Legal

President Donald Trump is threatening to cut funding to states with sanctuary cities, a move that could affect a sizable portion of the United States ... though he's tried it before, unsuccessfully.

POTUS reaffirmed his desire to stop the payments during a speech at the Detroit Economic Club on Tuesday, and claimed "sanctuary cities" -- places that limit cooperation with federal immigration authorities -- "do everything possible to protect criminals at the expense of American citizens," reports NBC News.

Trump alleged the policies of sanctuary cities encourage "fraud and crime and all of the other problems that come." He didn't give any specific details ... but he did warn the effects on funding for states would be "significant."

This isn't the first time Trump has threatened to cut funding to sanctuary cities ... he attempted to do so in 2017, although his attempt was struck down in court.

Trump issued an executive order last year directing officials to withhold federal funds from sanctuary cities, but his effort was ultimately shot down by a California judge.

Joe Rogan's not the kind of guy to mince words about tough topics, and he made his views on ICE's methods clear -- comparing their tactics to what Gestapo police did in Nazi Germany.

The podcasting giant questioned the agency's tactics, comparing them to the Gestapo's ... the secret police who routinely rounded up targeted groups, including Jewish people and anyone who disagreed with the Nazi Party, during WWII. Rogan was talking with Kentucky Senator Rand Paul in Tuesday's episode of the podcast.

Rogan said he thinks a good chunk of the American population is in favor of criminals being arrested, he thinks lots of the same people believed the agency is "operating illegally."

He pointed out many of who've been taken into custody by ICE are innocent Americans who "just don’t have their papers on them." Hundreds of people have been illegally detained at random on streets across the United States, prompting legal challenges in multiple cities.

ICE and CBP officers have arrested more than 70,000 people with no criminal records, NBC News reports.

Rogan discussed the death of Renee Nicole Good, who was shot and killed by an ICE agent in Minneapolis last week, and said watching video of the shooting was "very ugly."

Rogan questioned whether Good's shooting was justified, as he feels she was trying to drive away from the ICE agents who'd approached her car when she was shot.

Timothy Busfield surrendered to law enforcement on child sex abuse charges Tuesday ... and now we're learning new details about the U.S. Marshals' search to nab him, including a raid on his New York property.

Turns out the "West Wing" actor gave himself up just in time yesterday in New Mexico, because the feds were hot on his trail ... busting through the door of his home in upstate New York.

A rep for the U.S. Marshals tells TMZ ... Marshals were searching for Busfield and drove by his New York state address, hoping to catch him there.

Believing he was in the home, Marshals entered and searched for him, but came up empty, according to the rep.

A pair of GoFundMe campaigns for TJ Sabula have collectively received more than $350,000 for the suspended Ford worker ... all within 24 hours of him calling President Donald Trump a "pedophile protector" to Trump's face.

FYI ... TJ hurled the insult at 47 during the president's visit to a Ford manufacturing plant in Michigan on Tuesday ... and POTUS responded with a concise "f*** you" and flipped off Sabula.

TJ later said he doesn't have any regrets about it, although he is concerned about his future job prospects, as Ford suspended him without pay.

This is where the GoFundMe campaigns come in ... one campaign's organizer -- who described herself as a "longtime personal friend" of TJ's family -- set a goal of $10,000 for her campaign ... which has since received more than $100,000 in donations.

That campaign's funds will apparently go directly to help TJ and his family cover expenses in the aftermath.

The other GoFundMe campaign was organized with a loftier goal of $250,000 ... and it's since raised more than $270,000 for the suspended worker.

Ariana Madix and Tom Sandoval are turning over a new leaf, or so it seems ... because it appears they reached a settlement in a legal beef over the house they shared before their epic split.

According to new legal docs, obtained by TMZ, the parties reached a conditional settlement of the lawsuit Ariana filed back in January 2024, when she was trying to force a sale of their shared home.

It's unclear what the terms of the settlement are ... the docs just say some unspecified terms must be satisfied under the settlement agreement before the case is officially dismissed.

Matt Prokop did not go down easy when police came to arrest him on Christmas Eve ... cops say he slammed the door in their face -- and resisted arrest -- but was ultimately taken away to a Texas jail.

