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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."

Philippine Airlines may want to invest in a certified plumber to fly with the rest of its crew ... because a recent bathroom accident caught attendants with their pants down.

Horrifying video has come out from a recent 15-hour flight from Los Angeles to the Philippines ... which shows crew members manually removing human waste from the toilet and putting it in the sink after all 11 onboard toilets failed mid-flight.

Watch the video at your own risk ... a worker -- wearing gloves and a thin surgical mask -- repeatedly dips what looks like a bucket into the overflowing toilet and removes waste, which is then drained down the sink. It's unclear how long the worker had to repeat this action.

Nicki Minaj isn't backing down after controversially calling Don Lemon a homophobic slur ... she's doubling down on that remark in a new podcast promo that dropped amid his arrest.

Days before Don's Thursday night arrest, the rapper sat down for an interview on "The Katie Miller Podcast" ... and she was asked to respond to him calling her "racist, unhinged, homophobic and our of [her] depth" -- all comments he made on "TMZ Live."

Minaj replied simply, "C***sucker, stop" ... prompting laughs from Miller before the clip ends.

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.

Nicki Minaj fans are taking sides after watching her cozy up to President Trump ... some are sticking by her, and others are dropping her like a bad habit.

The battle of the Barbz played out Thursday on "TMZ Live" when we had a couple supporters join our show and explain why Nicki's embrace of Trump is either a deal-breaker ... or no big deal.

Blair Thompson says he's cutting the cord when it comes to Nicki ... and he tells us why her politics feel like a slap in the face to lots of her longtime supporters who come from diverse backgrounds.

A Louisiana middle school counselor died by suicide Wednesday after he was accused of inappropriately messaging a minor, TMZ has learned.

Quinton Dixon -- a counselor at Westdale Middle Magnet School in Baton Rouge -- died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound and his body was found on the campus of the now shuttered Glen Oaks Middle School, according to Baton Rouge Police Department.

Earlier this month, Dixon was accused of sending flirty Instagram messages to a 14-year-old beginning in early November 2025 through early January. An arrest warrant was issued on 4 counts of indecent behavior with a juvenile.

The new video of Alex Pretti busting the taillight of a federal vehicle days before being shot to death is very critical to the shooting ... but not for the reasons you might think.

Harvey Levin's been stewing on the new footage of Pretti violently clashing with federal immigration officers -- with a gun in the waistband of his pants -- 11 days before being shot and killed by CBP agents ... and he's got a lot of thoughts, and even more questions.

First off, Harvey says Alex clearly crossed a line and is lucky he didn't get arrested ... and he's also giving these agents props for using the appropriate amount of force with Alex.

Ever wanted a robot personal assistant? You might be in luck, then ... because Elon Musk is gonna start building a lot of 'em ... at the expense of a big chunk of his automotive division.

The Tesla CEO announced his plans to ramp up production on his Optimus humanoid robots during an earnings call on Wednesday -- and revealed a Tesla-producing factory would be repurposed to focus on building the 'bots, reports CNBC.

Musk announced he'll double the company's capital spending ‌to more than $20 billion this year, Reuters reports. Musk said Tesla would stop producing its Model S and X vehicles, and described the planned end of production as an “honorable discharge” for the vehicles.

Models S and X are two of the car manufacturer’s oldest models -- but they're not selling ... combined, they accounted for less than 3 percent of Tesla's global sales last year.

Elon said Tesla was planning to replace the production line for Models S and X “with a 1 million unit per year line of Optimus.” Earlier this month, Musk also noted a goal of Optimus some day accounting for 80 percent of Tesla's total value.

The Optimus is intended to be capable of completing a wide variety of tasks ... so if you ever fantasized about a robot babysitter, this might be the right time to think about ordering one.

Sean Grayson, a former sheriff's deputy in Illinois, was sentenced to 20 years in prison Thursday for shooting Sonya Massey at her house after she called police to report an intruder in 2024.

Grayson was convicted of second-degree murder in October in the shooting death of Massey ... he and another Sangamon County sheriff's deputy responded to the woman's residence in July 2024 on a report of a prowler. In an escalating verbal dispute, he shot her three times in the face, and the whole interaction was recorded on body cam.

Grayson will get credit for time already served awaiting trial. He was additionally sentenced to two years of supervised probation tacked onto the end of his sentence, Springfield's WICS-TV reports.

Massey called 911 to report a possible intruder at her home in Springfield, Illinois -- about 200 miles south of Chicago -- on July 6, 2024.

Grayson and his partner responded to the call. He claimed he thought Massey threatened to throw a pot of boiling water at him. Massey's family retained Ben Crump as a lawyer, who's previously represented the families of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor.

Grayson expressed remorse for the shooting during his hearing Thursday, ... "I wish there was something I could do to bring her back. I wish this didn’t happen. I wish they [Massey's family] didn’t have to go through this experience. I am very sorry."

