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Greetings and salutations to the US politics live blog. I am Tom Ambrose, and I will be bringing you all the latest news lines over the next few hours.

The President Dismisses Greene's Safety Concerns

We begin with the news that President Donald Trump intensified his criticism of GOP congresswoman Representative Greene on Sunday, even as his reversal on opposing the release of the Jeffrey Epstein documents.

He continued to dismiss her assertion that his remarks were endangering her and stated he did not think anyone was targeting her. The congresswoman remarked on Saturday that the President's online criticism had unleashed a surge of threats directed at her.

“Greene the ‘Traitor’,” he said, referring to the lawmaker. “I do not believe her life is in danger... I doubt anybody is concerned for her,” the president told the press before boarding Air Force One on Sunday evening.

Greene, a US House of Representatives representative from the state of Georgia who was previously considered a Trump loyalist, has lately adopted stances contrary to the president. She said on Saturday she has been alerted by security companies warning about her security and that harsh attacks against her have previously resulted in death threats.

Epstein Files Release Push

The public fallout occurred while the President encouraged his fellow Republicans in the legislature to support the release of records related to the deceased disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein, reversing his prior opposition to such a action.

His message on his social media platform came after Speaker Johnson said earlier that he thought a vote on making public justice department documents in the Epstein case should help put to rest allegations “that he [Trump] has something to do with it”.

He posted on his Truth Social platform 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 political stunt perpetrated by Radical Left Lunatics in order to distract from the Great Success of the Republican Party, including our recent Victory on the Democrat ‘Shutdown’,” he added.

While Trump and Epstein were seen together decades ago, the commander-in-chief has claimed the two men fell out before Epstein's legal troubles. Emails released last week 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 statement signified.

Other Developments

• GOP representative Congressman Massie had challenged the President over whether the US president was making a “final attempt” to prevent the full files on the deceased convicted criminal Epstein from becoming public by ordering a fresh investigation. The congressman and Democratic representative Representative Khanna, the two lawmakers leading the cross-party effort to have all the documents in the possession of the authorities public both expressed new worries about the steps by the administration.
• The United States carried out a further attack on an alleged drug trafficking vessel in the Pacific region on the weekend, killing three people on board, the Department of Defense said on the following day. “Information confirmed that the vessel was engaged in illicit narcotics smuggling, transiting along a known narco-trafficking route, and transporting narcotics,” the US Southern Command stated in a message on social media.
• The President indicated the United States may open talks with Nicolas Maduro, the Venezuelan president, who is under escalating pressure from the US government amid a significant US military buildup in the Caribbean. “We may be having some discussions with the Venezuelan leader, and we’ll see how that develops. Venezuela would want to talk,” the commander-in-chief remarked on Sunday, in one of the first signs of a possible path to defusing the growingly strained circumstances in the region.
• Donald Trump on the weekend dismissed concerns about right-wing pundit Tucker Carlson's recent interview with a far-right activist recognized for his antisemitic views, which has created a schism within the GOP. Trump supported Carlson, noting the former Fox News host has “expressed good things about me in the past.” He added if he wants to interview the activist, whose supporters consider themselves defending America’s cultural heritage, then “people have to make up their own minds.” He did not criticize Carlson or Fuentes.
• The President indicated on Sunday that he plans to have a discussion with NYC's mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani and stated they will “reach an agreement”, in what could be a truce for the Republican president and Democratic rising star who have portrayed one another as opponents. He has for months slammed the mayor-elect, falsely describing him as a “socialist” and forecasting the ruin of his hometown, New York, if the progressive were chosen.
• A collective of 17 transgender military personnel has sued the federal government for refusing them early retirement pensions and benefits. The legal filing, filed in a US court, characterizes the government’s move against them as “illegal and unjustified”.