Donald Trump Continues Attacks on Marjorie Taylor Greene Amid Push to Unseal Epstein Files

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

The President Rejects Greene's Safety Claims

We start with the development that President Donald Trump doubled down on his criticism of Republican lawmaker Marjorie Taylor Greene on Sunday, even as his shift on resisting the release of the Epstein files.

He persisted in rejecting her claim that his criticism were endangering her and said he did not think anyone was focusing on her. The congresswoman said on Saturday that the President's online criticism had triggered a surge of menaces directed at her.

“Greene the ‘Traitor’,” he said, speaking of the lawmaker. “I do not believe her life is in danger... I doubt anybody cares about her,” the president told reporters before boarding his presidential plane on Sunday evening.

Greene, a House representative from the state of Georgia who was previously considered a staunch Trump supporter, has lately taken positions at odds with the commander-in-chief. She said on Saturday she has been contacted by security companies expressing concern for her security and that harsh attacks against her have in the past led to death threats.

Jeffrey Epstein Documents Release Push

The public fallout came as Trump urged his fellow Republicans in Congress to vote for the release of files related to the late convicted sex offender Epstein, changing his earlier opposition to such a move.

Trump’s post on his social media platform came after House speaker Mike Johnson said earlier that he believed a vote on making public DOJ files in the Epstein investigation should help dispel claims “that he [Trump] has any involvement”.

Trump wrote on his social media account on Sunday: “GOP lawmakers should support unsealing the Epstein files, because we have nothing to hide.

“Now is the moment to put behind us this political stunt orchestrated by Radical Left Lunatics in order to distract from the significant achievements of the Republican Party, including our latest win on the government funding issue,” he added.

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 House committee 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 signified.

Other Developments

• Republican congressman Congressman Massie had questioned Trump over whether the commander-in-chief was making a “last-ditch effort” to keep the full files on the deceased sex offender Jeffrey Epstein from being disclosed by initiating a new probe. The congressman and Democratic congressman Ro Khanna, the two lawmakers spearheading the cross-party effort to have all the files held by the authorities public both expressed new worries about the steps by the White House.
• The United States carried out another attack on an suspected narcotics smuggling vessel in the eastern Pacific on Saturday, killing three individuals on board, the Department of Defense announced on the following day. “Intelligence confirmed that the boat was involved in illegal drug trafficking, traveling on a established drug route, and carrying drugs,” the military command stated in a post on social media.
• Trump said the United States may begin discussions with Nicolas Maduro, the Venezuelan president, who faces escalating pressure from Washington amid a huge military deployment in the Caribbean region. “We could initiate 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 defusing the increasingly tense circumstances in the region.
• Donald Trump on the weekend brushed aside concerns about right-wing pundit the commentator's latest discussion with a far-right activist known for his antisemitic views, which has caused a schism within the Republican party. The President supported the host, noting the ex-media personality has “expressed good things about me in the past.” He added if Carlson wants to interview the activist, whose followers see themselves as working to preserve the nation's white, Christian identity, then “individuals have to decide.” He did not criticize the commentator or the activist.
• The President indicated on that day that he intends to have a discussion with NYC's incoming mayor Mamdani and said they will “reach an agreement”, in what could be a detente for the GOP leader and Democratic political star who have cast each other as political foils. Trump has for months slammed Mr Mamdani, incorrectly labelling him as a “socialist” and predicting the decline of his hometown, NYC, if the democratic socialist were elected.
• A collective of seventeen trans US air force members has sued the Trump administration for denying them retirement benefits and benefits. The legal filing, filed in federal court, describes the administration's action against them as “unlawful and invalid”.