Trump changes course on Epstein files; administration sues California over mask ban – as it happened

2.52am GMT Closing summary This concludes our live coverage of the second Trump administration for the day, but we will be back at it on Tuesday. Here are the latest developments: Facing a House vote on Tuesday on a bill that would require the justice department to release files on Jeffrey Epstein, the late sex offender Donald Trump socialized with for more than 15 years, the president said that he had noting to hide, despite the fact that he is currently hiding the files from the public. “We’ll give them everything,” Trump said. “I would let them, let the Senate look at it, let anybody look at it”. Ro Khanna, a Democratic congressman from California, said in an interview with Pod Save America that he now expects his bill to compel the release the Epstein files to be passed by the Senate soon after a House vote scheduled for Tuesday. Senator Elizabeth Warren told CNN that Harvard University should cut ties with its former president, Larry Summers, over his newly released emails to Epstein. As he prepares to host Mohammed bin Salman, the de facto ruler of Saudi Arabia, Trump told reporters that he plans to approve the sale of F-35 fighter jets to the Saudis, despite reported concerns from US intelligence that the Saudis could give China access to the technology. The Trump administration filed a lawsuit on Monday challenging California’s new laws that ban federal officers from wearing masks and requiring them to have identification while operating in the state Trump tried, but failed, to mock Joe Biden by making a jumbled reference to Biden jumbling his words. Updated at 2.58am GMT 2.37am GMT The 'Trump plan' for Gaza leaves the fertile land in Israeli control As our colleagues Julian Borger and Patrick Wintour report, “The UN security council has endorsed proposals put forward by Donald Trump for a lasting peace in Gaza, including the deployment of an international stabilisation force and a possible path to a sovereign Palestinian state.” But the Guardian’s chief Middle East correspondent, Emma Graham-Harrison, reported last week that the Trump administration seems to be planning for reconstruction only in the 53% of Gaza still under Israeli military control. “The US is planning for the long-term division of Gaza into a ‘green zone’ under Israeli and international military control, where reconstruction would start, and a ‘red zone’ to be left in ruins. Foreign forces will initially deploy alongside Israeli soldiers in the east of Gaza, leaving the devastated strip divided by the current Israeli-controlled ‘yellow line’, according to US military planning documents seen by the Guardian and sources briefed on American plans.” Eyal Weizman, the director of the research agency Forensic Architecture, explained last month in a post on X that the location of the yellow line between those red and green zones is significant, since it appears to divide Gaza into two parts: one made up of fertile land, to remain under Israeli control, and the other made up of sand dunes, which will make it impossible for the Palestinian population confined there to grow its own food. (One note on Weizman’s annotation of his map of showing the yellow line: as he pointed out to the Guardian, his caption includes a typo. It should read “east” of the yellow line “are Gaza’s fertile soils,” not “west.” A line of Israeli military outposts (in yellow dots) forming along the crest of a sandstone ridge overlooking the ‘Yellow Line’ closely to the west. The soil between the ‘Yellow Line’ and the coast, as the image shows, is predominantly dunes, west of it are Gaza’s fertile soils. pic.twitter.com/5wOcNMRxei— eyal weizman (@weizman_eyal) October 27, 2025 Weizman, who was born in Israel but is now based in London and Berlin, added in a second post on this annotated map that the new border between Israeli-controlled territory and Palestinian-controlled land effectively reduces the area of the Gaza Strip as it was defined in 1948 by cutting off its eastern half. “The architecture of occupation has simply shifted one ridge westwards,” he wrote. In 1948 Palestinians were kettled into an enclave by a line of settlements on top of the third sandstone ridge (white dots) overlooking the Armistice Line (white line) along the western slopes of this ridge. The architecture of occupation has simply shifted one ridge westwards. pic.twitter.com/OFE0YKLjyy— eyal weizman (@weizman_eyal) October 27, 2025 In remarks last year, Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner, who helped negotiate the current ceasefire map, suggested that “Gaza’s waterfront property could be very valuable”. While the current sub-division of the strip leaves that “property” in Palestinian hands, for now, it is obviously less valuable without access to the agricultural lands it is now cut off from. 1.59am GMT Trump tries to insult Biden but makes nonsensical reference to supposed gaffe by former president The White House gleefully shared video on Monday of Donald Trump attacking his former rival, Kamala Harris, during a speech to McDonald’s owners and operators. But the president’s social media team took a pass on video of Trump trying, and badly failing, to mock another former rival, Joe Biden, later in the address. Many observers were left scratching their heads at