Steve Inskeep

And I'm Michelle Martin.

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President Trump was on the verge of losing a vote over the Epstein files.

I'm Steve Inskeep with A. Martinez, and this is Up First from NPR News.

The U.S.

military presence in the Caribbean got much larger over the weekend.

The president says Venezuela's president would like to talk even as the U.S.

sends its largest warships toward its coast.

Trump now says he is in favor of a vote to release information about the convicted sex offender who was his friend for years.

The president and his allies in Congress resisted this vote for months.

It now seems that many Republicans will join Democrats in voting against the president.

So last night, the president raced to get in front of that defeat, saying he approves of the vote and, quote, we have nothing to hide.

Notably, the House is voting for the Justice Department that Trump controls to release whatever information it has, which Trump's attorney general previously declined to do.

The president has been weighing military options against Venezuela, and he told reporters last night that Maduro appears ready to talk.

They would like to talk.

The U.S.

has been blowing up small boats leaving Venezuela and other South American countries claiming they are transporting drugs.

The open question is what else the U.S.