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Hello and welcome to the US politics ongoing coverage. This is Tom Ambrose, and I will be providing you with all the latest developments over the next few hours.

Trump Rejects Marjorie Taylor Greene's Safety Claims

We begin with the news that President Donald Trump doubled down on his criticism of GOP congresswoman Representative Greene on the weekend, even as his reversal on resisting the release of the Epstein files.

He persisted in rejecting her assertion that his criticism were endangering her and said he did not believe anyone was focusing on her. Greene said on the previous day that Trump’s social media posts had triggered a wave of menaces directed at her.

“Greene the ‘Traitor’,” he remarked, speaking of the lawmaker. “I do not believe her life is in danger... I doubt anybody is concerned for her,” the president told the press before entering his presidential plane on Sunday evening.

Marjorie Taylor Greene, a House member from Georgia who was long known as a staunch Trump supporter, has recently adopted stances at odds with the president. She said on Saturday she has been alerted by private security firms warning about her security and that harsh attacks against her have previously led to death threats.

Jeffrey Epstein Documents Disclosure Push

This dispute occurred while Trump encouraged his GOP colleagues in the legislature to vote for the publication of records concerning the deceased convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, reversing his earlier opposition to such a action.

His message on his social media platform followed House speaker Mike Johnson said earlier that he believed a decision on making public DOJ documents in the Epstein investigation should help put to rest allegations “that he [Trump] has any involvement”.

Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform on Sunday: “House Republicans should support unsealing the Epstein documents, because we have no secrets.

“Now is the moment to put behind us this political stunt perpetrated 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 said.

While Trump and Epstein were seen together years back, the president has claimed the two men had a disagreement before Epstein's legal troubles. Messages released last week by a House committee showed the disgraced financier, who died by suicide in prison in recent years, thought the President “was aware of the girls,” though it was uncertain what that statement signified.

Other Updates

• Republican congressman Congressman Massie had questioned Trump over whether the US president was making a “last-ditch effort” to keep the full files on the late convicted criminal Epstein from being disclosed by ordering a fresh investigation. The congressman and Democratic representative Representative Khanna, the two US representatives spearheading the bipartisan push to make all the documents in the possession of the government available both raised fresh concerns about the actions by the White House.
• The United States conducted another strike on an alleged drug trafficking vessel in the Pacific region on Saturday, killing three people on board, the Department of Defense said on Sunday. “Information verified that the boat was engaged in illicit narcotics smuggling, transiting along a known narco-trafficking route, and carrying drugs,” the US Southern Command stated in a post on social media.
• Trump indicated the US may open talks with Nicolas Maduro, the Venezuelan president, who is under escalating pressure from Washington during a huge US military buildup in the Caribbean. “We could initiate some talks with the Venezuelan leader, and we’ll see how that develops. Venezuela would like to talk,” the commander-in-chief remarked on that day, in one of the first signs of a potential way to easing the increasingly tense circumstances in the area.
• Trump on the weekend brushed aside worries about right-wing pundit the commentator's latest interview with a extremist figure recognized for his antisemitic views, which has caused a schism within the GOP. The President defended Carlson, noting the ex-media personality has “said positive remarks about me over the years.” He added if Carlson chooses to speak with the activist, whose supporters consider themselves working to preserve America’s cultural heritage, then “people have to make up their own minds.” He did not criticize the commentator or Fuentes.
• The President suggested 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 detente for the GOP leader and Democratic political star who have portrayed one another as political foils. Trump 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 progressive were chosen.
• A group of 17 trans US air force members has sued the federal government for denying them retirement benefits and benefits. The complaint, filed in a US court, characterizes the government’s move against them as “unlawful and invalid”.