TMZ obtained an incident report in which the arresting officer said police arrived at Prokop's apartment in Victoria, Texas, on December 24.

According to the report ... the former child actor was immediately uncooperative after cops said he was under arrest for violating the conditions of his bond in a separate case, the details of which were unclear.

The report states Prokop answered the door and quickly slammed it in the faces of the cops ... but officers were ultimately able to get inside the apartment.

2:21 PM PT -- We just obtained Timothy's mugshot ... and he's mostly expressionless.

12:47 PM PT -- Attorney Christina McGovern tells TMZ ... “I conducted an independent and thorough investigation of all allegations known to the Studio at the time. Warner Bros. gave me full discretion as to my investigation. Based on what was alleged, and all evidence gathered, including multiple witness statements, I found no corroborating evidence that Mr. Busfield engaged in inappropriate conduct or that he was ever alone with the twins on set.”

Timothy Busfield just surrendered to law enforcement in New Mexico after an arrest warrant was issued earlier this month and prosecutors charged him with child abuse and criminal sexual contact with a minor ... but he made it clear to TMZ -- he says he's innocent.

TMZ obtained video of Busfield at his lawyer's office in Albuquerque, shortly before turning himself in. He made it clear ... he will "confront these lies," adding, "I did not do anything to those little boys."

As we reported ... the award-winning film and TV actor and director was accused of sexually abusing two boys who were child actors on "The Cleaning Lady" while he was directing the show in 2022 in New Mexico. At the time, prosecutors say, the child actors were 7 and 8 at the times of the alleged contact, and their parents reported the alleged crimes to the Albuquerque police two years later, leading to a criminal investigation.

The Pentagon used a military aircraft painted to look like a civilian plane to attack a boat off the coast of Venezuela in September -- the Trump administration claimed the boat was transporting drugs -- and that deception violates international law, The New York Times reports.

This is one of the attacks that is already controversial -- after the initial bombing, a second strike was ordered, killing two survivors who were clinging to the hull of the destroyed boat. That is considered a war crime.

The bombing of unconfirmed criminal suspect boats and their occupants is also legally questionable in international maritime law.

The aircraft used in the Sept. 2, 2025 attack -- which killed 11 people -- reportedly flew low enough for the boat's passengers to see it ... meaning they would have been under the impression it was a civilian plane. The plane's munitions were also concealed, according to the report.

Legal specialists told the NYT that's vital ... as the laws of armed conflict prohibit combatants from pretending to be civilians to trick adversaries into lowering their defenses before attacking them, which is a war crime known as "perfidy."

The type of aircraft used in the attack hasn't been publicly revealed.

White House spokeswoman Anna Kelly issued a statement defending the strike -- President Donald Trump has called these attacks acts of war against drug cartels -- and described it as "fully consistent with the law of armed conflict."

NeNe Leakes is heading back to Bravo ... years after her exit, TMZ has learned.

Production sources tell TMZ ... "The Real Housewives of Atlanta" alum will appear on Bravo's newly announced working-title series, "The Real Housewives: Ultimate Road Trip," which Andy Cohen announced during BravoCon. While the series was announced, no cast members were named.

Our sources say NeNe -- who departed "RHOA" after Season 12 in 2020 -- will not be a full-time cast member, but will have a notable presence when the show makes its way to Atlanta. We're told she will appear only during the Atlanta leg of the trip.

NBC has yanked a new episode of “Law & Order: SVU” that was to air this week ... because it features Timothy Busfield, who's facing child sex abuse charges.

A source with knowledge confirmed to TMZ ... this Thursday's 'SVU,' titled "Corrosive," will be shelved ... and a new episode scheduled for next week has been bumped up.

It's unclear if Timothy's one-off episode -- in which he plays Judge Warren Fels -- will ever see the light of day.

1/13 -- 10:22 AM PT -- The arraignment has been continued and will now take place on February 6.

"Home Alone" star Daniel Stern has just been hit with a criminal charge in California for allegedly trying to hire a hooker.

A rep for the Ventura County District Attorney tells TMZ ... prosecutors just charged the actor with soliciting prostitution.

