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Greetings and salutations to the US politics live blog. This is Tom Ambrose, and I will be bringing you all the latest developments over the coming hours.

Trump Dismisses Greene's Danger Concerns

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

He continued to dismiss her claim that his remarks were putting at risk her and stated he did not believe anyone was focusing on her. Greene remarked on Saturday that Trump’s online criticism had unleashed a surge of threats aimed at her.

“Greene the ‘Traitor’,” he remarked, speaking of the lawmaker. “I do not believe her life is in danger... I don’t think anybody is concerned for her,” Trump informed the press before entering his presidential plane on Sunday evening.

Greene, a House representative from Georgia who was previously considered a staunch Trump supporter, has recently taken positions at odds with the president. She said on the weekend she has been alerted by security companies expressing concern for her security and that harsh attacks against her have in the past led to death threats.

Jeffrey Epstein Documents Disclosure Initiative

This dispute occurred while the President urged his GOP colleagues in the legislature to support the release of files concerning the late convicted sex offender Epstein, changing his earlier opposition to such a move.

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

Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform on Sunday: “GOP lawmakers should support unsealing the Epstein files, because we have no secrets.

“Now is the moment to move on from this political stunt orchestrated by Radical Left Lunatics in order to distract from the Great Success of the Republican Party, including our recent Victory on the government funding issue,” he added.

While Trump and Epstein were seen together years back, the commander-in-chief has said the two men fell out before Epstein’s convictions. Emails disclosed recently by a congressional panel indicated the disgraced financier, who died by suicide in prison in 2019, believed the President “was aware of the girls,” though it was not clear what that phrase meant.

Other Developments

• GOP representative Thomas Massie had questioned the President over whether the commander-in-chief was making a “final attempt” to prevent the full files on the deceased sex offender Jeffrey Epstein from becoming public by initiating a new probe. Massie and Democratic congressman Representative Khanna, the two US representatives spearheading the bipartisan push to have all the documents held by the authorities public both raised fresh concerns about the actions by the White House.
• The United States carried out another strike on an alleged narcotics smuggling boat in the eastern Pacific on Saturday, killing three people aboard, the Pentagon said on Sunday. “Information confirmed that the boat was involved in illegal drug trafficking, transiting along a known narco-trafficking route, and transporting narcotics,” the military command stated in a message on online platforms.
• Trump said the US may begin discussions with Nicolas Maduro, the leader of Venezuela, who is under escalating pressure from Washington during a huge US military buildup in the Caribbean region. “We could initiate some discussions with Maduro, and we’ll see how that turns out. Venezuela would like to talk,” the commander-in-chief said on that day, in one of the initial indications of a possible path to easing the growingly strained situation in the area.
• Donald Trump on the weekend dismissed worries about conservative commentator the commentator's latest discussion with a far-right activist recognized for his antisemitic views, which has created a division within the Republican party. The President supported the host, saying the ex-media personality has “expressed good things about me in the past.” He added if Carlson wants to speak with the activist, whose supporters consider themselves working to preserve the nation's white, Christian identity, then “individuals have to make up their own minds.” Trump did not criticize the commentator or Fuentes.
• Trump indicated on that day that he intends to meet with NYC's incoming mayor Mamdani and said they will “reach an agreement”, in what could be a detente for the Republican president and Democratic rising star who have cast each other as political foils. Trump has for months criticized the mayor-elect, incorrectly labelling him as a “communist” and predicting the ruin of his hometown, New York, if the progressive were chosen.
• A collective of 17 trans US air force members has filed a lawsuit against the Trump administration for denying them early retirement pensions and benefits. The complaint, filed in a US court, describes the administration's action against them as “illegal and unjustified”.