News

The CIA officer who allegedly stashed 300 gold bars in his house may be able to keep the case out of the public eye ... because federal prosecutors and his lawyers say they're working on a plea deal.

David Rush -- a former intelligence officer -- and the Justice Department submitted a joint filing in court Friday, according to multiple reports, claiming they have a "plea agreement in principle."

The two sides are asking the judge to extend a deadline until October 8 so the two sides can "prepare the paperwork, including an agreed upon statement of facts."

A man was arrested after the death of a Black woman found hanging from a tree was ruled a homicide.

Police in Jackson, Mississippi, had 2 search warrants and an arrest warrant for Jarques Ratliff in the death of Tasia Fortune, according to Chief RaShall Brackney.

Brackney said in a news conference Friday ... "Last night, the medical examiner’s office officially classified Miss Fortune’s death as a homicide. With that determination, our investigators moved quickly."

The manager of a Tennessee Wendy’s who admitted to tying a neurodivergent employee to kitchen equipment has been fired.

Another Wendy’s employee, Nicholus Murphy, caught the alarming incident on video, which showed his coworker tied to the equipment with trash bags.

According to the police report, manager Michiko Burton tied the employee up … and Murphy tells WSMV she allegedly told workers she needed him to “stay put” so she could work in the back.

The juror on the Lindsay Clancy trial who was the lone holdout reportedly has a history of alleged domestic violence against his family ... according to a new bombshell report.

According to an investigation by Boston's NBC10 that doesn't name the member of the jury, the man has an active restraining order against him and his landlord is trying to evict him.

The juror -- who single-handedly prevented a unanimous not guilty verdict -- was reportedly previously charged with assault after allegedly grabbing his then-wife by throat and throwing her into a dresser -- a charge that was later dismissed, and the couple divorced.

The biggest Lindsay Clancy jury revelation is the sole holdout on the panel actually did change his vote, and that could make it more difficult for Clancy to appeal the mistrial.

When Paula Devlin spoke to Gayle King on "CBS Mornings," she said the holdout juror refused to vote not guilty by reason of lack of criminal responsibility -- like the other 11 jurors -- because he doubted Clancy was having a psychotic break when she killed her 3 kids and attempted to kill herself.

She also revealed the holdout, a Black male, initially wanted to find her guilty of first degree murder. However, Paula says that changed after they reviewed video of Clancy's interview with investigators. She doesn't say where he landed, but presumably it would be guilty of either second degree murder or manslaughter.

A 5th plane was targeted by terrorists on 9/11 -- something the government does not want you to know -- so says the pilot, the flight attendants, the airline's dispatcher, and others.

TMZ produced a documentary -- "TMZ Investigates 9/11: The Fifth Plane" -- which is currently on YouTube. The doc described the events on United Flight 23, which was scheduled to take off from JFK at 9:00 AM, with Los Angeles as the final destination.

There were 7 people who raised suspicion on the part of the crew, checking out the cockpit, arguing with a flight attendant not to delay the takeoff over a food issue.

The pilot of a United Airlines plane that he says was targeted by terrorists on 9/11 is opening up about how frustrated he's been with the government's deafening silence.

Tom Mannello joined us on "TMZ Live" Friday -- the 25th anniversary of 9/11 -- to discuss what went suspiciously sideways on his flight ... and how he tried to put the events of the day out of his mind.

We told you all about United Flight 23 in our documentary "TMZ Investigates 9/11: The Fifth Plane" ... the plane was scheduled to take off from JFK at 9:00 AM for LAX ... but it never got off the ground. A total of 7 people on board raised suspicion.

The whistleblower who sounded the alarm over A.I. is telling us just how much time we have left before the technology could wipe us all out.

Ex-Anthropic employee Jacob Coxon joined us on "TMZ Live" Friday to crunch the numbers for us ... and by his calculations, he believes there will be a 10% chance of human extinction in the next ten years -- that is, if A.I. companies don't get things in check.

When pressed about why so many people who share his concerns would continue to work at A.I. companies ... Jacob explains they're hoping to do what they can to rein it in and make it safe.

