Legal

Twitch streamer and rapper Aspen Kartier was arrested and charged with animal cruelty after a video of her seemingly roughing up an innocent pup on the platform went viral.

The 19-year-old streamer -- whose real name is Aspen Easterling -- was cuffed and booked into the DeKalb County Jail Friday night after authorities received numerous complaints over the alleged abuse in the circulating video ... the Brookhaven Police Department tells TMZ.

Brookhaven police officers gathered enough evidence against Aspen to secure a search warrant for her residence as well as an arrest warrant, and she was taken in around 9:30 PM.

President Trump sicking federal prosecutors on Don Lemon for reporting live from an ICE protest could have massive implications for our democracy ... and the decision to charge the former CNN host with federal crimes is sparking a spirited debate between attorneys Mark Geragos and Harvey Levin.

Mark and Harvey -- hosts of the "2 Angry Men" podcast -- have vastly different views on what played out in Minnesota this month ... when Don reported on an anti-ICE protest that disrupted a church service.

The feds arrested Don and charged him with a couple crimes, alleging he was part of the protest and not just an independent observer reporting on a newsworthy event. Harvey says the charges are bogus and based on lies, and he's taking it as an attack on the free press, which he says is a bad sign for the future of democracy in the United States.

Ghislaine Maxwell ripped a page out of Jeffrey Epstein's pedophile playbook during a 2015 video-recorded deposition, claiming everything was done by the book while Epstein was enjoying his creepy massages.

Maxwell was as defiant as her late financier ex-boyfriend during the April 2015 deposition, which was part of a defamation lawsuit filed by Virginia Giuffre against her. Giuffre -- one of Epstein's most prominent victims -- said Maxwell defamed her by calling her accusations that Epstein was a sex trafficker “obvious lies.”

Check out the deposition ... which was released by the Department of Justice Friday in the latest dump of Epstein files.

As you can see ... Maxwell is fielding questions from a lawyer while under oath, shooting down the notion there was anything inappropriate going on between Epstein and teenage masseuses. In fact, Maxwell describes them as "professional" masseuses and even chastises the attorney for her "unfortunate mischaracterization" of the situation.

Don Lemon says journalists at CNN, CBS and other news organization need to grow a spine and push back against corporate influences that want to skew news coverage to curry favor with President Trump.

A defiant Don made the call to action Friday on his online show ... admitting he was late after having a busy day fighting federal charges for covering a recent protest.

Don thanked all his friends in the media for reaching out and having his back, but he went a step further and said they need to stand up to corporations that are putting their paws on the news and trying to exert influence and bend the knee to Trump.

Vernon Davis is speaking out after a woman accused him of abusing her last year ... saying he is looking forward to clearing his name.

The Super Bowl champ went to social media to address the TMZ Sports report ... saying he is aware and saddened by the news coming to light.

"For now, I'm staying focused on my life, my work, and the amazing people and partners who believe in and continue to support me," Davis said minutes ago.

Jane Fonda says the federal government took down the wrong Don ... calling out Trump's admin for arresting Don Lemon instead of the commander-in-chief.

The legendary actress passionately defended the former CNN anchor outside the federal courthouse where Lemon had a court hearing after his arrest for allegedly breaking up a church service ... and she told assembled protesters not to fall for the government's tricks.

Fonda says Don was just a journalist doing his job ... no more, no less -- and certainly no reason for the feds to lock him up.

Bombshell allegation in the latest Epstein Files document release ... an underage girl claims she was forced to perform oral sex on Donald Trump approximately 35 years ago in New Jersey.

The allegation is from a document in the files that describes a tip that was sent to the feds.

The complaint summary says the feds were told the underage girl was approximately 13-14 years old when the alleged incident occurred, and it says the alleged victim "allegedly bit President Trump while performing oral sex" and was "allegedly hit in the face after she laughed about biting President Trump."

Federal prosecutors are explaining why they have the gall to arrest and charge Don Lemon in connection with his coverage of an ICE protest that disrupted a Minnesota church service ... they claim he wasn't reporting from the sidelines, and was part of the plot to raid the church.

According to the federal indictment, obtained by TMZ, prosecutors allege Don conspired with protestors to "injure, oppress, threaten, and intimidate" clergy, staff, and congregants at Cities Church in Minneapolis.

The feds say Don met up with the protestors before the demonstration and got instructions on where they would be protesting and how the "operation" would go down once at the church.

Prosecutors say Don started livestreaming the morning of the Jan. 18 protest, telling his audience he was in Minnesota with an organization that was gearing up for a "resistance" operation against the federal government's immigration policies.

The feds say Don took steps to "maintain operational secrecy" by not revealing the location of the planned protest to his audience ... and prosecutors say he stepped away from a live mic so he "would not accidentally divulge certain portions of the planning session."

Ray J’s been talking serious life-or-death health woes recently -- but you’d never clock it from the way he rolled into court looking like he had a red carpet to catch!