Trump’s puzzling reference to what he seemed to think was a famous gaffe made by Biden. “We’re going to make the American Dream, a word that, two words that you didn’t have,” the president began. “You didn’t have those two words. Remember when Biden said: ‘It’s all about three words: the American dream.’” Trump then paused, as if expecting laughter that did not come, before adding, with a chuckle: “You don’t want to ever get in that situation.” “Remember that?” he continued. “That was not good.” He then tried again to land what he seemed to regard as a punch line: “‘It’s all about three words: American dream.’” While even Elon Musk’s AI bot Grok struggled to project some sense into Trump’s comments, it seems likely that Trump misremembered and then mashed together two verbal stumbles made by Biden during his presidency that Republicans seized on to argue that he was mentally incompetent. The first Biden stumble came during remarks at an April 2022 event, when his words got tangled up as he told a story he liked to repeat about an exchange he had with the Chinese leader Xi Jinping in 2011, when he was vice-president. According to Biden, when Xi asked him, “Can you define America for me?” he replied: “Yes, I can. In one word: possibilities.” But when Biden retold that story in 2022, about how this is “a nation that can be defined in a single word”, he began by saying, “I was in the foothills of the Himalayas,” but accidentally ran all the words together into one, before pausing and starting over again, saying: “Excuse me, in the foothills of the Himalayas with Xi Jinping.” Video of that stumble, which was edited to leave out Biden correcting himself and telling the rest of the story, went viral among Trump supporters. The misleadingly edited version was played later at a congressional hearing by a Texas Republican, Troy Nehls, to suggest that Biden was incompetent. Later in 2022, Biden began a speech with another stumble, saying: “Let me start of with two words: Made in America!” That Biden gaffe was clipped and shared on official Republican party social media accounts, and referenced on Fox News, where the stumble by the then 79-year-old president apparently made an impression, if an inaccurate one, in the mind of Trump, who is now a 79-year-old president. Updated at 2.41am GMT 1.19am GMT Trump administration sues California over state law banning federal agents from wearing masks The Trump administration filed a lawsuit on Monday challenging California’s new laws that ban federal officers from wearing masks and requiring them to have identification while operating in the state. The suit takes issue with what the justice department described as California’s “unconstitutional attempt to regulate federal law enforcement officers through the so-called ‘No Secret Police Act’ and ‘No Vigilantes Act’”. “Law enforcement officers risk their lives every day to keep Americans safe, and they do not deserve to be doxed or harassed simply for carrying out their duties,” the attorney general, Pam Bondi, said in a statement. “California’s anti-law enforcement policies discriminate against the federal government and are designed to create risk for our agents. These laws cannot stand.” Federal officers conducting immigration raids this year have covered their faces and refused to show identification to people they detain. California’s governor, Gavin Newsom, signed laws in September that make the state the first to ban most law enforcement officers, including federal immigration agents, from covering their faces while conducting official business.The law ban neck gaiters, ski masks and other facial coverings for local and federal officers, including immigration enforcement agents. It makes exceptions for undercover agents, protective equipment like N95 masks or tactical gear, and does not apply to state police.Newsom also signed legislation requiring law enforcement officers to wear clear identification showing their agency and badge number while on the job. The laws require federal law enforcement agencies to issue a visible identification policy by 1 January 2026 and a mask policy by next July. Updated at 2.16am GMT 12.31am GMT Trump says that he plans to approve sale of F-35 fighter jets to Saudi Arabia As he prepares to host Mohammed bin Salman, the de facto ruler of Saudi Arabia, this week, Donald Trump told reporters on Monday that he plans to approve the sale of F-35 fighter jets to Saudi Arabia, despite reported concerns from US intelligence that the Saudis could give China access to the technology. “I will say that that we will be doing that,” Trump said when asked if he would sell the jets to the Saudis. “We’ll be selling F-35s.” Pentagon officials told The New York Times last week that they fear “that F-35 technology could be compromised through Chinese espionage or China’s security partnership with Saudi Arabia”. The concerns were detailed in a report from the Defense Intelligence Agency, a part of the defense department. Three weeks after Trump left office in 2021, US intelligence agencies concluded that the crown prince, known as MBS, “approved an operation in Istanbul, Turkey to capture or kill Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi” and noted “the Crown Prince’s support for using violent measures to silence dissidents abroad”. That intelligence assessment prompted then president Joe Biden to keep his distance from the Saudi leader during his first months in office, before dismaying human rights advocates by softening that stance later in his term, initially with a friendly fist-bump. Trump, by contrast, has warmly embraced the crown prince. During his visit to the Middle East in May, Trump effusively praised the crown prince in public remarks. 