We're told Daniel's arraignment is set for Tuesday morning ... but it sounds like prosecutors aren't expecting him to be there. Instead, we're told Daniel's attorney could appear for him.

The Republican-led House Oversight Committee is looking to hold Bill Clinton in contempt of Congress, according to its chairman ... after the former president didn't show up for a deposition about his connection to Jeffrey Epstein.

Oversight Committee Chair James Comer spoke to reporters Tuesday morning and announced he would move to hold the former President, who served from 1993 to 2001, in contempt next week, reports NBC News. If a panel vote moves it forward, the contempt would need a full House vote to proceed. Then the Dept. of Justice would decide whether to pursue it.

Bill and Hillary were scheduled by the committee to be deposed Tuesday and Wednesday ... but the Clintons sent a letter to Comer stating they would not show up, pointing out they've already made sworn statements.

The Clintons wrote they expected to be held in contempt for their decision ... and claimed the subpoenas they'd been sent were "invalid and legally unenforceable," reports The New York Times.

The House Oversight Committee announced it had sent the Clintons deposition subpoenas last August, and their depositions were originally scheduled for last October.

Bill's received scrutiny for his connection to Epstein over the years, and photos featuring the him have appeared in newly released photos from the Epstein Files. Other powerful political, business and entertainment figures, including President Donald Trump, have also been closely associated with Epstein, a disgraced financier and convicted pedophile. The Dept. of Justice has said less than 1 percent of the Epstein Files have been released, despite a December legal deadline.

Justin Baldoni says Blake Lively's request to seal the identities of the famous friends she confided in goes too far ... and she's only doing it because it paints her pals in a bad light.

The actor filed the objection to Lively's motion for sealing Monday ... arguing her motion goes well beyond what the law allows -- especially as it pertains to her husband Ryan Reynolds.

While Lively calls Reynolds an "innocent third party," Baldoni's team insists he involved himself with the production of "It Ends with Us" ... rewriting a scene of the film and arguing with Baldoni after he allegedly commented on Blake's weight.

Michael McKee, the Illinois surgeon charged with murdering his ex-wife and her husband inside their Ohio home, agreed to be shipped back to Ohio to face murder charges ... but he says he's innocent.

McKee appeared in court Monday after his Saturday arrest in Illinois and waived extradition back to Ohio, where he is accused of gunning down Spencer and Monique Tepe in the early hours of Dec. 30 with the couple's two young children in the home.

Check out this footage from inside an Illinois court room ... McKee is shackled and wearing a mustard prison jumpsuit. The only time he speaks is when he states his full name.

3:21 PM PT -- The TRO was denied by the court clerk because it's not an emergency order ... the judge will rule January 23 on the issue at the hearing.

Brittany Furlan says Ronnie Radke just won't leave her alone -- blasting him as "unhinged and obsessed" -- and is seeking court-ordered protection from him ... while denying she ever got catfished.

Brittany just beelined it to court and filed for a temporary restraining order against the Falling In Reverse frontman ... saying he's been harassing her online ever since last year's "secret relationship" that crumbled.

In new legal docs, obtained by TMZ, Brittany says she was definitely communicating with Ronnie on Snapchat last year during a difficult time in her marriage to Tommy Lee, and they sent each other explicit pictures and videos and made plans to meet up.

Ronnie's claimed Brittany was chatting with a catfish ... but she says all of the comms were legit and could not have been A.I.-generated "due to the explicit nature of the content."

Brittany says Ronnie begged her to leave Tommy for him and they made plans to meet up in May ... she says Ronnie told her to go to his former address and she claims she showed up and got stood up ... and that's when he allegedly started intentionally humiliating and manipulating her.

A GoFundMe campaign benefiting Jonathan Ross -- the ICE agent who allegedly shot Renee Nicole Good to death last week in Minneapolis -- reached over $475,000 in donations as of the Monday after Good's death.

The campaign's organizer is a Michigan man named Clyde Emmons, according to the web page. He wrote he'd set up the GoFundMe, which has a goal of $550,000, "after seeing all the media bs about a domestic terrorist" -- referring to Good -- getting her own GoFundMe campaign.

Emmons wrote Ross' actions were "1000 percent justified" and said funds from the campaign were going to help the ICE agent.