News

The feds are going hard on the anti-ICE demonstration Don Lemon covered at a Minnesota church ... because dozens more protestors are going to be arrested.

According to a superseding federal indictment, obtained by TMZ, the feds are charging 30 new people. Don and 8 others were already arrested and charged in relation to the January 18 protest.

The feds say a group of approximately 40 "agitators" went into Cities Church in St. Paul in a "coordinated takeover-style attack and engaged in acts of oppression, intimidation, threats, interference, and physical obstruction."

Bill Clinton says he had no clue Jeffrey Epstein was allegedly exploiting, abusing and sex trafficking young girls ... telling the House Oversight Committee he "had no idea of the crimes Epstein was committing."

The former President is testifying right now at a building in Upstate New York, near where the Clintons have a house.

Bill told the panel in his opening statement, "Now, let me say what you're going to hear from me. First, I had no idea of the crimes Epstein was committing. No matter how many photos you show me, I have two things that, at the end of the day, matter more than your interpretation of those 20-year-old photos."

Devarjaye 'DJ' Daniel -- the teenager who President Donald Trump made an honorary Secret Service agent last year -- isn't dead despite the viral speculation ... so says the young man's father.

Theodis Daniel -- DJ's father -- posted on his son's behalf ... calling the online gossip about his son's death "lies" and writing it's tantamount to bullying the young man.

Theodis writes that he hopes the clicks and monetization for people spreading the rumors on social media were worth it ... because it ruined many people's days -- with numerous reaching out to the family in tears.

U.S. Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick's time in the role could be significantly shortened ... because he's back in the crosshairs of Congress after a photo of him and Jeffrey Epstein together was restored to the Department of Justice's website.

The photo captures Epstein -- clad in a white T-shirt and matching pants -- cracking a grin with a group of dudes standing on a cliff overlooking the ocean.

In the middle, there's a man in a bright blue button-down shirt and shorts with his hands behind his back ... that's Lutnick -- and this photo was reportedly taken on Epstein's infamous island, Little St. James in the U.S. Virgin Islands.

Here's the dispatch audio from the fatal barn fire that killed "The Wire" actor Bobby J. Brown ... and you hear dispatchers saying he's trapped in the building after trying to start an old Cadillac.

TMZ obtained the dispatch audio, which also reveals Bobby's wife called for help. It sounds like a huge inferno, the barn is 50-feet-by-100 and -- by the end of the call -- it's all up in flames.

We broke the story ... Bobby died Tuesday from smoke inhalation. The deadly fire started after Bobby entered the barn to jump-start a car. His wife suffered severe burns trying to save him.

Los Angeles mayoral candidate Tish Hyman is sharing her thoughts on fellow ballot buddy Spencer Pratt ... and she tells us so long as Karen Bass doesn't win, she doesn't see Spencer as direct competition.

While she stopped short of a formal endorsement, being she wants to be the one to take the cake for LA Mayor, she didn’t hold back in saying she’d rather see Spencer take the reins than current elect Bass.

Catch the clip ... Tish commends Pratt for his advocacy regarding the devastating Palisades fires that affected his direct life last year, telling us he's doing "God's work." According to Tish, the current leadership hasn’t delivered for everyday Angelenos and she believes voters are ready for a serious switch-up. 

3:37 PM PT -- A source connected to the investigation tells TMZ ... the FBI has looked at the video and says it's a dead end ... the area where the cars are driving as well as the ingress and egress has led the Agency to the conclusion the cars have no association with the kidnapping.

Update in the Nancy Guthrie kidnapping case ... a never-before-seen video has surfaced from early on the morning of Feb. 1, the day investigators believe Nancy was taken.

The video, recorded about 2.5 miles away from Nancy's Tucson, Arizona home, shows vehicles speeding by, which could lead to more clues.

Fox News reports the footage comes from a house in the Catalina Foothills neighborhood -- about 7 minutes from Nancy's house -- from a street-facing Ring camera. The property reportedly sits on a back road and avoids major intersections.

The time stamp on the video shows the footage was recorded from about 12:30 AM to 6 AM Mountain Time.

Celina Powell has lawyered up and is going on the offensive against Deshae Frost ... firing off a cease and desist letter after he accused her of sexual assault and giving him herpes during a livestream.

TMZ has obtained the cease and desist, sent Thursday by the model and internet personality's attorney Rebecca R. Bordoli, demanding Frost to immediately stop making what they call "defamatory, defamatory per se, harmful, and false statements" about her.