Despite saying he’s got limited time, it looked like Ray J's prognosis took a day off as he rocked up to an L.A. court Friday -- he was decked out in a slick suit, and had cool-guy energy to the point he refused eye contact for cameras while saying he’s "doing alright."

The rapper elaborated a little ... saying he was "better today," so his health saga might be more day-by-day than doomsday.

Elon Musk has been swept up in the new batch of Epstein files — with the Tesla CEO firing off a 2013 email to Jeffrey Epstein to make plans to hang out on Epstein island.

In December 2013, Musk sent the email to Epstein telling the late convicted pedophile that he would be in the British Virgin Islands over the holidays and wanted to know if it was a good time to visit the island. Previously, Elon claimed that he refused invitations from Epstein to visit the island, where alleged acts of pedophilia went down.

Two days later, Epstein wrote back to Musk that he could swing by at the start of the new year, adding that there's “always space for you.” Epstein sent a follow-up email Christmas Day, stating he would pick up Musk on January 2 or 3.

8:17 AM PT -- Don Lemon is being charged with conspiracy to deprive rights, and violation of the FACE Act -- interfering by force of someone’s First Amendment rights -- according to a Department of Homeland Security spokesperson.

Don Lemon was arrested Thursday night by federal agents in Los Angeles in connection with his coverage of an ICE protest that disrupted a Minnesota church service.

Lemon was charged with violating a federal law by impeding people's right to worship during an anti-ICE protest at Cities Church in Minneapolis on January 18, according to The New York Times.

In a statement Friday, U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi says ... "At my direction, early this morning federal agents arrested Don Lemon, Trahern Jeen Crews, Georgia Fort, and Jamael Lydell Lundy, in connection with the coordinated attack on Cities Church in St. Paul, Minnesota."

How's this for a Friday news dump ... the Department of Justice just released millions of documents from the Jeffrey Epstein Files, plus a couple thousand videos and hundreds of thousands of images.

Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche says the DOJ released more than 3 million pages of docs ... in addition to 180,000 images and 2,000 videos.

Unclear what's in the massive document dump ... but TMZ will be poring through them for any and all relevant and juicy nuggets.

It's the first Epstein Files release of the year ... the release of documents had slowed to a trickle ... but now it's an Epstein avalanche.

We've already seen Donald Trump, Bill Clinton, and tons of celebs in the Epstein Files ... and folks are hungry for names, so it will be interesting to see what's in this latest document dump.

Huge win for Luigi Mangione ... the trial judge just ruled the death penalty is officially off the table.

The feds wanted the judge to rule that the stalking charges they filed against Mangione were a "crime of violence" -- and proving a crime of violence is a prerequisite for opening the door to even charging Mangione federally with murder. The judge ruled stalking is NOT a crime of violence ... the upshot is that Mangione can't even be charged with murder in the federal case. All he can be charged with is stalking, which carries a maximum sentence of life without parole.

Mangione is still charged in state court with murder, although in New York, there is no death penalty.

Luigi Mangione has a ton of fans rooting for his release ... and at least one of them who allegedly tried to take matters into his own hands by busting him out!

Mark Anderson -- a 35-year-old Minnesota man -- was arrested at MDC Brooklyn in New York, the notorious prison that houses Mangione and other high-profile inmates such as former Venezuelan dictator Nicolas Maduro, late Wednesday night.

According to a criminal complaint -- cited by NBC News -- Anderson was arrested after prison workers asked for his credentials ... and he only handed over an MN driver's license.

3:52 PM PT -- Gervonta Davis appeared in bond court on Thursday ... and was ordered to stay away from the alleged victim and the club ... as well as to have zero contact with the alleged victim, directly or indirectly.

Cops say Gervonta Davis' attack on a woman at a gentlemen's club in October was captured on video ... with footage showing the boxing star grab her by the hair and neck and force her down a set of stairs during the violent incident.

TMZ Sports has obtained Davis' arrest warrant ... which details what officials say they observed on surveillance video from inside Tootsie's Cabaret around 4:15 AM on October 27, 2025.

According to the warrant, the footage shows Tank approach the woman and grab her by her hair as he forcefully walked her to a stairwell. Cops say you can then see Tank "pushing and forcing" the woman down the stairs.

Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni are obviously no longer on speaking terms ... but they once had a solid enough rapport for Blake to call Justin a "friend" and ask if he'd consider moving up filming.

We've obtained a new 4-and-a-half-minute-long voice message which BL sent to JB prior to shooting "It Ends with Us" ... which starts with her detailing her wildly hectic schedule.
Lively says she's bitten off more than she can chew professionally ... trying to sneak in a movie right before filming 'IEwU' despite still looking for child care.

The actress says she's locked into shooting "Proxy" -- which appears to be the upcoming science fiction movie by "Pieces of a Woman" director Kornél Mundruczó -- before "It Ends with Us," but she thinks she can get the movie pushed back to give herself more time to prepare for both roles.