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Hello and welcome to the American political live blog. This is Tom Ambrose, and I will be providing you with all the most recent news lines over the next few hours.

The President Dismisses Marjorie Taylor Greene's Danger Concerns

We start with the news that President Donald Trump intensified his criticism of Republican lawmaker Representative Greene on the weekend, even as his shift on opposing the release of the Epstein files.

He persisted in rejecting her assertion that his remarks were endangering her and said he did not think anyone was focusing on her. Greene remarked on Saturday that the President's online criticism had triggered a wave of menaces directed at her.

“Marjorie ‘Traitor’ Greene,” he remarked, speaking of the congresswoman. “I don’t think her life is in danger... I don’t think anybody is concerned for her,” Trump told the press before entering Air Force One on Sunday evening.

Marjorie Taylor Greene, a US House of Representatives member from Georgia who was long known as a staunch Trump supporter, has recently adopted stances at odds with the commander-in-chief. She said on the weekend she has been alerted by private security firms expressing concern for her security and that harsh attacks against her have previously led to threats on her life.

Jeffrey Epstein Documents Release Initiative

This dispute occurred while the President encouraged his GOP colleagues in the legislature to vote for the release of records related to the late convicted sex offender Epstein, reversing his earlier resistance to such a action.

His message on his social media platform came after Speaker Johnson said earlier that he believed a decision on releasing DOJ documents in the Epstein case should help dispel claims “that he [Trump] has something to do with it”.

He posted on his Truth Social platform on Sunday: “House Republicans should support unsealing the Epstein documents, because we have nothing to hide.

“Now is the moment to put behind us this Democrat Hoax orchestrated by far-left activists in order to distract from the significant achievements of the Republican Party, including our latest win on the government funding issue,” he added.

Although the President and Epstein were photographed together years back, the president has said the two men fell out before Epstein’s convictions. Messages released recently by a House committee showed the convicted sex offender, who died by suicide in prison in recent years, thought the President “was aware of the girls,” though it was not clear what that phrase meant.

Other Developments

• Republican congressman Thomas Massie had challenged the President over whether the US president was making a “last-ditch effort” to keep the full files on the deceased sex offender Jeffrey Epstein from being disclosed by initiating a new probe. The congressman and Democratic congressman Ro Khanna, the two lawmakers spearheading the bipartisan push to have all the documents held by the authorities public both raised fresh concerns about the actions by the administration.
• The United States conducted a further attack on an alleged drug trafficking boat in the eastern Pacific on Saturday, killing three people aboard, the Pentagon said on Sunday. “Information verified that the vessel was engaged in illicit narcotics smuggling, traveling on a established drug route, and carrying drugs,” the US Southern Command stated in a message on social media.
• Trump indicated the US may open talks with Nicolas Maduro, the Venezuelan president, who faces growing scrutiny from Washington during a huge US military buildup in the Caribbean region. “We may be having some talks with Maduro, and we’ll see how that develops. Venezuela would like to talk,” the US president remarked on Sunday, in one of the initial indications of a possible path to defusing the growingly strained circumstances in the region.
• Trump on Sunday dismissed concerns about conservative commentator Tucker Carlson's latest interview with a extremist figure known for his anti-Jewish sentiments, which has caused a division within the Republican party. Trump defended Carlson, saying the former Fox News host has “expressed positive remarks about me in the past.” He said if Carlson chooses to interview the activist, whose followers see themselves as defending America’s cultural heritage, then “individuals have to make up their own minds.” He did not criticize the commentator or the activist.
• Trump suggested on that day that he intends to meet with New York City’s incoming mayor Zohran Mamdani and stated they will “reach an agreement”, in what could be a truce for the GOP leader and Democratic rising star who have cast each other as opponents. Trump has for months slammed the mayor-elect, falsely describing him as a “socialist” and forecasting the ruin of his city, NYC, if the democratic socialist were elected.
• A group of 17 transgender military personnel has filed a lawsuit against the Trump administration for denying them retirement benefits and benefits. The complaint, filed in federal court, describes the government’s move against them as “illegal and unjustified”.