11.51pm GMT At McDonald's summit, Trump repeats false claim that Kamala Harris lied about working at the chain In remarks to owners, operators and suppliers of McDonald’s franchises in Washington on Monday, Donald Trump repeated a false claim he made repeatedly last year during his brief campaign against Kamala Harris, the former vice-president who stepped in as the Democratic nominee from president after then-president Joe Biden dropped out of the race. “I’m honored to stand before you as the very first former McDonald’s fry cook ever to become president of the United States,” Trump said, in reference to an October 2024 campaign stunt in which he helped make french fries at a franchise that was closed for the photo-op in order to promote his false claim that Harris had been caught lying about having briefly worked at a McDonald’s during college. In fact, while Harris could offer no evidence that she had that summer job as a student in 1983, the company said only that “our franchisees don’t have records for all positions dating back to the early ’80s”, not that it had records proving that Harris had lied. One of Harris’s friends said that she recalled her doing the job, which she mentioned during a public appearance in 2019. The false claim that Harris had lied about her summer job began when a pro-Trump outlet reported that she had made no mention of the fast-food job on her resume four years later, when she was in law school and applied for a summer job at the Alameda county district attorney’s office in 1987. But no one would advise a law school student applying for a job in a prosecutor’s office to cite a stint at McDonald’s as relevant experience. Still, Trump and his campaign repeatedly claimed that Harris had been caught lying, and his photo-op at the closed McDonald’s was set up to drive home the false claim that she had lied. Trump continued to lie about the Harris on Monday, but claimed that the proof had been an “off the record” tip from an anonymous source whose identity he did not know. “I actually was there for about 30 minutes, and that was 30 minutes longer than Kamala was there,” Trump said on Monday. “And the person at McDonald’s that informed us, off the record, that she never worked there, whoever you are, we appreciate that.” Updated at 1.32am GMT 11.06pm GMT Ro Khanna, a California Democrat, says he expects Senate to 'quickly' pass his bill to release Epstein files Ro Khanna, a Democratic congressman from California, said in an interview with Pod Save America on Monday that he now expects his bill to compel the justice department to release all of its files on Jeffrey Epstein, the late sex offender, to be passed by the Senate soon after a House vote scheduled for Tuesday. “I’ve been in touch with Merkley and Murkowski’s office in the Senate,” Khanna said, referring to Jeff Merkley, a Democratic senator from Oregon, and Lisa Murkowski, a Republican senator from Alaska. “They expect actually now that this will quickly go through the Senate, which would be enormous.” Khanna, who joined a Republican colleague, Thomas Massie of Kentucky, to introduce a discharge petition to force a vote on the bill, said that the House will vote at 3.15pm ET on Tuesday. He added that Donald Trump, who could still veto the legislation if it passes both chambers, reversed course and called for House Republicans to support the measure only after 50 members of Trump’s party had signaled that they intended to vote for it. Trump, of course, could simply order the justice department to release the files, as he suggested he would while running for office last year, before abruptly claiming this year that calls for full transparency on the federal case against his former friend were a purely partisan effort to damage him. Updated at 1.30am GMT 10.27pm GMT Texas governor delays special election to replace House Democrat until 31 January, leaving seat open for 11 months The Republican governor of Texas, Greg Abbott, announced on Monday that a special election run-off to replace Sylvester Turner, a Texas Democrat who died in March will not be held until the final day of January next year, meaning that the safe Democratic seat will have been vacant for at least 11 months. Turner, who had undergone radiation treatment for cancer in 2022, served just two months of the term he was elected to in 2024 to represent Texas’ 18th congressional district, based in Houston. The district was previously represented by Sheila Jackson Lee for two decades before she died of cancer in 2024. Abbott was criticized for initially delaying the special election to replace Turner until 4 November. But the election went to a run-off, causing a further delay, because the top two vote-getters, Christian Menefee, the Harris county attorney, and Amanda Edwards, a former Houston city council member, fell well short of the 50% threshold in a 16-candidate eace. Menefee and Edwards, both Democrats, will now face off in the 31 January election. Both are expected to then enter the Democratic