Donald Trump ‘has tried everything to kill our Jeffrey Epstein investigation’, says top Democrat – live

4.53pm GMT 'Trump has put the gun on the table': Bolton says about latest military escalation in Venezuela Former national security advisor, and noted Trump adversary, John Bolton, said that he supports “the idea of returning the government of Venezuela to its own people” in an interview with CNN today. But he remains “troubled” because he doesn’t “see what the plan is”. He added: If it’s simply about illegal narcotics, that’s one thing. But it seems to be about overthrowing Maduro. Why else bring the Gerald R Ford carrier strike group from the European theater to the Caribbean? Trump has now put the gun on the table. The question is, is he going to use it or not? It’s worth remembering that FBI searched John Bolton’s home earlier this year, and he was later charged with transmitting and retaining highly classified information under the Espionage Act. He pleaded not guilty, following his indictment last month. 4.33pm GMT Several Epstein survivors urge House lawmakers to release files in new video Several of Jeffrey Epstein’s survivors appear in a new public service announcement to encourage House lawmakers to vote for the complete release of justice department files on the late sex offender. In the video, produced by anti-trafficking organization World Without Exploitation, the survivors hold pictures of their younger selves. “It’s time to bring the secrets out of the shadows,” one says. The video ends with the screen reading: “Five administrations and we’re still in the dark.” 4.07pm GMT Trump is 'panicking', says top Democrat on oversight committee Robert Garcia, the ranking member of the House oversight committee, which released the tranche of new Epstein documents last week, said that Donald Trump “has tried everything to kill our Jeffrey Epstein investigation”. The Democrat went on to say: “Now [Trump’s] panicking and has realized he is about to lose this Epstein vote to force the Department of Justice to release the files. “Let’s be crystal clear: Trump has the power to release all the files today,” Garcia added in a statment. “But instead, he wants to continue this cover-up and launch bogus new investigations to deflect and slow down our investigation. It won’t work. We will get justice for the survivors.” Updated at 4.09pm GMT 3.47pm GMT The US has said it will designate a putative Venezuelan drug cartel allegedly led by Nicolás Maduro as a foreign terrorist organization, as the Trump administration sent more mixed messages over its crusade against Venezuela’s authoritarian leader. The move to target the already proscribed group, the Cartel de los Soles (Cartel of the Suns), was announced by Marco Rubio on Sunday. “Headed by the illegitimate Nicolás Maduro, the group has corrupted the institutions of government in Venezuela and is responsible for terrorist violence conducted by and with other designated FTOs as well as for trafficking drugs into the United States and Europe,” the US secretary of state tweeted, generating excitement among hardline adversaries of Maduro who interpreted the announcement as proof Washington was preparing to intensify its push to force the South American dictator from power. But shortly after Rubio’s pronouncement, those hopes were undermined when Trump hinted he might be prepared to negotiate with Maduro representatives. “We may be having some conversations with Maduro, and we’ll see how that turns out. They would like to talk,” Trump told reporters. Related: US will label supposed Venezuelan drug cartel ‘headed by Maduro’ as terrorist organization 3.02pm GMT As we reported earlier, 81 people were arrested by Customs and Border Protection officers in Charlotte, North Carolina, over the weekend. My colleague Victoria Bouloubasis reports that the Meckenburg county sheriff, Gary McFadden, said on Sunday that he was not surprised by federal agents’ actions this weekend. “This is something I have seen, something I have been battling repeatedly,” he said. McFadden confirmed that his office will not assist ICE or border patrol with law enforcement actions. That also means the county cannot intervene in any federal arrests. “Border patrol are going to do what they are being tasked to do. We cannot stop that,” he said. “I would suggest that people stay out of their way.” The sheriff, who is Black, acknowledged that “some communities welcome this” in Mecklenburg county “and the others are living in fear and anxiety for the rest of this week, maybe the rest of this year. Mentally it’s unbelievable to live in fear every day. African Americans can maybe understand it a little better than other people.” Related: Charlotte, North Carolina reels as 81 people arrested in immigration raids Updated at 3.04pm GMT 2.37pm GMT Former Republican lawmaker and Trump critic says Greene has to 'prove' she's no longer committed to being a 'divisive asshole' Joe Walsh, the former Republican congressman from Illinois, has offered some words of advice to Marjorie Taylor Greene, as she continues to speak out against Donald Trump’s claims that she’s a “traitor” for pushing for the complete release of the Jeffrey Epstein files. “As a onetime divisive right-wing political asshole, I publicly came out against Trump & stopped being a divisive asshole over 7yrs ago,” Walsh wrote. A reminder, that the former representative was a loyal Republican until the end of Trump’s first term when he mounted a short-lived primary challenge against the president in 2020. Walsh has since been a vocal critic of the Trump administration and became a registered Democrat this year. “I’ve spent every day these past 7yrs proving the sincerity of my conversion, and doing all I can to defeat Trump/Trumpism. MTG will have to walk down this same road,” he added in his post on X.