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Greetings and salutations to the US politics ongoing coverage. I am Tom Ambrose, and I will be bringing you all the most recent developments over the coming hours.

The President Rejects Marjorie Taylor Greene's Danger Claims

We start with the news that President Donald Trump intensified his criticism of GOP congresswoman Representative Greene on Sunday, despite his reversal on resisting the disclosure of the Jeffrey Epstein documents.

He persisted in rejecting her assertion that his criticism were endangering her and stated he did not think anyone was focusing on her. The congresswoman remarked on Saturday that Trump’s online criticism had unleashed a surge of menaces aimed at her.

“Marjorie ‘Traitor’ Greene,” he remarked, speaking of the lawmaker. “I don’t think her life is in danger... I doubt anybody cares about her,” the president told the press before boarding his presidential plane on Sunday night.

Greene, a US House of Representatives representative from Georgia who was long known as a Trump loyalist, has lately adopted stances contrary to the president. She noted on the weekend she has been alerted by private security firms expressing concern for her security and that harsh attacks against her have previously resulted in death threats.

Epstein Files Release Push

This dispute occurred while Trump urged his fellow Republicans in Congress to support the publication of records related to the deceased convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, reversing his prior opposition to such a action.

Trump’s post on his Truth Social came after House speaker Mike Johnson said earlier that he thought a decision on releasing DOJ documents in the Epstein investigation should help put to rest allegations “that he [Trump] has any involvement”.

Trump wrote on his social media account on Sunday: “House Republicans should support unsealing the Epstein files, because we have nothing to hide.

“And it’s time to put behind us this Democrat Hoax perpetrated by far-left activists in order to deflect from the significant achievements of the Republican Party, including our recent Victory on the Democrat ‘Shutdown’,” he added.

While Trump and Epstein were seen together years back, the commander-in-chief has claimed the two men fell out before Epstein’s convictions. Messages released recently by a congressional panel indicated the disgraced financier, who took his own life in jail in 2019, believed the President “knew about the girls,” though it was not clear what that statement meant.

Other Developments

• Republican congressman Congressman Massie had questioned the President over whether the US president was making a “last-ditch effort” to keep the full files on the deceased sex offender Epstein from being disclosed by initiating a new probe. Massie and Democratic representative Ro Khanna, the two lawmakers leading the bipartisan push to have all the documents held by the government public both expressed new worries about the steps by the White House.
• The United States carried out a further attack on an alleged drug trafficking boat in the Pacific region on the weekend, resulting in the deaths of three individuals on board, the Department of Defense said on Sunday. “Intelligence verified that the vessel was engaged in illegal drug trafficking, transiting along a established drug route, and transporting narcotics,” the US Southern Command announced in a message on social media.
• The President said the United States may open talks with Nicolas Maduro, the leader of Venezuela, who is under escalating pressure from Washington amid a significant military deployment in the Caribbean. “We may be having some talks with Maduro, and we’ll see how that develops. Venezuela would want to talk,” the commander-in-chief said on that day, in one of the initial indications of a possible path to easing the growingly strained circumstances in the area.
• Donald Trump on Sunday brushed aside concerns about right-wing pundit Tucker Carlson's recent interview with a extremist figure recognized for his antisemitic views, which has created a schism within the Republican party. Trump supported Carlson, noting the former Fox News host has “said good things about me in the past.” He added if Carlson wants to interview Nick Fuentes, whose supporters see themselves as working to preserve the nation's white, Christian identity, then “individuals have to make up their own minds.” Trump did not condemn Carlson or Fuentes.
• Trump indicated on Sunday that he intends to have a discussion with New York City’s incoming mayor Zohran Mamdani and said they will “reach an agreement”, in what could be a truce for the GOP leader and Democratic rising star who have cast each other as political foils. He has for an extended period criticized the mayor-elect, incorrectly describing him as a “socialist” and forecasting the decline of his hometown, NYC, if the democratic socialist were elected.
• A group of 17 transgender military personnel has sued the Trump administration for denying them retirement benefits and entitlements. The complaint, submitted in a US court, describes the government’s move against them as “illegal and unjustified”.