Closing summary
Here’s what happened today in US politics:
Survivors of Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell’s abuse released a new statement on Monday criticizing the Trump administration’s justice department for failing to release all of the documents related to the case by the 19 December deadline. The survivors say the documents are “a fraction of the files, and what we received was riddled with abnormal and extreme redactions with no explanation.”
The Senate Democratic leader, Chuck Schumer, has announced he will introduce a resolution directing the Senate to take legal action against the justice department over its incomplete release of files related to the convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
A spokesperson for Bill Clinton has accused DOJ officials of “using selective releases to imply wrongdoing” and called on the department to “immediately release any remaining materials” from the Epstein files that refer to, mention or picture the former president.
Trump announces that he’s approved a plan for the Navy to begin construction of “two very large, largest we’ve ever built battleships”.
Bari Weiss reportedly killed a CBS 60 Minutes investigation into El Salvador’s CECOT prison just three hours before it was set to air Sunday night because the White House refused to grant an interview. The move led to outcries from members of Congress slammed CBS’s eleventh-hour decision to kill a fully reported 60 Minutes investigation into Trump deportees sent to El Salvador’s notorious Cecot prison.
The prime ministers of Denmark and Greenland have demanded respect for their borders after Donald Trump appointed a special envoy to the largely self-governing Danish territory, which he has said repeatedly should be under US control.
Trump’s FBI director Kash Patel is using a fleet of armoured luxury BMW X5s that he requested the agency purchase for his travel, MS Now reports, in Patel’s latest questionable use of taxpayers dollars.
A federal judge will decide today whether Kilmar Ábrego García should be returned to immigration custody after being free for just over a week, the Associated Press reports.
Trump says US has to have Greenland 'for national security'
Trump has also renewed his call to annex Greenland, saying: “We need it for national security. We have to have it and he wanted to lead the charge.”
Earlier today, the prime ministers of Denmark and Greenland demanded respect for their borders after Trump appointed Louisiana governor Jeff Landry as special envoy to Greenland, with Landry calling his appointment an “honor” to work to “make Greenland a part of the US”.
“We have said it very clearly before. Now we say it again. National borders and the sovereignty of states are rooted in international law … You cannot annex other countries,” Mette Frederiksen and Jens-Frederik Nielsen said in a joint statement.
Updated
