maduros wife were heard during recorded meetings with confidential U.S. government sources in 2015 agreeing to send multi-hundred-kilogram cocaine shipments from Maduros presidential hanger at a Venezuelan airport. The nephews during the recorded meetings explained that they were at war with the United States, the indictment alleges. They were both sentenced in 2017 to 18 years in prison for conspiring to send tons of cocaine into the U.S. before being released in 2022 as part of a prisoner swap in exchange for seven imprisoned Americans. Operation to capture Maduro was a law enforcement function, Rubio saysDuring a news conference, Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Dan Caine, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, cast the military raid that captured Maduro and his wife as an action carried out on behalf of the Department of Justice. Caine said the operation was made at the request of the Justice Department.Rubio, as he responded to a question about whether Congress had been notified, said the U.S. raid to get the couple was basically a law enforcement function, adding that it was an instance in which the Department of War supported the Department of Justice. He called Maduro a fugitive of American justice with a $50 million reward over his head.___Richer reported from Washington. Associated Press writer Joshua Goodman in Miami contributed to this report. ALANNA DURKIN RICHER Richer covers the Justice Department and federal courts. She joined The AP in 2013 and is based in Washington. twitter

President Donald Trump listens to a question during a news conference at Mar-a-Lago, Saturday, Jan. 3, 2026, in Palm Beach, Fla., as Secretary of State Marco Rubio watches. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)2026-01-04T17:32:55Z WASHINGTON (AP) President Donald Trumps military intervention in Venezuela will pose a fresh test of his ability to hold together a restive Republican coalition during a challenging election year.While most Republicans lined up behind the president in the immediate aftermath of the stunning U.S. mission to capture Venezuelan leader Nicols Maduro and bring him to the United States to face criminal charges, there were signs of unease across the spectrum within the party. In particular, Trumps comments about the U.S. positioning itself to run Venezuela have raised concerns that he is abandoning the America First philosophy that has long distinguished him from more traditional Republicans and helped fuel his political rise. This is the same Washington playbook that we are so sick and tired of that doesnt serve the American people, but actually serves the big corporations, the banks and the oil executives, outgoing GOP Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia, a former Trump ally, told NBCs Meet the Press on Sunday. Those concerns were shared by some who are not as closely aligned with the partys far-right flank. Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick of Pennsylvania, a moderate who is one of the most vulnerable Republicans heading into the November midterms, said in a statement that the only country that the United States of America should be running is the United States of America. Those comments reflect the sensitive dynamics between Trump and his fellow Republicans at the outset of an election year in which their party risks losing control of Congress. While the president remains the undisputed dominant force inside the GOP, the ironclad grip Trump has long held over the party has faced unusual challenges in recent months. Blocs of Republicans have come together to pressure Trump to release the Jeffrey Epstein files. Others have been vocal in encouraging Trump to take concerns about affordability more seriously. Few issues, however, are as central to Trumps political brand as the idea of ensuring that the U.S. does not get entangled in seemingly endless foreign conflicts at the expense of domestic priorities. During a 2016 Republican presidential debate, for instance, he called the Iraq War a big, fat mistake.By Saturday, Trump said he was not afraid of boots on the ground if that was deemed necessary, and he framed his actions in Venezuela as steps that are grounded in prioritizing the safety and security of Americans. As he articulated an aggressive vision of U.S. dominance in the Western Hemisphere, he told reporters it was important to surround the U.S. with good neighbors. His comments about revitalizing the oil industry in Venezuela are in line with some of the earliest critiques he made of the handling of the Iraq War. During a 2013 speech before the Conservative Political Action Conference, Trump said the U.S. should take oil from Iraq and pay ourselves back.Amid some of the pushback about the U.S. taking expansive responsibility for managing Venezuela, Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Sunday suggested a more limited role. He said that Washington would not handle day-to-day governance of the South American country other than enforcing an existing oil quarantine on Venezuela. It is not clear that any forceful, organized opposition to Trumps Venezuela policy is emerging within the GOP. Instead, many lawmakers appear to be giving the Republican administration some room and, at most, offer some warnings. Sen. Susan Collins of Maine, who faces a potentially challenging reelection campaign this year, called Maduro a narco-terrorist and international drug trafficker who should stand trial even, as she said Congress should have been informed about the operation earlier and needs to be involved as this situation evolves.Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., who often criticizes military interventions, did not specifically oppose Trumps actions even as he wrote on X that time will tell if regime change in Venezuela is successful without significant monetary or human cost. Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., who has clashed with Trump and is not seeking reelection this year, said Maduro was a thug and that Trump has broad constitutional authority and long historical precedent for the limited use of military force.___AP Diplomatic Writer Matthew Lee contributed to this report.