“ I appreciate her pledging to no longer be a divisive asshole, but now she’s gotta prove it.” Updated at 2.46pm GMT 2.05pm GMT BBC chair Samir Shah tells staff Trump has 'no basis' for libel case and corporation 'determined' to fight it The BBC chair, Samir Shah, has told staff that the corporation is “determined” to fight any defamation action brought by Donald Trump. The president has no case, Shah says. In a note to staff seen by PA Media, Shah says: There is a lot being written, said and speculated upon about the possibility of legal action, including potential costs or settlements. In all this we are, of course, acutely aware of the privilege of our funding and the need to protect our licence fee payers, the British public. I want to be very clear with you – our position has not changed. There is no basis for a defamation case and we are determined to fight this. Last week I took the opportunity to speak with the executive team and am reassured of their resolute focus on ensuring the BBC continues to deliver on behalf of audiences and staff. I know they plan to spend as much time as possible with their teams over the coming weeks to reinforce the importance of that work and answer your questions. 1.42pm GMT Marjorie Taylor Greene says her construction companies have received pipe bomb threats amid feud with Trump over Epstein files As her fallout with the president continues over her push for the full release of the Epstein files, Republican congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene said that the “hoax pizza deliveries have started now, to my house and my family members”. She also noted that her construction company’s office building received a “pipe bomb threat”. “Unfortunately, I’ve been down this road before. As a matter of fact, as I campaigned all over the country and defended President Trump, I received dozens of swatting calls on my house,” the lawmaker said in a post on X. “When the President of the United States irresponsibly calls a Member of Congress of his own party, traitor, he is signaling what must be done to a traitor.” 1.10pm GMT Donald Trump is in Washington today. As we noted earlier, he’ll hold a meeting with the 2026 World Cup taskforce in the Oval Office at 2pm ET. We’ll bring you the latest lines from that meeting, particularly as it will be the first event open to the press since the president’s apparent U-turn on the House releasing the Epstein files. Later, Trump will deliver remarks at McDonald’s impact summit. This will be in DC, and there will be a number of Democratic leaders speaking and in attendance. 12.49pm GMT 81 people arrested on first day of immigration crackdown in North Carolina US Border Patrol officials said they had arrested 81 people over five hours in Charlotte, North Carolina, on Saturday, the first day of the targeted operation.The crackdown involving federal agents was only announced last week. Mass deportation and strict enforcement of immigration laws have been a key part of Trump’s agenda since returning to office this year. 12.29pm GMT Trump re-pardons jailed US Capitol rioter The president has pardoned for the second time a militia member involved in the Capitol riots, who had not been released from jail yet due to a firearms conviction. Dan Wilson was already pardoned by Trump earlier this year, when the US president granted clemency on his first day in office to more than 1,500 Capitol rioters. But Wilson, a member of the far-right Oath Keepers group, had another conviction for illegal possession of firearms. For that crime he was supposed to serve time until 2028. However the new presidential decree now states that the latest pardon is “full and unconditional.” Wilson’s lawyers said he was now home “with his loved ones” after seven months behind bars. Trump has regularly downplayed the seriousness of the Capitol riot, calling it a “day of love” and “outpouring of affection” for him. Hundreds of Trump supporters stormed the seat of Congress on January 6, 2021, in an attempt to prevent the certification of Joe Biden’s victory. 12.21pm GMT This is one of the emails released last week by Democrats which have put attention back on Trump and his history with Epstein. In it, Epstein wrote that Trump “knew about the girls”. In another email, Epstein wrote that Trump “spent hours” with one of the victims at his house, and another email referred to the president as “dirty.” Democrats on the House Oversight Committee have said the messages “raise serious questions about Donald Trump and his knowledge of Epstein’s horrific crimes.” Trump has previously said that he fell out with Epstein years before the disgraced financier’s convictions. Last week, the president had sought to stop the release of the rest of the files. But then last night, he reversed his stance, urging Republican lawmakers to vote for their release “because we have nothing to hide”. 11.45am GMT A leading Ukrainian drone and missile manufacturer said on Monday that it has named former US secretary of state Mike Pompeo to its newly launched advisory board, a move aimed at tightening oversight while it is investigated by anti-corruption authorities. Fire Point, whose FP-1 drone has been critical to Ukraine’s long-range strikes on Russia, said it was “aligning our governance framework with leading international standards” by appointing Pompeo, who served from 2018 to 2021 in the first administration of president Donald Trump. The firm, which has also developed the Flamingo cruise missile Ukraine hopes to scale up as it grows its arms industry, is the subject of a probe by Ukrainian anti-corruption agencies into inflated pricing, according to local newspaper the Kyiv Independent. “Secretary Pompeo’s strategic insights and deep understanding of global affairs will be invaluable as we continue to grow and strengthen our governance practices,” the company said in a statement, without mentioning the probe. 