FOXBOROUGH, Mass. (AP) — Stefon Diggs said he kept his mind on football after authorities revealed this week that the Patriots wide receiver had been charged with strangulation and other criminal offenses related to an alleged dispute with his former private chef.
Diggs credited that focus with helping him notch a personal milestone as the playoff-bound Patriots closed out the regular season with a 38-10 win over the Miami Dolphins on Sunday.
With a 34-yard reception on the final play of the third quarter, Diggs surpassed 1,000 receiving yards in a season for the seventh time in his career.
It was a satisfying conclusion for the 32-year-old, who tore his right ACL in Week 8 of the 2024 season with the Houston Texans, raising questions about whether he could still be a No. 1 wideout.
“Stay grounded and stay focused. I’ve gotten 1,000 yards before, but this is the most meaningful one that I’ve had, coming off an injury,” Diggs said after he finished with 43 yards on three catches against the Dolphins. “I went into this season trying to be the best teammate and leader that I could be and let the cards fall where they may. I was in a dark space when I was hurt. I couldn’t do the thing that I loved the most, but the grass is definitely greener on the other side. You’ve just got to get there.”
Several Patriots teammates rushed over to congratulate Diggs when he returned to the sideline. As important as he’s been to New England’s offense, the contributions he’s made in the locker room — particularly as a mentor to his fellow receivers — have stood out to coach Mike Vrabel, who noted that Diggs typically sits in the front row during team meetings.
“There’s an energy to him. Been out there and available. He’s taken care of his body,” Vrabel said. “Plus, the production has been fantastic. I’m glad that we have him.”
Through his attorney, Diggs has denied all wrongdoing in the criminal case. He said minimizing the off-field distractions of this past week was easier because of the culture inside New England’s locker room.
“We don’t worry about anything going on outside of football,” Diggs said. “When you come into this building, you put your work hat on and go to work.”
Diggs joined a franchise that was coming off back-to-back four-win seasons. Now, he’s part of a 14-win team that earned the No. 2 seed in the AFC playoffs.
“I knew they had a good, young quarterback. I knew (Vrabel) was an amazing coach and that (offensive coordinator) Josh McDaniels knew how to draw it up," Diggs said. “When I got around the receivers, I was surprised at how gifted they were. I’m excited for the challenges ahead of us.”
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New England Patriots wide receiver Stefon Diggs warms up before an NFL football game against the Miami Dolphins in Foxborough, Mass., Sunday, Jan. 4, 2026. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa)
New England Patriots wide receiver Stefon Diggs catches a pass during the second half of an NFL football game against the Miami Dolphins in Foxborough, Mass., Sunday, Jan. 4, 2026. (AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty)
NEW YORK (AP) — A defiant Nicolás Maduro declared himself the “president of my country” as he protested his capture and pleaded not guilty on Monday to the federal drug trafficking charges that the Trump administration used to justify removing him from power.
“I was captured,” Maduro said in Spanish as translated by a courtroom reporter before being cut off by the judge. Asked later for his plea to the charges, he stated: "“I’m innocent. I am not guilty. I am a decent man, the president of my country.”
The courtroom appearance, Maduro's first since he and his wife were seized from their home in a stunning middle-of-the-night military operation, kick-starts the U.S. government’s most consequential prosecution in decades of a foreign head of state. The criminal case in Manhattan is unfolding against the diplomatic backdrop of an audacious U.S.-engineered regime change that President Donald Trump has said will enable his administration to “run” the South American country.
Maduro, wearing a blue jail uniform, was led into court along with his co-defendant wife just before noon for the brief, but required, legal proceeding. Both put on headsets to hear the English-language proceeding as it is translated into Spanish.
The couple were transported to the Manhattan courthouse under armed guard early Monday from the Brooklyn jail where they've been detained since arriving in the U.S. on Saturday.
The trip was swift. A motorcade carrying Maduro left jail around 7:15 a.m. and made its way to a nearby athletic field, where Maduro slowly made his way to a waiting helicopter. The chopper flew across New York harbor and landed at a Manhattan heliport, where Maduro, limping, was loaded into an armored vehicle.
A few minutes later, the law enforcement caravan was inside a garage at the courthouse complex, just around the corner from the one where Trump was convicted in 2024 of falsifying business records. Across the street from the courthouse, the police separated a small but growing group of protesters from about a dozen pro-intervention demonstrators, including one man who pulled a Venezuelan flag away from those protesting the U.S. action.
