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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 next few hours.

Trump Dismisses Greene's Danger Claims

We begin with the development that President Donald Trump intensified his attacks against GOP congresswoman Representative Greene on the weekend, even as his shift on resisting the disclosure of the Jeffrey Epstein documents.

He persisted in rejecting her claim that his criticism were putting at risk her and stated he did not think anyone was focusing on her. Greene said on the previous day that the President's online criticism had unleashed a wave of menaces aimed at her.

“Greene the ‘Traitor’,” he remarked, referring to the congresswoman. “I don’t think her life is in danger... I doubt anybody is concerned for her,” Trump told the press before entering his presidential plane on Sunday evening.

Marjorie Taylor Greene, a US House of Representatives representative from Georgia who was previously considered a staunch Trump supporter, has recently adopted stances contrary to the commander-in-chief. She said on the weekend she has been contacted by security companies expressing concern for her security and that harsh attacks against her have in the past led to threats on her life.

Epstein Files Disclosure Push

This dispute occurred while the President urged his GOP colleagues in Congress to vote for the publication of files related to the late convicted sex offender Epstein, reversing his prior opposition to such a move.

His message on his social media platform came after Speaker Johnson said earlier that he thought a vote on making public justice department files in the Epstein investigation should help dispel allegations “that he [Trump] has something to do with it”.

Trump wrote on his social media account on Sunday: “House Republicans should vote to release the Epstein documents, because we have nothing to hide.

“Now is the moment to put behind us this Democrat Hoax orchestrated by far-left activists in order to distract from the significant achievements of the GOP, including our recent Victory on the government funding issue,” he said.

While Trump and Epstein were seen together decades ago, the commander-in-chief has said the two men had a disagreement before Epstein's legal troubles. Emails disclosed last week by a House committee indicated the disgraced financier, who died by suicide in jail in recent years, believed the President “was aware of the girls,” though it was uncertain what that phrase meant.

Additional Developments

• Republican congressman Thomas Massie had questioned Trump over whether the commander-in-chief was making a “last-ditch effort” to prevent the complete records on the deceased convicted criminal Jeffrey Epstein from being disclosed by ordering a fresh investigation. Massie and Democratic congressman Ro Khanna, the two US representatives spearheading the bipartisan push to make all the documents held by the authorities public both expressed new worries about the actions by the administration.
• US forces conducted 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 verified that the vessel was engaged in illegal drug trafficking, traveling on a established drug route, and carrying narcotics,” the military command stated in a message on social media.
• Trump indicated the United States may open talks with President Maduro, the leader of Venezuela, who is under growing scrutiny from the US government during a huge military deployment in the Caribbean. “We could initiate some discussions with the Venezuelan leader, and we’ll observe how that turns out. Venezuela would like to talk,” the commander-in-chief remarked on that day, in one of the first signs of a possible path to easing the increasingly tense situation in the region.
• Donald Trump on Sunday brushed aside worries about conservative commentator Tucker Carlson's latest discussion with a extremist figure recognized for his anti-Jewish sentiments, which has caused a schism within the Republican party. Trump supported the host, noting the ex-media personality has “expressed good things about me over the years.” He said if he wants to interview the activist, whose followers consider themselves working to preserve America’s white, Christian identity, then “people have to make up their own minds.” He did not condemn Carlson or the activist.
• The President suggested on that day that he plans to have a discussion with NYC's mayor-elect Mamdani and stated they will “work something out”, in what could be a truce for the Republican president and Democratic rising star who have cast each other as opponents. Trump has for months criticized the mayor-elect, incorrectly labelling him as a “socialist” and predicting the ruin of his hometown, New York, if the progressive were chosen.
• A group of 17 transgender military personnel has filed a lawsuit against the Trump administration for refusing them retirement benefits and entitlements. The legal filing, filed in federal court, characterizes the administration's action against them as “illegal and unjustified”.