primary in March to earn a spot on the ballot in November when the seat will be contested along redrawn lines in the midterms. Updated at 1.29am GMT 9.57pm GMT Oregon governor calls for full demobilization of national guard troops judge blocked Trump from deploying to Portland Governor Tina Kotek of Oregon said in a statement on Monday that every member of the state’s national guard called into federal service by the Pentagon should be sent home to their families since a federal judge issued a permanent injunction calling Donald Trump’s deployment of troops to Portland illegal. Kotek said that the 100 members of Oregon’s national guard remain mobilized in response to the president’s wildly false claims about a small anti-ICE protest in Portland. According to the governor, all 200 California national guard troops sent to Oregon by the Pentagon are scheduled to return to their home state on Monday, and 100 members of Oregon’s national guard called into federal service in September have been demobilized by the US army’s Northern Command. “President Trump’s disregard for the rule of law has real human consequences,” Kotek said in a statement. “Members of the Oregon national guard, who are our friends and neighbors, have been away from their families and jobs for 50 days on an unnecessary deployment. With the holidays approaching, every single member deserves to go home.” Updated at 1.27am GMT 9.41pm GMT Maga Texas congressman flips from no to yes on release of Epstein files – report Troy Nehls, a Texas Republican and Trump loyalist, who pledged three days ago that he would “be voting NO on the Epstein Hoax”, has reportedly had a change of heart, telling a New York Times reporter on Monday that he now intends to vote yes. Nehls, a former sheriff, was sworn in for his first term as a congressman on 3 January 2021. Three days later, he was caught on video by a member of the pro-Trump mob that stormed the Capitol telling a rioter through the battered door of the House chamber that he was “ashamed” of him. 9.00pm GMT Trump says that tariff checks will 'probably come in the middle of next year' The president has doubled down on his promise that the revenue raised from his sweeping tariffs will result in $2,000 checks for American families. “We’re going to be issuing dividends later on, some somewhere prior to probably in the middle of next year,” he said. “We have a lot of money from tariffs. If we didn’t have tariffs, this nation would be in serious trouble.” This, despite the fact the president cannot unilaterally decide how tariff income will be spent. Federal law confers that power to Congress. Also, the supreme court is now deliberating the legality of the levies. Earlier this month, liberal and conservative justices alike seemed skeptical of the means and methods of the administration’s tariff policy. 8.50pm GMT While addressing reporters’ questions today on the Epstein vote, Trump appeared frustrated. “Unfortunately, like with the Kennedy situation, with the Martin Luther King situation, not to put Jeffrey Epstein in the same category, but no matter what we give, it’s never enough,” the president said. “It’s just a Russia, Russia, Russia hoax as it pertains to the Republicans.” Earlier, Trump repeated his intent to investigate prominent Democrats’ links to Epstein. “They were with him all the time. I wasn’t, I wasn’t at all,” he said today. A reminder, that US attorney for the southern district of New York, Jay Clayton, was assigned to lead the probe against these noted adversaries of the president, including Bill Clinton. 8.31pm GMT 'We'll give them everything,' Trump says ahead of upcoming vote on Epstein files, adds that he doesn't want it to 'detract' from Republican successes In the Oval Office, the president said today that he would sign a bill to release the complete tranche of Epstein files if it ends up on his desk. “All I want is, I want for people to recognize a great job that I’ve done on pricing, on affordability, because we brought prices way down,” Trump said. “I just don’t want Epstein to detract from the great success of the Republican Party, including the fact that the Democrats are totally blamed for the shutdown.” He added: We’ll give them everything. Sure. I would let them, let the Senate look at it, let anybody look at it, but don’t talk about it too much, because honestly, I don’t want to take it away from us. It’s really a Democrat problem. The Democrats were Epstein’s friends, all of them, and it’s a hoax. 8.14pm GMT Speaking today, the president’s voice sounded notably raspy. He said that the hoarseness was the result of “shouting at people because they were stupid about something having to do with trade”. “I blew my stack,” Trump added, before clarifying that one country in particular “wanted to try and renegotiate the terms of their trade deal”. However, he refused to name the country when pressed by a reporter. 8.11pm GMT President says he doesn't 'rule out anything' on Venezuela amid military escalation Donald Trump said he doesn’t “rule out anything” when asked about the possibility of troops on the ground in Venezuela. “We just have to take care of Venezuela. They dumped hundreds of 1000s of people into our country from prisons,” the president added, while underscoring that Nicolás Maduro has done “done tremendous damage” to the US “primarily because of drugs”. 