U.S. Capitol Police Sgt. Aquilino Gonell wipes his eye as he watches a video being displayed during a House select committee hearing on the Jan. 6 attack on Capitol Hill in Washington, July 27, 2021. (Jim Lo Scalzo/Pool via AP, File)2026-01-04T12:32:35Z WASHINGTON (AP) As Donald Trump was inaugurated for the second time on Jan. 20, 2025, former Capitol Police Sgt. Aquilino Gonell put his phone on do not disturb and left it on his nightstand to take a break from the news. That evening, after Gonell spent time with family and took his dog on a long walk, his phone started to blow up with calls. He had messages from federal prosecutors, FBI agents and the federal Bureau of Prisons all letting him know that the new president had just pardoned about 1,500 people who had been convicted for their actions at the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. The pardons included rioters who had injured Gonell as he and other officers tried to protect the building. They told me that people I testified against were being released from prison, Gonell said. And to be mindful.Gonell was one of the officers who defended the central West Front entrance to the Capitol that day as Congress was certifying Democrat Joe Bidens victory and hundreds of Trumps supporters broke into the building, echoing his false claims of a stolen election. Gonell was dragged into the crowd by his shoulder straps as he tried to fight people off. He almost suffocated. In court, he testified about injuries to his shoulder and foot that still bother him to this day. They have tried to erase what I did with the pardons and other attempts to play down the violent attack, Gonell said. I lost my career, my health, and Ive been trying to get my life back. Five years since the siege, Gonell and some of the other police officers who fought off the rioters are still coming to terms with what happened, especially after Trump was decisively elected to a second term last year and granted those pardons. Their struggle has been compounded by statements from the Republican president and some GOP lawmakers in Congress minimizing the violence that the officers encountered. Its been a difficult year, said Officer Daniel Hodges, a Metropolitan Police Department officer who was also injured as he fought near Gonell in a tunnel on the West Front. Hodges was attacked several times, crushed by the rioters between heavy doors and beaten in the head as he screamed for help. A lot of things are getting worse, Hodges said. An evolving narrative More than 140 police officers were injured during the fighting on Jan. 6, which turned increasingly brutal as the hours wore on. Former Capitol Police Chief Thomas Manger took over the department six months after the riot. He said in a recent interview that many of his officers were angry when he first arrived, not only because of injuries they suffered but also they resented the fact that they didnt have the equipment they needed, the training they needed to deal with the unexpectedly violent crowd. Several officers who fought the rioters told The Associated Press that the hardest thing to deal with has been the effort by many to play down the violence, despite a massive trove of video and photographic evidence documenting the carnage. Trump has called the rioters he pardoned, including those who were most violent toward the police, patriots and hostages. He called their convictions for harming the officers and breaking into the building a grave national injustice. I think that was wrong, Adam Eveland, a former District of Columbia police officer, said of Trumps pardons. If there were to be pardons, Eveland said, Trumps administration should have reviewed every case. Ive had a hard time processing that, said Eveland, who fought the rioters and helped to push them off the Capitol grounds. The pardons erased what little justice there was, said former Capitol Police Officer Winston Pingeon, who was part of the forces Civil Disturbance Unit on Jan. 6. He left the force several months afterward. Pushback from lawmakers and the public Hodges and Gonell have been speaking out about their experiences since July 2021, when they testified before the Democratic-led House committee that investigated Jan 6. Since then, they have received support but also backlash. At a Republican-led Senate hearing in October on political violence, Hodges testified again as a witness called by Democrats. After Hodges spoke about his experience on Jan. 6, Sen. Peter Welch, D-Vt., asked the other witnesses whether they supported Trumps pardons of the rioters, including for those who injured Hodges. Three of the witnesses, all called by Republicans, raised their hands. I dont know how you would say it wasnt violent, says Hodges, who is still a Washington police officer.It has not just been politicians or the rioters who have doubted the police. It also is friends and family.My biggest struggle through the years has been the public perception of it, Eveland said, and navigating conversations with people close to him, including some fellow police officers, who do not think it was a big deal.Its hard for me to wrap my head around that, but ideology is a pretty powerful thing, he said. Improvements in safety and support As police officers struggled in the aftermath, Manger, the former Capitol Police chief, said the department had to figure out how to better support them. There were no wellness or counseling services when he arrived, he said, and they were put in to place. The officers who were there and were in the fight we needed to make sure that they got the help that they needed, Manger said. Manger, who retired in May, also oversaw major improvements to the departments training, equipment, operational planning and intelligence. He said the Capitol is now a great deal safer than it was when he arrived. If that exact same thing happened again, they would have never breached the building, they would have never gotten inside, they would have never disrupted the electoral count, Manger said. Pingeon, the former Capitol Police officer, said he believes the department is in many ways unrecognizable from what it was on Jan. 6 and when he left several months later. It was a wake-up call, he said.Pressing on Pingeon, who was attacked and knocked to the ground as he tried to prevent people from entering the Capitol, said Jan. 6 was part of the reason he left the department and moved home to Massachusetts. He has dealt with his experience by painting images of the Capitol and his time there, as well as advocating for nonviolence. He said he now feels ready to forgive. The real trauma and heartache and everything I endured because of these events, I want to move past it, he said.Gonell left the Capitol Police because of his injuries. He has not returned to service, though he hopes to work again. He wrote a book about his experience, and he said he still has post-traumatic stress disorder related to the attack. While many of the officers who were there have stayed quiet about their experiences, Eveland said he decided that it was important to talk publicly about Jan. 6 to try to reach people and come at it from a logical standpoint. Still, he said, Ive had to come to terms with the fact that just because something happened to me and was a major part of my world doesnt mean that everyone else has to understand that or even be sympathetic to that.He added: The only thing I can do is tell my story, and hopefully the people who respect me will eventually listen.

