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Greetings and salutations to the American political live blog. This is Tom Ambrose, and I will be bringing you all the latest news lines over the coming hours.

The President Dismisses Greene's Safety Claims

We begin with the development that Donald Trump doubled down on his attacks against Republican lawmaker Marjorie Taylor Greene on Sunday, even as his shift on resisting the release of the Epstein files.

He persisted in rejecting her claim that his remarks were endangering her and said he did not think anyone was targeting her. The congresswoman said on Saturday that Trump’s social media posts had unleashed a wave of menaces aimed at her.

“Greene the ‘Traitor’,” he said, referring to the lawmaker. “I don’t think her life is in danger... I doubt anybody cares about her,” Trump told reporters before entering Air Force One on Sunday evening.

Marjorie Taylor Greene, a US House of Representatives representative from Georgia who was previously considered a Trump loyalist, has recently taken positions at odds with the commander-in-chief. She noted on Saturday she has been alerted by private security firms warning about her safety and that harsh attacks against her have previously resulted in death threats.

Jeffrey Epstein Documents Disclosure Initiative

This dispute came as the President encouraged his GOP colleagues in Congress to vote for the publication of files concerning the late disgraced financier Epstein, reversing his earlier opposition to such a move.

His message on his Truth Social came after Speaker Johnson previously stated that he thought a decision on making public justice department files in the Epstein investigation should help put to rest allegations “that he [Trump] has any involvement”.

Trump wrote on his social media account on Sunday: “House Republicans should vote to release the Epstein documents, because we have nothing to hide.

“Now is the moment to move on from this Democrat Hoax perpetrated by Radical Left Lunatics in order to deflect from the significant achievements of the Republican Party, including our recent Victory on the Democrat ‘Shutdown’,” he said.

While Trump and Epstein were photographed together years back, the commander-in-chief has claimed the two men fell out before Epstein’s convictions. Emails released last week by a House committee indicated the convicted sex offender, who took his own life in jail in 2019, thought Trump “knew about the girls,” though it was not clear what that statement meant.

Additional Developments

• Republican congressman Congressman Massie had questioned the President over whether the US president was making a “last-ditch effort” to prevent the complete records on the deceased sex offender Epstein from being disclosed by ordering a fresh investigation. The congressman and Democratic congressman Representative Khanna, the two lawmakers leading the bipartisan push to have all the files in the possession of the authorities public both raised fresh concerns about the actions by the White House.
• The United States conducted a further strike on an alleged narcotics smuggling boat in the Pacific region on the weekend, resulting in the deaths of three individuals aboard, the Department of Defense said on the following day. “Intelligence verified that the boat was involved in illicit narcotics smuggling, transiting along a established drug route, and carrying drugs,” the military command stated in a post on social media.
• The President said the United States may open talks with President Maduro, the leader of Venezuela, who faces growing scrutiny from Washington amid a huge military deployment in the Caribbean. “We may be having some discussions with Maduro, and we’ll see how that turns out. They would like to talk,” the US president remarked on that day, in one of the first signs of a potential way to defusing the increasingly tense situation in the region.
• Trump on Sunday dismissed worries about right-wing pundit Tucker Carlson's recent discussion with a extremist figure recognized for his anti-Jewish sentiments, which has caused a division within the GOP. The President supported the host, saying the ex-media personality has “said good things about me over the years.” He said if Carlson chooses to interview Nick Fuentes, whose supporters consider themselves working to preserve America’s white, Christian identity, then “people have to decide.” He did not criticize Carlson or Fuentes.
• The President indicated on that day that he intends to meet with New York City’s mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani and said they will “work something out”, in what could be a detente for the GOP leader and Democratic rising star who have cast each other as opponents. He has for an extended period criticized the mayor-elect, incorrectly labelling him as a “socialist” and predicting the decline of his hometown, NYC, if the progressive were chosen.
• A group of seventeen transgender US air force members has filed a lawsuit against the Trump administration for refusing them early retirement pensions and entitlements. The legal filing, submitted in federal court, describes the government’s move against them as “unlawful and invalid”.