Grayson's defense team filed for a retrial last November, according to WAND-TV ... but the motion was denied.

Holy open mic, Batman ... the Dark Knight rose up in Santa Clara earlier this week to slam the city council's cooperation with ICE!

A man dressed as the Caped Crusader -- identified as "Batman" on the monitor Tuesday -- swooped down on the podium like Gotham's defender himself ... instantly launching into a tirade which began with an expletive.

In the 3-minute speech, Batman accuses the city council of allowing the federal government to walk all over them ... and, he expresses his concern about hundreds of masked men coming to Santa Clara. As you know, the federal government announced in October ICE agents will be present at Levi's Stadium on Feb. 8, the day of the Super Bowl ... but sources told TMZ Sports today there is no plan for ICE to conduct immigration enforcement at the site, so details remain sketchy.

A Texas man died after being given a lethal injection on Wednesday ... becoming the first person to be executed in the United States in 2026.

Charles Victor Thompson was pronounced dead at 6:50 PM Central Time at the Texas State Penitentiary at Huntsville, about 70 miles north of Houston, the Associated Press reports. He was 55.

Thompson fatally shot his ex-girlfriend, Glenda Dennise Hayslip, and her boyfriend, Darren Keith Cain, at her Houston apartment in April 1998 ... he was convicted of capital murder the following year and was sentenced to death.

Thompson had his original sentence overturned ... but he was retried in 2005, convicted and was again sentenced to die by lethal injection.

In November 2005, he escaped from the Harris County Jail in Houston and spent three days on the run before he was arrested in Shreveport, Louisiana -- he'd tried to receive wire transfers of money from abroad in an attempt to flee to Canada.

The Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles denied Thompson's request to commute his death sentence to a lesser penalty on Monday. The U.S. Supreme Court rejected Thompson's final appeal about an hour before he was executed.

Thompson expressed regret for what happened in 1998 just prior to his execution and reportedly said there were "no winners in this situation." In 2018, he was featured in one episode of Netflix's "I Am a Killer" series. In an October interview with the Houston Press last year, he joked around with prison staff

Harris County District Attorney Sean Teare said Thompson's execution was "justice a long time coming."

Andy Byron and Kristin Cabot -- the couple who got caught having an affair at a Coldplay concert last summer -- won't ever live it down ... because Pepsi's thrown the moment into their new ad campaign!

The soda giant just dropped their Super Bowl ad on social media ... which begins with a polar bear -- an iconic Coca-Cola mascot -- taking the Pepsi Challenge, and choosing Pepsi over Coke.

The shocked bear runs off to a therapy session -- with a heavily bearded Taika Waititi talking him through his issues -- before he hits the city streets and meets a lady bear on the street ... who offers him a Pepsi.

The two then attend a concert together ... where they're shown on the Jumbotron ... cuddled up and sipping on the beverage.

Yet another new angle of the newest video of Alex Pretti tussling with federal agents in Minneapolis, 11 days before he was shot to death, has surfaced ... and you can see the violent altercation and clearly hear the insults he hurled at the officers leading up to the scuffle.

Watch the intense video recorded on January 13 -- at about 17 minutes in, Pretti trots up as a crowd forms around two SUVs blocking traffic ... he shouts insults at the agents and eagerly flips them the bird, and dares them to pepper-spray him and assault him.

An agent confronts him, then backs off as they get into their SUVs ... you can see Pretti spit toward the open rear door, then kick the vehicle's taillight. At that point, agents get back out and wrestle him to the ground as protesters continue to scream at the agents.

We showed you another angle of the same chaos Wednesday, with a closer view of the late ICU nurse being slammed to the ground. He's somehow able to get up ... and the protest continues on as agents deploy tear gas to break up the crowds of angry residents and drive off.

Ads for Melania Trump's documentary "Melania" have been getting a lot of attention in L.A. ... but not in a good way. The city's public transit agency has reported a huge rise in vandalism on buses and at stops featuring the First Lady's face.

Defaced with expletives, Adolf Hitler mustaches, and references to Hitler's wife Eva Braun, "Melania" posters are getting tagged at bus stops all over the city, sending LA Metro officials into panic mode.

According to L.A.'s NBC4, the agency is scrambling to reassign buses with "Melania" posters ... bus stops featuring the promos have also been vandalized, though Metro does not oversee the stops.

Lady Gaga took a moment at her concert in Japan to blast ICE ... calling out the way they "mercilessly" target families in a passionate speech.

The singer-songwriter was performing in Tokyo Thursday night ... when she took a break from playing songs to get real about the state of the USA.

Gaga says she's headed back home after her incredibly successful 'Mayhem Ball' tour ... and her heart's aching for all the families dealing with immigration raids and other scary situations with the federal law enforcement agency.