According to the letter, Frost allegedly made the claims during a January 26 livestream, telling viewers Powell sexually assaulted him and infected him with herpes. Her legal team says the allegations are "completely devoid of factual support" and have "no merit whatsoever."

Law enforcement is searching for an escaped inmate in a dense area of Los Angeles County ... and cops say the inmate fled from a hospital where they were getting treatment.

The manhunt is going down right now in Torrance, in the southwestern part of the metro area ... where police say an inmate escaped from custody during medical treatment at Providence Little Company of Mary Medical Center.

Cops have set up a perimeter and are searching the area ... and there are reports the escaped inmate is a felony suspect who may be holed up in a home near the hospital.

Police helicopters are circling the skies and there are SWAT teams on the ground.

Lauren Boebert can't recall why she took a picture of Hillary Clinton during her deposition ... or, she probably can -- but she's too busy cracking jokes about the former First Lady and Secretary of State.

The Republican Congresswoman from Colorado was asked about the photo she leaked to Benny Johnson of Clinton while being deposed by the House Oversight Committee earlier today ... a move one Clinton advisor said is "against chamber rules."

Boebert responds, "I just returned to my hotel room and installed the BleachBit software. So, I guess in regards to taking photos, I do not recall.”

The House Oversight Committee has finished deposing former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, and they'll take a crack at former President Bill Clinton tomorrow ... but Democrats say President Donald Trump is really their white whale.

Dems on the committee -- led by California Representative Robert Garcia -- gathered Thursday to demand the president sit down with them to answer questions about Jeffrey Epstein.

Rep. Garcia says the committee is setting a precedent of speaking to former presidents and other former high-ranking officials about this matter ... and, the president is on their list, too.

Here's the first look at Hillary Clinton testifying under oath about Jeffrey Epstein ... in a photo that's been leaked from inside the room.

The image -- posted on social media by conservative political commentator and podcaster Benny Johnson -- shows Hillary seated at a table in a blue suit.

Hillary is sitting between a couple people, and there's a huge jug of water and some glasses in front of her.

Johnson says the photo was sent to him by Republican Colorado Congresswoman Lauren Boebert ... and the photograph was discussed outside -- where Bill Clinton's advisor told the press the hearing briefly paused to address the photo leak, which he said is "against chamber rules."

Hillary Clinton says she does "not recall ever encountering" Jeffrey Epstein ... and she says the House Oversight Committee is using her to "distract attention from President Trump's actions."

The former Secretary of State is testifying right now at a building in Upstate New York, near where the Clintons have a house.

Hillary reportedly blasted the committee in her opening statement, according to Fox News, saying ... "A committee endeavoring to stop human trafficking would seek to understand what specific steps are needed to fix a system that allowed Epstein to get away with his crimes in 2008."

Absolute horror out of India -- a festival turned into a nightmare when an elephant snapped and launched a man through a packed crowd ... and the whole thing’s caught on camera!

Check out this video of the elephant -- named Akkikavu Karthikeyan -- zeroing in on a 26-year-old man named Vivek at the annual Valiyavilakku festivities in Kerala Thursday ... wrapping its trunk around his legs, hoisting him upside down like a rag doll, then violently flinging him across the room.

What makes it even more shocking is that the elephant appeared totally calm a second earlier as another man climbed onto its back ... but things escalated fast, and Vivek, who was standing nearby holding a decorative item, ended up taking the full brunt of the chaos.

A California man was taken into custody Tuesday night following an hours-long standoff with deputies ... when cops were called to the house after his roommates reported him for allegedly poisoning their food.

Watch the video ... a man wearing a gas mask and gloves is spraying down an entire kitchen with a substance from an aerosol can. The man's roommates thought to review the footage when they started feeling sick, and doctors couldn't tell them what was wrong.

KTTV reports the suspect's married roommates say they caught him on surveillance video spraying an unknown substance on their groceries and other kitchen items ... citing multiple instances of him dousing fruit, vegetables, canned goods, snacks and even their coffee pot with some kind of foreign liquid.

Democratic Congressman Al Green thinks peaceful protests still matter ... especially when it comes to President Donald Trump and his incendiary language and conduct.

Green, a representative for the state of Texas, made headlines last night when he held up a "Black People Aren't Apes!" sign at the State of the Union address ... and he explained to TMZ the importance of an IRL rebuke.

See ... Green was sure Trump had heard about or read some of the blowback from his racist post depicting Barack and Michelle Obama as apes, but Green didn't believe Trump had been confronted. And according to Green, having someone call you out directly to your face is a whole other ball game.