McKenna West's last-ditch bid to try taking her wild surrogacy case before the Supreme Court is being slammed by the biological parents of the critically ill baby she carried.

Nausheen Gilkar and Omar Ahmed's lawyer, Lee Budner, described the surrogate's latest legal attempt as containing "defamatory lies about Rumi's parents and his medical care, and mischaracterizations of the law."

The California couple's attorney pointed out court rulings in Alaska, California and Texas have already gone in their favor ... saying, "This means that every Court to consider McKenna West's claims has ruled that Rumi's parents are Omar and Nausheen." 

Kash Patel apparently wanted to unleash the FBI's resources on his internet bullies ... because he ordered aides to respond to his social media critics ... including a user with an offensive handle who criticized the Jeffrey Epstein investigations.

According to FBI records obtained by the Daily Beast, the FBI director was directing aides to respond to troll tweets with the Bureau's accomplishments.

You can see in the screenshot ... Patel flagged a post from a handle with the r-slur in the name in a series of messages from February.

Patel and an official go back and forth about whether or not the account is an "Epstein didn't kill himself" bot ... and that's when Patel hits him with the directive.

Steven Avery and Brendan Dassey from Netflix's "Making a Murderer" are hoping to get shorter sentences for the 2005 murder of Teresa Halbach, because they've applied to the governor's commutation advisory board.

According to court docs obtained by FOX11 in Wisconsin, Avery continued to maintain his innocence in his application, writing ... "I did not commit this crime. I feel bad for Teresa Halbach's family because they had to suffer such a tremendous loss. But I did not cause their loss."

Avery wrote that he has a good prison conduct record and hopes his letters of support from family and friends would be enough to sway the board. He says that if he's released, he plans to start his own autobody business.

President Donald Trump gave a rousing speech at the Pentagon to honor 9/11 victims ... saying America remains committed to fighting terrorism in their memory.

POTUS took the stage Friday against a backdrop of American flags ... promising to never forget all the people killed on that tragic day a quarter-century ago.

Trump declared ... "That's why we fight today. We don't have a choice. There can only be victory. We fight hard; we fight to win."

Six Flags Magic Mountain is being dragged to court over the infamous X2 roller coaster ... just weeks after the ride was grounded.

According to a new lawsuit, obtained by TMZ, Patrick Plumlee claims he was "violently thrown around" in 2024 while riding the coaster.

Plumlee says he couldn't keep his head against the headrest during the ride and smashed his dome against it … causing him to suffer a "traumatic brain injury."

Four planes crashed during the 9/11 attacks ... but we have tons of evidence that a 5th plane was targeted ... and the government is covering it up.

Check out the new YouTube collab between TMZ and the New York Post, "The Low Down," where we bring you stories that are gripping, outrageous, and sometimes scandalous.

A crowd of robots gathered outside Poland's Digital Affairs Ministry to demand A.I. oversight, chanting "Don't wait, regulate" ... and Hayden Panettiere's boyfriend Brian Hickerson is talking to the DEA as the feds investigate her suspected drug overdose.

A New Jersey woman just got busted in an alleged murder-for-hire plot ... federal prosecutors say she paid a man she met on Tinder money to whack her ex-boyfriend -- a police officer -- and his teenage daughter.

According to the Department of Justice, Jaclyn Diiorio -- a 28-year-old from Runnemede, NJ -- has been charged with two counts of using interstate commerce facilities in an attempt to commission a murder-for-hire.

The feds claim Diiorio tried to use her cell phone to pay for the murders of Matthew O'Hanlon -- a Philadelphia police officer -- and his 19-year-old daughter.

There's apparently not enough fish in the sea ... a man in Thailand was caught on camera stripping down to have sex with a koi fish ... and he was arrested after putting the poor animal's mouth on his penis.

Disturbing CCTV footage shows the moment a naked man hops into a koi pond, grabs a fish, and uses the swimmer to pleasure himself.

We won't show you the whole sex act ... it's too graphic for our taste ... but you get the idea from the clip.