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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 most recent news lines over the coming hours.

Trump Rejects Greene's Danger Concerns

We start with the news that President Donald Trump intensified his attacks against Republican lawmaker Representative Greene on the weekend, despite his shift on resisting the release of the Epstein files.

He continued to dismiss her claim that his criticism were endangering her and said he did not believe anyone was focusing on her. The congresswoman said on the previous day that Trump’s online criticism had unleashed a wave of menaces aimed at her.

“Greene the ‘Traitor’,” he said, speaking of the congresswoman. “I do not believe her life is in danger... I doubt anybody is concerned for her,” the president informed the press before entering Air Force One on Sunday night.

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 president. She said on Saturday she has been contacted by security companies expressing concern for her safety and that strong criticisms against her have previously resulted in threats on her life.

Jeffrey Epstein Documents Release Push

The public fallout came as the President encouraged his GOP colleagues in Congress to support the publication of records related to the deceased convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, changing his prior opposition to such a action.

His message on his Truth Social followed House speaker Mike Johnson previously stated that he thought a vote on releasing DOJ files in the Epstein case should help dispel allegations “that he [Trump] has any involvement”.

Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform on Sunday: “GOP lawmakers should vote to release the Epstein files, because we have no secrets.

“Now is the moment to move on from this political stunt orchestrated by Radical Left Lunatics in order to deflect from the significant achievements of the Republican Party, including our recent Victory on the Democrat ‘Shutdown’,” he said.

Although Trump and Epstein were seen together years back, the commander-in-chief has said the two men had a disagreement before Epstein's legal troubles. Messages disclosed last week by a congressional panel showed the disgraced financier, who took his own life in jail in recent years, thought the President “was aware of the girls,” though it was uncertain what that phrase meant.

Other Updates

• Republican congressman Thomas Massie had challenged the President over whether the US president was making a “final attempt” to prevent the full files on the late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein from becoming public by initiating a fresh investigation. Massie and Democratic representative Representative Khanna, the two lawmakers spearheading the bipartisan push to have all the documents held by the authorities public both expressed new worries about the actions by the White House.
• US forces conducted a further attack on an suspected drug trafficking boat in the eastern Pacific on Saturday, killing three people on board, the Pentagon announced on Sunday. “Intelligence confirmed that the vessel was involved in illegal drug trafficking, transiting along a established drug route, and transporting narcotics,” the military command announced in a message on social media.
• The President said the United States may begin discussions with President Maduro, the leader of Venezuela, who faces growing scrutiny from the US government during a significant military deployment in the Caribbean. “We could initiate some talks with Maduro, and we’ll observe how that develops. Venezuela would like to talk,” the US president said on Sunday, in one of the first signs of a possible path to easing the increasingly tense situation in the area.
• Trump on the weekend brushed aside worries about conservative commentator the commentator's recent discussion with a extremist figure known for his anti-Jewish sentiments, which has created a division within the GOP. The President supported Carlson, noting the ex-media personality has “said positive remarks about me over the years.” He said if he chooses to interview the activist, whose followers see themselves as working to preserve America’s cultural heritage, then “individuals have to make up their own minds.” Trump did not condemn Carlson or Fuentes.
• The President suggested on Sunday that he plans to have a discussion with New York City’s mayor-elect 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. He has for months slammed the mayor-elect, incorrectly describing him as a “socialist” and forecasting the decline of his hometown, New York, if the progressive were elected.
• A collective of seventeen trans military personnel has sued the federal government for refusing them retirement benefits and entitlements. The complaint, filed in a US court, describes the government’s move against them as “illegal and unjustified”.