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Hello and welcome to the US politics live blog. This is Tom Ambrose, and I will be providing you with all the most recent developments over the next few hours.

The President Dismisses Greene's Danger Claims

We begin with the news that President Donald Trump doubled down on his attacks against GOP congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene on Sunday, even as his reversal on resisting the release of the Jeffrey Epstein documents.

He continued to dismiss her claim that his criticism were endangering her and stated he did not believe anyone was targeting her. Greene remarked on the previous day that Trump’s social media posts had triggered a surge of threats aimed at her.

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

Greene, a House member from the state of Georgia who was long known as a Trump loyalist, has recently adopted stances at odds with the commander-in-chief. She noted on Saturday she has been alerted by private security firms expressing concern for her security and that harsh attacks against her have in the past led to death threats.

Jeffrey Epstein Documents Disclosure Initiative

The public fallout occurred while Trump urged his GOP colleagues in the legislature to support the publication of records related to the deceased disgraced financier Epstein, reversing his earlier opposition to such a move.

Trump’s post on his Truth Social came after Speaker Johnson said earlier that he thought a vote on releasing DOJ files in the Epstein case should help put to rest claims “that he [Trump] has something to do with it”.

He posted on his social media account on Sunday: “GOP lawmakers should support unsealing the Epstein documents, because we have no secrets.

“Now is the moment to move on from this Democrat Hoax perpetrated by far-left activists in order to deflect from the Great Success of the GOP, 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 congressional panel indicated the disgraced financier, who took his own life in jail in 2019, believed the President “was aware of the girls,” though it was uncertain what that statement meant.

Other Developments

• Republican congressman Thomas Massie had challenged Trump over whether the US president was making a “last-ditch effort” to keep the full files on the deceased sex offender Jeffrey Epstein from becoming public by initiating a fresh investigation. The congressman and Democratic congressman Representative Khanna, the two US representatives spearheading the cross-party effort to make all the files in the possession of the authorities public both expressed new worries about the steps by the administration.
• US forces conducted another strike on an suspected narcotics smuggling boat in the Pacific region on the weekend, killing three people on board, the Pentagon announced on Sunday. “Information confirmed that the vessel was engaged in illegal drug trafficking, transiting along a known narco-trafficking route, and carrying narcotics,” the military command announced in a post on online platforms.
• The President indicated the United States may open talks with Nicolas Maduro, the leader of Venezuela, who is under growing scrutiny from Washington amid a huge US military buildup in the Caribbean. “We may be having some discussions with the Venezuelan leader, and we’ll observe how that develops. Venezuela 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 circumstances in the region.
• Trump on Sunday brushed aside concerns about right-wing pundit the commentator's recent interview with a far-right activist recognized for his anti-Jewish sentiments, which has created a schism within the GOP. The President defended the host, saying the former Fox News host has “expressed good things about me over the years.” He said if Carlson wants to interview the activist, whose supporters consider themselves working to preserve America’s cultural heritage, then “individuals have to decide.” Trump did not condemn Carlson or the activist.
• The President suggested on Sunday that he plans to have a discussion with NYC's incoming mayor Mamdani and stated they will “reach an agreement”, in what could be a detente for the GOP leader and Democratic rising star who have portrayed one another as political foils. He has for an extended period slammed the mayor-elect, falsely describing him as a “communist” and forecasting the ruin of his hometown, NYC, if the democratic socialist were elected.
• A group of 17 transgender US air force members has sued the federal government for denying them early retirement pensions and benefits. The complaint, submitted in federal court, characterizes the government’s move against them as “unlawful and invalid”.