8.04pm GMT Donald Trump, joined by Fifa president Gianni Infantino, just touted the economic impact of the 2026 World Cup. “It’s expected to drive more than $30bn,” he said. “And it’s going to create nearly 200,000 jobs for America.” He added that the games would remedy the effects of the “shutdown caused by Democrats”. 7.48pm GMT Trump says he will be 'endorsing against' Indiana Republicans who inhibit redistricting effort in the state As the redistricting battle continues across several states, Donald Trump said that he will be “endorsing against” any Indiana lawmaker who “votes against the Republican Party, and our Nation, by not allowing for Redistricting for Congressional seats”. This comes as the speaker in the Hoosier state’s senate president said that there weren’t enough votes to accomplish a mid-decade redistricting plan at the behest of Trump. For his part, Indiana GOP governor Mike Braun said that he “had a great call” with the president today, and urged state legislators to “show up for work and take a public vote for fair maps to counter the gerrymandering in California and Illinois”. Braun added: “I told him [Trump] I remain committed to standing with him on the critical issue of passing fair maps in Indiana to ensure the MAGA agenda is successful in Congress.” Updated at 7.51pm GMT 7.03pm GMT Warren calls for Harvard to sever ties with former university president Larry Summers, following Epstein emails Senator Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts has called for Harvard University to sever ties with its former president Larry Summers, in an interview with CNN. This comes as several emails between Summers and the late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein appeared in the trove of documents released by the House oversight committee last week. The pair maintained a friendship for years. “For decades, Larry Summers has demonstrated his attraction to serving the wealthy and well-connected, but his willingness to cozy up to a convicted sex offender demonstrates monumentally bad judgment,” Warren told CNN. “If he had so little ability to distance himself from Jeffrey Epstein even after all that was publicly known about Epstein’s sex offenses involving underage girls, then Summers cannot be trusted to advise our nation’s politicians, policymakers, and institutions – or teach a generation of students at Harvard or anywhere else.” Summers, who previously served as treasury secretary under Bill Clinton, is now the subject of a new investigation that Trump initiated last week. The president instructed attorney general Pam Bondi to launch a probe into several Democrats and institutions after their names appeared in the latest tranche of documents, which included emails that seemed to suggest Trump himself might have known about Epstein’s conduct. 6.39pm GMT In a short while, we’ll hear from Donald Trump, as he meets with the White House taskforce about the 2026 World Cup. We’ll make sure to bring you the latest lines, as this will be the first chance reporters have to ask him questions since he seemed to pivot on House Republicans voting to release the full trove of justice department files on Jeffrey Epstein. 6.27pm GMT Acting head of Fema resigns following response to deadly Texas floods – report David Richardson, the acting head of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (Fema), has resigned after a brief stint leading the agency, according to the Washington Post. The Post cites people familiar with the matter, and notes that Richardson “kept a low profile and was known for frequently being inaccessible, including during the early hours of the flood disaster in Texas over the Fourth of July weekend”. The Trump administration has been vocal about wanting to dismantle Fema, and Richardson’s boss – homeland security secretary Kristi Noem – stopped him from doing interviews or answering other media requests, according to an official with knowledge of the situation who spoke on the Post condition of anonymity. Updated at 6.42pm GMT 5.28pm GMT US judge finds evidence of ‘government misconduct’ in federal case against Comey A US judge has found evidence of “government misconduct” in how a prosecutor aligned with Donald Trump secured criminal charges against former FBI director James Comey and ordered that grand jury materials be turned over to Comey’s defense team. Last week, prosecutors were ordered to produce a trove of materials from the investigation, with the court saying it was concerned that the US justice department’s position on Comey had been to “indict first and investigate later”. Comey is charged with lying to Congress in 2020 in a case filed days after the US president appeared to urge his attorney general to prosecute the former FBI director and other perceived political enemies. He has pleaded not guilty, and his lawyers have argued that it is a vindictive prosecution brought at the direction of the Republican president and must be dismissed. Related: US judge finds evidence of ‘government misconduct’ in federal case against Comey 4.53pm GMT 'Trump has put the gun on the table,' Bolton says about latest military escalation in Venezuela Former national security adviser 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 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. Updated at 5.06pm GMT 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