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Greetings and salutations to the US politics ongoing coverage. This is Tom Ambrose, and I will be bringing you all the latest developments over the coming hours.

Trump Rejects Greene's Danger Claims

We start with the news that Donald Trump doubled down on his criticism of GOP congresswoman Representative Greene on Sunday, even as his reversal on opposing the release of the Jeffrey Epstein documents.

He persisted in rejecting her assertion that his criticism were putting at risk her and said he did not think anyone was targeting her. The congresswoman remarked on the previous day that the President's social media posts had unleashed a wave of menaces directed at her.

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

Marjorie Taylor Greene, a US House of Representatives representative from Georgia who was long known as a staunch Trump supporter, has lately adopted stances contrary to the commander-in-chief. She noted on the weekend she has been alerted by security companies warning about her safety and that strong criticisms against her have in the past resulted in death threats.

Jeffrey Epstein Documents Release Push

This dispute came as the President encouraged his GOP colleagues in the legislature to vote for the release of records concerning the deceased convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, changing his prior resistance to such a action.

Trump’s post on his Truth Social followed House speaker Mike Johnson previously stated that he thought a decision on releasing justice department documents in the Epstein case should help dispel claims “that he [Trump] has any involvement”.

Trump wrote on his social media account on that day: “GOP lawmakers should vote to release the Epstein files, because we have no secrets.

“Now is the moment to put behind us this political stunt orchestrated by far-left activists in order to deflect from the Great Success of the Republican Party, including our latest win on the Democrat ‘Shutdown’,” he added.

Although the President and Epstein were seen together years back, the president has said the two men had a disagreement before Epstein’s convictions. Emails disclosed last week by a House committee indicated the disgraced financier, who took his own life in jail in 2019, believed Trump “knew about the girls,” though it was uncertain what that statement signified.

Other Developments

• GOP representative Thomas Massie had questioned Trump over whether the US president was making a “final attempt” to prevent the complete records on the late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein from being disclosed by initiating a fresh investigation. Massie and Democratic congressman Ro Khanna, the two US representatives leading the bipartisan push to make all the files in the possession of the government public both raised fresh concerns about the steps by the administration.
• US forces conducted another attack on an alleged drug trafficking boat in the eastern Pacific on Saturday, killing three individuals aboard, the Department of Defense said on the following day. “Information confirmed that the vessel was involved in illicit narcotics smuggling, transiting along a established drug route, and transporting drugs,” the US Southern Command announced in a message on social media.
• The President indicated the United States may open talks with Nicolas Maduro, the Venezuelan president, who faces growing scrutiny from the US government amid a huge US military buildup in the Caribbean region. “We may be having some discussions with the Venezuelan leader, and we’ll see how that develops. Venezuela would want to talk,” the commander-in-chief said on Sunday, in one of the initial indications of a possible path to easing the increasingly tense circumstances in the region.
• Trump on the weekend brushed aside worries about right-wing pundit Tucker Carlson's latest interview with a far-right activist known for his antisemitic views, which has created a schism within the GOP. Trump supported the host, saying the ex-media personality has “expressed good things about me in the past.” He added if he wants to interview Nick Fuentes, whose followers consider themselves defending America’s white, Christian identity, then “individuals have to make up their own minds.” He did not condemn the commentator or Fuentes.
• Trump indicated on Sunday that he plans to meet with New York City’s incoming mayor Mamdani and said they will “work something out”, in what could be a detente for the GOP leader and Democratic political star who have portrayed one another as opponents. He has for an extended period slammed Mr Mamdani, falsely describing him as a “socialist” and predicting the ruin of his city, NYC, if the democratic socialist were elected.
• A collective of seventeen transgender military personnel has sued the federal government for refusing them retirement benefits and entitlements. The legal filing, submitted in federal court, characterizes the administration's action against them as “unlawful and invalid”.