11.30am GMT The Kremlin said on Monday that it hoped another summit between Russian president Vladimir Putin and US president Donald Trump could take place as soon as the necessary preparation had been completed. Putin and Trump last met in August at a summit in Alaska, where they failed to reach a resolution on the war in Ukraine. Last month they announced plans for a summit in Budapest but Trump cancelled it soon afterwards. 11.07am GMT A group of 17 transgender US air force members has sued the Trump administration for denying them early retirement pensions and benefits. The complaint, submitted in federal court, describes the government’s move against them as “unlawful and invalid”. The legal action follows the air force’s confirmation it would deny early retirement benefits to all transgender service members with 15 to 18 years of military experience, a decision that effectively pushes them out of the military with no retirement support at all. “The Air Force’s own retirement instruction provides that retirement orders may only be rescinded under very limited circumstances, none of which were present here,” the lawsuit says. Related: Trans air force members sue Trump administration over denied pension 10.46am GMT President Trump is set to meet with the White House Task Force at 2pm ET today, as plans ramp up ahead of next summer’s soccer World Cup. The meeting will take place in the Oval Office at the White House. It comes as one of Donald Trump’s closest sporting allies created what some are calling football’s version of the Nobel peace prize, only weeks after the US president was snubbed for the real thing. Fifa president Gianni Infantino announced the creation of the Fifa peace prize, to be awarded each year to “individuals who help unite people in peace through unwavering commitment and special actions”. The inaugural award will be presented on 5 December during the World Cup draw at the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington DC, a high-profile event that Trump is expected to attend. 10.28am GMT US attacks another alleged drug boat in Pacific, killing three The United States conducted another attack on an alleged drug trafficking boat in the eastern Pacific on Saturday, killing three people aboard, the Pentagon said on Sunday. “Intelligence confirmed that the vessel was involved in illicit narcotics smuggling, transiting along a known narco-trafficking route, and carrying narcotics,” the US Southern Command announced in a post on social media. It came as Donald Trump said the US may open talks with Nicolas Maduro, the Venezuelan president, who faces escalating pressure from Washington amid a huge US military buildup in the Caribbean. “We may be having some discussions with Maduro, and we’ll see how that turns out. They would like to talk,” the US president said on Sunday, in one of the first signs of a possible path to defusing the increasingly tense situation in the region. The US has accused Maduro of ties to the illegal drug trade, which Maduro denies. The US Southern Command’s post on Sunday said the boat was in international waters when it was struck by the Southern Spear joint taskforce. It did not give details on where the vessel was traveling from or what organization it was associated with. The latest operation was the 21st known attack on drug boats by the US military since early September in what it has called a justified effort to disrupt the flow of narcotics into the US. The strikes have killed more than 80 people, according to Pentagon figures. Lawmakers in Congress, human rights groups and US allies have raised questions about the legality of the attacks. The Trump administration has said it has the legal authority to carry out the strikes, with the justice department providing a legal opinion that justifies them and argues that US military personnel who carry out the operations are immune from prosecution. The administration also has not publicly explained the legal justification for the decision to attack the boats rather than stop them and arrest those on board. The latest deadly strike came as the US navy announced its most advanced aircraft carrier had arrived in the Caribbean Sea on Sunday in a display of power that raised questions about what the new influx of troops and weaponry could signal for the Trump administration’s intentions in South America. The arrival of the USS Gerald R Ford and other warships rounds off the largest buildup of US firepower in the region in generations. With its arrival, the Operation Southern Spear mission includes nearly a dozen navy ships and about 12,000 sailors and marines. The carrier strike group, which includes squadrons of fighter jets and guided-missile destroyers, transited the Anegada Passage near the British Virgin Islands on Sunday morning, the navy said. Related: US attacks another alleged drug boat in Pacific, killing three, as Trump signals possible talks with Maduro 10.09am GMT Trump says he plans to meet with New York City mayor Mamdani President Donald Trump indicated Sunday that he plans to meet with New York City’s mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani and said they will “work something out”, AP reported. Trump has for months slammed Mamdani, falsely labeling him as a “communist” and predicting the ruin of his hometown, New York, if the democratic socialist was elected. He also threatened