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Greetings and salutations to the US politics ongoing coverage. I am Tom Ambrose, and I will be providing you with all the latest developments over the next few hours.

Trump Dismisses Marjorie Taylor Greene's Danger Concerns

We begin with the news that President Donald Trump intensified his attacks against Republican lawmaker Marjorie Taylor Greene on Sunday, even as his reversal on opposing the disclosure of the Epstein files.

He persisted in rejecting her claim that his remarks were endangering her and stated he did not believe anyone was targeting her. Greene remarked on the previous day that the President's online criticism had triggered a wave of menaces aimed at her.

“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,” Trump told reporters before boarding Air Force One on Sunday evening.

Marjorie Taylor Greene, a House member from the state of Georgia who was long known as a Trump loyalist, has recently taken positions at odds with the commander-in-chief. She noted on Saturday she has been contacted by security companies warning about her safety and that strong criticisms against her have in the past resulted in death threats.

Jeffrey Epstein Documents Disclosure Push

The public fallout occurred while the President encouraged his fellow Republicans in Congress to support the release of records related to the late disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein, changing his earlier resistance to such a action.

His message on his Truth Social came after Speaker Johnson said earlier that he believed a decision on making public DOJ files in the Epstein investigation should help dispel claims “that he [Trump] has any involvement”.

He posted on his social media account on that day: “House Republicans should support unsealing the Epstein documents, because we have nothing to hide.

“Now is the moment to move on from this Democrat Hoax perpetrated by Radical Left Lunatics in order to deflect from the significant achievements of the Republican Party, including our latest win on the Democrat ‘Shutdown’,” he said.

While Trump and Epstein were seen together decades ago, the president has said the two men had a disagreement before Epstein's legal troubles. Messages released recently by a congressional panel indicated the disgraced financier, who died by suicide in jail in 2019, believed the President “knew about the girls,” though it was uncertain what that statement meant.

Other Updates

• GOP representative Congressman Massie had questioned Trump over whether the US president was making a “last-ditch effort” to prevent the complete records on the deceased sex offender Epstein from being disclosed by initiating a new probe. The congressman and Democratic congressman Representative Khanna, the two US representatives spearheading the cross-party effort to make all the files in the possession of the authorities available both raised fresh concerns about the actions by the White House.
• The United States carried out another strike on an suspected drug trafficking vessel in the eastern Pacific on the weekend, killing three individuals aboard, the Department of Defense said on the following day. “Intelligence confirmed that the boat was involved in illicit narcotics smuggling, transiting along a known narco-trafficking route, and transporting drugs,” the US Southern Command stated in a post on online platforms.
• Trump indicated the United States may begin discussions with President Maduro, the leader of Venezuela, who faces growing scrutiny from the US government amid a significant US military buildup in the Caribbean. “We could initiate some discussions with the Venezuelan leader, and we’ll observe how that develops. They would want to talk,” the commander-in-chief remarked on that day, in one of the initial indications of a possible path to easing the increasingly tense situation in the region.
• Trump on the weekend dismissed concerns about right-wing pundit Tucker Carlson's recent discussion with a far-right activist recognized for his antisemitic views, which has caused a division within the Republican party. The President supported Carlson, saying the ex-media personality has “said positive remarks about me in the past.” He added if he chooses to speak with the activist, whose supporters consider themselves working to preserve the nation's cultural heritage, then “individuals have to decide.” He did not criticize Carlson or the activist.
• Trump indicated on that day that he intends to meet with New York City’s incoming mayor Mamdani and stated they will “reach an agreement”, in what could be a truce for the Republican president and Democratic political star who have portrayed one another as political foils. Trump has for months criticized the mayor-elect, falsely labelling him as a “communist” and predicting the ruin of his hometown, New York, if the progressive were elected.
• A group of seventeen transgender US air force members has filed a lawsuit against the Trump administration for denying them early retirement pensions and entitlements. The legal filing, filed in federal court, describes the government’s move against them as “unlawful and invalid”.