As a criminal defendant in the U.S. legal system, Maduro will have the same rights as any other person accused of a crime — including the right to a trial by a jury of regular New Yorkers. But he'll also be nearly — but not quite — unique.
Maduro’s lawyers are expected to contest the legality of his arrest, arguing that he is immune from prosecution as a sovereign head of state.
Panamanian strongman Manuel Noriega unsuccessfully tried the same defense after the U.S. captured him in a similar military invasion in 1990. But the U.S. doesn’t recognize Maduro as Venezuela’s legitimate head of state — particularly after a much-disputed 2024 reelection.
Venezuela’s new interim president, Delcy Rodríguez, has demanded that the U.S. return Maduro, who long denied any involvement in drug trafficking — although late Sunday she also struck a more conciliatory tone in a social media post, inviting collaboration with Trump and “respectful relations” with the U.S.
Before his capture, Maduro and his allies claimed U.S. hostility was motivated by lust for Venezuela’s rich oil and mineral resources.
The U.S. seized Maduro and his wife in a military operation early Saturday, capturing them in their home on a military base. Trump said the U.S. would “run” Venezuela temporarily, but Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Sunday that it would not govern the country day-to-day other than enforcing an existing " oil quarantine."
Trump suggested Sunday that he wants to extend American power further in the Western Hemisphere.
Speaking aboard Air Force One, he called Colombia's president, Gustavo Petro, "a sick man who likes making cocaine and selling it to the United States. And he’s not going to be doing it very long.”
He called on Venezuela's Rodriguez to provide “total access” to her country, or else face consequences.
Trump has suggested that removing Maduro would enable more oil to flow out of Venezuela, but oil prices rose a bit more than 1% in Monday morning trading to roughly $58 a barrel. There are uncertainties about how fast oil production can be ramped up in Venezuela after years of neglect and needed investments, as well as questions about governance and oversight of the sector.
A 25-page indictment made public Saturday accuses Maduro and others of working with drug cartels to facilitate the shipment of thousands of tons of cocaine into the U.S. They could face life in prison if convicted.
He and his wife, Cilia Flores, have been under U.S. sanctions for years, making it illegal for any American to take money from them without first securing a license from the Treasury Department.
While the indictment against Maduro says Venezuelan officials worked directly with the Tren de Aragua gang, a U.S. intelligence assessment published in April, drawing on input from the intelligence community's 18 agencies, found no coordination between Tren de Aragua and the Venezuelan government.
Maduro, his wife and his son — who remains free — are charged along with Venezuela's interior and justice minister, a former interior and justice minister and Hector Rusthenford Guerrero Flores, an alleged Tren de Aragua leader who has been criminally charged in another case and remains at large.
Among other things, the indictment accuses Maduro and his wife of ordering kidnappings, beatings and murders of those who owed them drug money or undermined their drug trafficking operation. That included a local drug boss' killing in Caracas, the indictment said.
Maduro’s 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 Venezuela’s National Anti-Drug Office, resulting in additional monthly bribes, with some of the money going to Maduro's wife, according to the indictment.
Tucker reported from Washington. Associated Press writers John Hanna in Topeka, Kan., Josh Boak in Washington, Darlene Superville aboard Air Force One and Joshua Goodman in Miami contributed to this report.
People protest outside Manhattan Federal Court before the arraignment of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, Monday, Jan. 5, 2026, in New York. (AP Photo/Stefan Jeremiah)
An armored vehicle carrying Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and his wife Cilia Flores arrives at Manhattan Federal Court, Monday, Jan. 5, 2026, in New York. (AP Photo/Stefan Jeremiah)
An armored vehicle carrying Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and his wife Cilia Flores arrives at Manhattan Federal Court, Monday, Jan. 5, 2026, in New York. (AP Photo/Stefan Jeremiah)
Reward posters are passed out at a gathering celebrating the deposing of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, Sunday, Jan. 4, 2026, in Katy, Texas. (Elizabeth Conley/Houston Chronicle via AP)
FILE - Venezuela's President Nicolas Maduro places his hand over his hear while talking to high-ranking officers during a military ceremony on his inauguration day for a third term, in Caracas, Venezuela, Jan. 10, 2025. (AP Photo/Ariana Cubillos, File)