U.S. Capitol Police Sgt. Aquilino Gonell wipes his eye as he watches a video being displayed during a House select committee hearing on the Jan. 6 attack on Capitol Hill in Washington, July 27, 2021. (Jim Lo Scalzo/Pool via AP, File)2026-01-04T13:29:06Z WASHINGTON (AP) The economy in 2025 was filled with contradictions, as growth was healthy while hiring slowed, inflation stayed elevated and unemployment rose. Last years odd outcomes raise a host of questions for the upcoming year: Will a growing economy eventually boost the sluggish job market? Or are last years weak job gains a sign of a stumbling economy that could get worse? There is another uncomfortable possibility: The economy could keep growing without much hiring, as technology particularly artificial intelligence enables more companies to step up their production of goods and services without adding more workers, leading to a jobless expansion. Adding to the complications, the six-week government shutdown last fall disrupted the collection and publication of economic data, leaving policymakers at the Federal Reserve with a cloudier view of the economy that will only slowly clear up this year. 2026 begins at a time when it is hard to say how 2025 ended, Stephen Stanley, chief economist at Santander, an investment bank, said in a note to clients. Sharp inequality has also meant that wealthier U.S. households account for a rising share of spending, so that even healthy growth figures mask underlying weaknesses among lower-income families what many economists refer to as the K-shaped economy. Still, Stanley, like many economists, is somewhat optimistic: He expects that hiring will pick up on the back of stronger growth fueled by large tax refunds early this year, a result of President Donald Trumps tax cut legislation. Companies may also step up hiring because they face much less uncertainty this year from tariffs. This year could turn out to be a better year, said Federal Reserve governor Christopher Waller last month. Now whether that pulls the labor market along with it, I certainly hope it does.Here are five charts that illustrate the economy in 2025, and where it may be headed. Growth accelerated after a weak startSurveys suggest Americans have a gloomy outlook on the economy, but that hasnt kept many of them from spending at a healthy clip. Solid consumer spending likely fueled mostly by higher-income Americans boosted growth to a 4.3% annual pace in the July-September quarter, a much better than expected showing and the biggest increase in two years. The healthy gain followed two quarters where Trumps tariffs distorted the economy. A surge in imports in the first three months of the year caused the economy to shrink as businesses sought to bring in products from overseas ahead of the duties. Growth likely continued in the final three months of the year, but the government shutdown almost certainly weighed on output, reducing growth by one percentage point, economists forecast. Hiring stayed weak and unemployment roseEven as the economy picked up, hiring did not in fact job gains weakened after Trumps announcement of sweeping tariffs in early April, which he dubbed Liberation Day. The economy even shed jobs in June, August, and October. The unemployment rate, meanwhile, rose from 4% in January to 4.6% in November, highest in four years. Decembers figures will be released Jan. 9. There were several reasons hiring likely slowed: The uncertainty around tariffs, which Trump imposed, then in some cases lowered or removed, or delayed, led many companies to put hiring on hold. Still, layoffs remain low, in what has been a low-hire, low-fire job market. At the same time, the ongoing adoption of artificial intelligence may have led many firms to hold off on adding workers, as they sort out what the new technology can do for them. AI, AI, AI, AI -- that is all I have heard since this summer, Waller said last month, referring to comments he has heard from business executives explaining why they are reluctant to add jobs. Still, there are signs of improvement: Employers cut 105,000 jobs in October, but that was mostly because of a large drop in federal government jobs stemming from the Trump administrations purge of government workers, which didnt formally take effect until that month. Excluding government, businesses added an average of 75,000 jobs a month in the three months ended in November, a significant increase from just 13,000 in the three months ending in August. However, most of the hiring this year has been heavily concentrated in just a few sectors health care, restaurants and hotels, and government (outside of October). Most large private industries have shed jobs. Inflation remained stubbornly highEven though inflation fell sharply in 2023 and 2024 from a four-decade high, there was little improvement last year. Annual inflation, according to the Federal Reserves preferred measure, actually ticked higher to 2.8% in September the latest data available from 2.7% in December 2024. Elevated costs became a potent political issue in races as diverse as governors contests in Virginia and New Jersey and New York Citys mayoral race. All were won by Democrats as Trump found himself grappling with issues of affordability, which he referred to as a hoax.Inflation cooled in November, according to the more widely-followed consumer price index, though economists said the figures were distorted by the government shutdown. Prices were mostly collected in the second half of November, after the shutdown ended, when holiday discounts were more likely to be in effect. Some economists worry inflation will worsen in early 2026, as companies implement annual price changes and pass through more tariff costs. But most expect inflation will continue to slowly cool in 2026 and move closer to the Feds 2% target. CHRISTOPHER RUGABER Rugaber has covered the Federal Reserve and the U.S. economy for the AP for 16 years. He is a two-time finalist for the Gerald Loeb award for business reporting. twitter mailto