Donald Trump Persists in Criticism on Taylor Greene Despite Push to Release Jeffrey Epstein Documents
Hello and welcome to the US politics live blog. This is Tom Ambrose, and I will be bringing you all the latest news lines over the coming hours.
The President Rejects Greene's Danger Concerns
We begin with the development that Donald Trump doubled down on his attacks against GOP congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene on Sunday, despite his reversal on opposing the disclosure of the Jeffrey Epstein documents.
He persisted in rejecting her assertion that his criticism were putting at risk her and said he did not believe anyone was focusing on her. The congresswoman said on Saturday that Trump’s social media posts had triggered a wave of threats directed at her.
“Marjorie ‘Traitor’ Greene,” he said, referring to the lawmaker. “I do not believe her life is in danger... I don’t think anybody is concerned for her,” the president informed reporters before boarding Air Force One on Sunday night.
Greene, a House member from Georgia who was previously considered a Trump loyalist, has lately adopted stances at odds with the commander-in-chief. She said on Saturday she has been alerted by private security firms expressing concern for her safety and that strong criticisms against her have previously resulted in threats on her life.
Epstein Files Disclosure Push
The public fallout occurred while Trump urged his fellow Republicans in the legislature to vote for the publication of files related to the deceased disgraced financier Epstein, changing his earlier opposition to such a action.
His message on his Truth Social followed Speaker Johnson said earlier that he believed a vote on making public DOJ documents in the Epstein investigation should help put to rest allegations “that he [Trump] has something to do with it”.
Trump wrote on his social media account on Sunday: “GOP lawmakers should support unsealing the Epstein documents, because we have nothing to hide.
“Now is the moment to move on from this Democrat Hoax perpetrated by Radical Left Lunatics in order to distract from the Great Success of the GOP, including our latest win on the Democrat ‘Shutdown’,” he added.
While Trump and Epstein were seen together decades ago, the president has claimed the two men had a disagreement before Epstein’s convictions. Emails released last week by a House committee indicated the convicted sex offender, who took his own life in prison in 2019, thought Trump “knew about the girls,” though it was not clear what that statement meant.
Additional Developments
- Republican congressman Congressman Massie had challenged the President over whether the commander-in-chief was making a “final attempt” to keep the full files on the deceased sex offender Jeffrey Epstein from being disclosed by ordering a new probe. Massie and Democratic representative Ro Khanna, the two US representatives spearheading the bipartisan push to make all the documents held by the government available both expressed new worries about the actions by the administration.
- US forces carried out a further strike on an alleged drug trafficking boat in the eastern Pacific on Saturday, killing three individuals aboard, the Pentagon said on Sunday. “Information verified that the boat was engaged in illegal drug trafficking, traveling on a known narco-trafficking route, and transporting narcotics,” the military command stated in a post on social media.
- Trump said the US may open talks with Nicolas Maduro, the Venezuelan president, who faces escalating pressure from the US government during a significant US military buildup in the Caribbean region. “We could initiate some discussions with the Venezuelan leader, and we’ll see how that develops. They would want to talk,” the commander-in-chief remarked on Sunday, in one of the initial indications of a potential way to easing the growingly strained circumstances in the area.
- Trump on Sunday brushed aside worries about conservative commentator the commentator's latest interview with a far-right activist known for his antisemitic views, which has caused a division within the Republican party. The President supported the host, noting the former Fox News host has “expressed positive remarks about me in the past.” He added if Carlson chooses to speak with Nick Fuentes, whose followers see themselves as defending America’s white, Christian identity, then “people have to decide.” Trump did not criticize Carlson or Fuentes.
- The President suggested on Sunday that he plans to meet with New York City’s incoming mayor Zohran Mamdani and stated they will “reach an agreement”, in what could be a truce for the Republican president and Democratic rising star who have portrayed one another as opponents. He has for months criticized the mayor-elect, incorrectly describing him as a “socialist” and predicting the decline of his city, New York, if the democratic socialist were elected.
- A collective of seventeen trans US air force members has filed a lawsuit against the Trump administration for refusing them retirement benefits and benefits. The complaint, filed in federal court, characterizes the government’s move against them as “illegal and unjustified”.