Trump live: Marjorie Taylor Greene tells president to ‘refocus’ on MAGA and tamp down divisive rhetoric as feud over Epstein files intensifies

Three men aboard a vessel in the Eastern Pacific were killed Saturday at the direction of Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, the US military announced Sunday.

As part of the ongoing operation to stop boats accused of smuggling illicit narcotics into the U.S., the Joint Task Force Southern Spear conducted a “lethal kinetic strike” on a vessel that allegedly was operated by a “designated terrorist organization.”

This is the 19th strike of such kind to be conducted since early September, elevating the death toll to 78 people.

Despite claims, the Defense Department has offered no evidence to confirm that the boats are carrying narcotics or that those in the boats are “narco terrorists.”

The operation, known as “Charlotte’s Web,” is the first immigration enforcement mission being headed by CBP. While Immigration and Customs Enforcement is conducting arrests, they did not coordinate with CBP Saturday.

Saturday Night Live mocked the Trump administration’s ongoing attempts to downplay the Jeffrey Epstein scandal in a cold open sketch featuring the president denying he ever really knew Epstein just before offering to sell the Epstein files for $800 as a “stocking stuffer.”

“Jeffrey Epstein, I barely knew the guy, as evidenced by the thousands of pictures of us together dancing and grinding our teeth at various parties, always leering and pointing at something just off camera, probably a book we’re excited to read,” Trump, played by James Austin Johnson, tells reporters in the White House briefing room.

Elsewhere in the sketch, Trump trips over his words trying to explain his administration’s ever-changing stance on the Epstein scandal, which has seen the White House go from promising deep transparency and document releases to federal officials announcing this summer that further investigations and disclosures would not be warranted.

Rep. Thomas Massie weighed in on Donald Trump’s insulting statements about his marriage and the onslaught of abuse he’s received from pro-Trump loyalists on social media on Sunday as he vowed to keep fighting for the release of the Jeffrey Epstein files held by the Department of Justice.

The nation’s most advanced aircraft carrier arrived in the Caribbean Sea on Sunday in a display of U.S. military power, raising questions about what the new influx of troops and weaponry could signal for the Trump administration’s drug enforcement campaign in South America.

Since early September, U.S. strikes have killed at least 80 people in 20 attacks on small boats accused of transporting drugs in the Caribbean and eastern Pacific Ocean.

The Ford rounds off the largest buildup of U.S. firepower in the region in generations, bringing the total number of troops to around 12,000 on nearly a dozen Navy ships in what Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has dubbed “Operation Southern Spear.”

Speaker of the House Mike Johnson confirmed Sunday that House members will vote to force the release of the Epstein files this week after months of delay – asserting there is “nothing to hide.”

“We’ll just get this done and move it on. There’s nothing to hide,” Johnson said on “Fox News Sunday.”

Johnson sent House members home early this past summer to prevent them from voting to release the Epstein files.

When asked if he regretted voting to confirm Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Senator Bill Cassidy, chairman of the Senate Health Committee, declined to answer.

“So you live life forward. Again, you just do. Let today’s own troubles be sufficient for the day,” Cassidy told host of CBS’s “Face the Nation,” Margaret Brennan, Sunday.

Cassidy has publicly disagreed with several of Kennedy’s decisions, including rolling back vaccine recommendations, overhauling the committee that approves vaccine guidance, instilling anti-vaccine advocates into power positions and more.

The senator said he publicly disagrees with Kennedy on several policies, but praised his efforts to draw attention to regulating processed foods.

“So that’s how I’ll answer your question,” Cassidy told Brennan.

Brennan replied, “That sounds like, yes.”

Republican Rep. Don Bacon said Sunday that Speaker of the House Mike Johnson should just “rip the band-aid off” and allow the House to vote to compel the release of the Epstein files.

Appearing on CBS’s “Face the Nation,” Bacon said the White House and Trump looked “bad” by trying to prevent the Epstein files from being released and urged those attempting to starve off a vote to just let it happen.

“I think the Speaker realizes the train has left the station on this. Let’s rip the band-aid off and get it done. I wish the president realized that, the more the White House pushes back on this. It just looks bad, right?” Bacon said.

The representative said the situation has been a “PR blunder” from the beginning when Attorney General Pam Bondi released white binders containing “Phase 1” of the Epstein files to conservative influencers, then reversed course, refusing to release further information.