to deport Mamdani, who was born in Uganda and became a naturalized American citizen, and to pull federal money from the city. Mamdani rose from an obscure state lawmaker to become a social media star and symbol of the resistance against Trump during his mayoral campaign. He campaigned on an array of progressive policies and a message that was stark in its opposition to the aggressive, anti-immigrant agenda Trump has rolled out in his second White House term. The 34-year-old appealed to a broad cross-section of New Yorkers and defeated one of its political heavyweights, former governor Andrew Cuomo, by nearly 9 percentage points. In his election night victory speech, Mamdani said he wanted New York to show the country how to defeat the president. But the day after, while speaking about his plans for “Trump-proofing” New York once he takes office in January, the incoming mayor also said he was willing to work with anyone, including the president, if it can help New Yorkers. 9.41am GMT Trump dismisses Marjorie Taylor Greene's claim that his attacks put her in danger Hello and welcome 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. We start with the news that president Donald Trump doubled down on his attacks against Republican lawmaker Marjorie Taylor Greene on Sunday, despite his reversal on resisting the release of the Epstein files. He continued to dismiss her claim that his criticism was endangering her and said he did not believe anyone was targeting her. Greene said on Saturday that Trump’s online criticism had unleashed a surge of threats directed at her. On Sunday morning, she told CNN that Trump calling her a traitor was the “most hurtful” part of his remarks. Trump repeated the insult hours later. “Marjorie ‘Traitor’ Greene,” he said, referring to the lawmaker. “I don’t think her life is in danger... I don’t think anybody cares about her,” the president told reporters before boarding Air Force One on Sunday night for a return to Washington, DC from his Mar-a-Lago social club in Florida. Greene, a US House of Representatives member from Georgia who was long known as a Trump loyalist, has recently taken positions at odds with the president. She said on Saturday she has been contacted by private security firms warning about her safety and that harsh attacks against her have previously resulted in death threats. The public fallout came as Trump urged his fellow Republicans in Congress to vote for the release of files related to the late convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, reversing his earlier resistance to such a move. Trump’s post on his Truth Social came after House speaker Mike Johnson said earlier that he believed a vote on releasing justice department documents in the Epstein case should help put to rest allegations “that he [Trump] has something to do with it”. Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform on Sunday: “House Republicans should vote to release the Epstein files, because we have nothing to hide. “And it’s time to move on from this Democrat Hoax perpetrated by Radical Left Lunatics in order to deflect from the Great Success of the Republican Party, including our recent Victory on the Democrat ‘Shutdown’” he said. Although Trump and Epstein were photographed together decades ago, the president has said the two men fell out before Epstein’s convictions. Emails released last week by a House committee showed the disgraced financier, who died by suicide in jail in 2019, believed Trump “knew about the girls,” though it was not clear what that phrase meant. Read the full story here: Related: Trump tells Republicans to vote to release Epstein files, in a reversal of his previous stance In other developments: The United States conducted another attack on an alleged drug trafficking boat in the eastern Pacific on Saturday, killing three people aboard, the Pentagon said on Sunday. “Intelligence confirmed that the vessel was involved in illicit narcotics smuggling, transiting along a known narco-trafficking route, and carrying narcotics,” the US Southern Command announced in a post on social media. Trump said the US may open talks with Nicolas Maduro, the Venezuelan president, who faces escalating pressure from Washington amid a huge US military buildup in the Caribbean. “We may be having some discussions with Maduro, and we’ll see how that turns out. They would like to talk,” the US president said on Sunday, in one of the first signs of a possible path to defusing the increasingly tense situation in the region. Trump on Sunday brushed aside concerns about conservative commentator Tucker Carlson‘s recent interview with a far-right activist known for his antisemitic views, which has caused a schism within the Republican party. Trump defended Carlson, saying the former Fox News host has “said good things about me over the years.” He said if Carlson wants to interview Nick Fuentes, whose followers see themselves as working to preserve America’s white, Christian identity, then “people have to decide.” Trump did not criticize Carlson or Fuentes. Trump indicated on Sunday that he plans to meet with New York City’s mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani and said 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 political foils. Trump has for months slammed Mamdani, falsely labelling him as a “communist” and predicting the ruin of his hometown, New York, if the democratic socialist were elected. A group of 17 transgender US air force members has sued the Trump administration for denying them early retirement pensions and benefits. The complaint, submitted in federal court, describes the government’s move against them as “unlawful and invalid”. Updated at 10.03am GMT