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

The President Rejects Marjorie Taylor Greene's Safety Concerns

We start with the development that President Donald Trump doubled down on his attacks against GOP congresswoman Representative Greene on the weekend, even as his reversal on opposing the disclosure of the Epstein files.

He continued to dismiss her assertion that his remarks were endangering her and stated he did not think anyone was focusing on her. Greene said on the previous day that the President's social media posts had triggered a surge of threats directed at her.

“Greene the ‘Traitor’,” he said, referring to the lawmaker. “I don’t think her life is in danger... I don’t think anybody cares about her,” Trump told reporters before boarding his presidential plane on Sunday evening.

Greene, a US House of Representatives member from Georgia who was long known as a staunch Trump supporter, has lately taken positions contrary to the commander-in-chief. She noted on Saturday she has been contacted by security companies expressing concern for her security and that harsh attacks against her have previously resulted in threats on her life.

Epstein Files Disclosure Push

This dispute came as the President encouraged his fellow Republicans in Congress to support the publication of files related to the deceased convicted sex offender Epstein, reversing his earlier opposition to such a action.

His message on his social media platform followed Speaker Johnson previously stated that he thought a vote on releasing DOJ documents in the Epstein investigation should help put to rest allegations “that he [Trump] has something to do with it”.

He posted on his Truth Social platform on Sunday: “GOP lawmakers 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 deflect from the Great Success of the Republican Party, including our recent Victory on the government funding issue,” he added.

Although Trump and Epstein were photographed together decades ago, the president has said the two men fell out before Epstein’s convictions. Messages disclosed last week by a House committee showed the convicted sex offender, who took his own life in jail in 2019, thought the President “knew about the girls,” though it was uncertain what that statement signified.

Other Updates

• Republican congressman Congressman Massie had challenged Trump over whether the US president was making a “final attempt” to prevent the full files on the late convicted criminal Epstein from being disclosed by ordering a fresh investigation. Massie and Democratic representative Representative Khanna, the two lawmakers leading the cross-party effort to make all the files in the possession of the authorities available both expressed new worries about the actions by the administration.
• The United States conducted a further attack on an suspected drug trafficking vessel in the eastern Pacific on Saturday, killing three individuals aboard, the Department of Defense announced on the following day. “Information confirmed that the vessel was engaged in illegal drug trafficking, transiting along a known narco-trafficking route, and transporting drugs,” the US Southern Command announced in a post on social media.
• The President said 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 discussions with the Venezuelan leader, and we’ll observe how that develops. They would like to talk,” the US president remarked on Sunday, in one of the initial indications of a possible path to easing the growingly strained situation in the region.
• Donald Trump on Sunday brushed aside worries about conservative commentator Tucker Carlson's recent interview with a far-right activist known for his anti-Jewish sentiments, which has created a division within the Republican party. The President supported Carlson, saying the ex-media personality has “said positive remarks about me in the past.” He said if he wants to interview the activist, whose supporters see themselves as working to preserve America’s white, Christian identity, then “individuals have to make up their own minds.” Trump did not criticize the commentator or the activist.
• The President suggested on Sunday that he plans to have a discussion with NYC's incoming mayor Zohran Mamdani and stated they will “work something out”, in what could be a detente for the Republican president and Democratic political star who have cast each other as opponents. He has for an extended period slammed the mayor-elect, incorrectly describing him as a “communist” and forecasting the decline of his hometown, NYC, if the democratic socialist were chosen.
• A group of seventeen transgender military personnel has filed a lawsuit against the federal government for denying them early retirement pensions and entitlements. The complaint, submitted in federal court, characterizes the administration's action against them as “illegal and unjustified”.