Politics

Stormy Daniels is just one slice of the pie for Donald Trump's alleged hush money payments ... according to the 34-count indictment, which Manhattan D.A. Alvin Bragg just unsealed.

As expected, the indictment details the $130,000 Trump allegedly paid Daniels in exchange for her silence about what she describes as their affair. Trump has denied the affair, but according to the docs Trump's former attorney, Michael Cohen, negotiated the amount with Daniels' lawyer, and then he wired the money from a shell company to Stormy's lawyer on October 26, 2016.

The D.A. says Trump directed Cohen to delay making the payment as long as possible, in hopes they could wait until after the election and then stiff her.

The indictment also raises what the D.A. calls Trump's "catch-and-kill" scheme with AMI, the National Enquirer's parent company. That alleged scheme involves a $150,000 payment to a second woman.

Although, the docs don't mention the woman's name ... it's been widely reported AMI paid that amount to silence Playboy Playmate Karen McDougal, who also claimed she and Trump had an affair.

According to the docs, Trump and Cohen discussed reimbursing AMI -- again, a shell company was created on Sept. 30, 2016, and prosecutors alleged Trump and AMI agreed he would pay $125K. However, that deal was never consummated ... AMI told Cohen the deal was off.

Lastly, the indictment alleges a $30,000 payment was made from AMI to former Trump Tower doorman who claimed to have information about a child Trump fathered out of wedlock. AMI later found out the story wasn't true, and wanted to release the doorman from the NDA he'd signed ... but prosecutors allege Cohen advised them to keep it in place until after the election.

That's it ... those three incidents are the meat of the D.A.'s case against Trump. The 34 counts are related to smaller payments made by the Trump Organization and Trump personally to reimburse Cohen -- however, the D.A. says they were characterized as legal services under a retainer agreement with Cohen.

According to the D.A. that's the felony falsifying of business records .... and Trump's alleged motive was preventing the release of damaging stories, and covering up his involvement in doing so.

One more thing ... according to the docs, after Trump won the 2016 election, prosecutors say Trump invited AMI CEO David Pecker to the Inauguration, and then, in the summer of 2017, he was invited to dinner at the White House to thank him for his help.

After Tuesday's arraignment, Trump hightailed it for his jet at LaGuardia Airport and flew back to Mar-a-Lago. His attorney Joe Tacopina spoke outside the courthouse, and blasted D.A. Bragg's indictment as a big nothing sandwich.

Prosecutors say Cohen pleaded guilty in exchange for a lighter sentence. As you know, he served more than a year in federal prison, and another 18 months on home confinement.

Donald Trump is now officially an alleged felon -- he's turned himself in to NYPD for booking and will be arraigned in the Stormy Daniels' hush money case.

The former President and his massive motorcade arrived at the front door of The Manhattan Criminal Court Tuesday, and surrendered just a few short minutes later.

He waved to the crowd on his way in.

As we reported, Trump was indicted last week after months of a grand jury hearing testimony from multiple witnesses like his former attorney Michael Cohen.

Trump allegedly brokered a $130K payment to Stormy amid the 2016 election in an attempt to keep her quiet about an alleged affair ... and he's facing more than 30 counts in this case.

Trump's attorneys, Susan Necheles and Joe Tacopina told TMZ ... "[Trump] did not commit any crime. We will vigorously fight this political prosecution in Court."

Eric Trump also shared his thoughts, saying "This is third world prosecutorial misconduct. It is the opportunistic targeting of a political opponent in a campaign year."

Trump took to Truth Social ahead of his indictment, calling for protests against Manhattan D.A. Alvin Bragg ... and Marjorie Taylor Greene announced she'd be hosting a rally in New York in support of the former President.

BTW -- his attorney, Alina Habba, made an interesting comparison the day he headed to New York ... saying the guy's a lot like Tupac Shakur and Biggie Smalls in terms of gettin' a boost in popularity from controversy.

We covered it all in the latest episode of The TMZ Podcast, available on all podcast platforms!

The LSU women's hoop team thoroughly beat Iowa and are NCAA champs, but Jill Biden says she wants BOTH squads to come to the White House ... a notion Tigers star Angel Reese finds very funny!

FLOTUS made the awkward suggestion on Monday at the Colorado State Capitol in Denver ... a day after watching in person LSU win the NCAA tourney against Iowa at American Airlines Center in Dallas.

"I know we’ll have the champions come to the White House, we always do," Biden said.

"So, we hope LSU will come. But, you know, I’m going to tell Joe I think Iowa should come, too, because they played such a good game.”

Obviously, the idea's ridiculous. The winner goes to the White House, not the loser. The idea left Reese laughing.

"🤣🤣 A JOKE," the Tigers forward tweeted.

In fact, there was a suggestion Reese retweeted ... the Tigers hoops team should go to former First Lady Michelle Obama's house instead.

Of course, all this comes on the heels of another controversy that directly involved Reese. She got a ton of blowback (and an equal amount of support from stars like Shaq) for taunting Iowa star Caitlin Clark with John Cena's famed "You Can't See Me" gesture as the title game ended this weekend.

We asked the White House if an official invite had been made to Iowa. So far, no word back. We also reached out to Iowa to see if they'll accept an invite, should it actually come.

We covered it all in a recent episode of The TMZ Podcast.

Safe to say that Russell Crowe won't be playing Donald Trump in a movie anytime soon  -- or ever for that matter.

As the 45th President prepared for his criminal arraignment on Tuesday in Manhattan, Crowe sat down for a TV interview to talk about his lead role in the new film, "The Pope's Exorcist."

Near the end of the interview, Channel Seven Sunrise Host Natalie Barr mentioned that Trump was the story of the day and asked Crowe if he would ever play the former commander-in-chief in a movie.

Crowe's reaction was priceless. The legendary actor peered down at his wristwatch, smiled and jokingly said, "I'm really busy now. I've got lots, lots and lots of things to do."

Translation: Hell no!!!

As we reported, Trump was indicted last week by a grand jury over an alleged $130,000 hush money payment he made to porn star Stormy Daniels to silence her in the final days of the 2016 Presidential election. Daniels claimed she had an affair with Trump -- an allegation he has long denied.

Donald Trump's attorney drawing a parallel between the former president and the legendary Tupac Shakur does not sit well with the late rapper's sister ... who says the comparison is absurd and laughable.

Set Shakur, Tupac's sister, tells TMZ ... "My brother was measured by his integrity, his principles and personal and collective responsibility," calling the recent comments made by Trump's attorney, Alina Habba, "blasphemous."

She points out her brother took responsibility during his 1994 sexual abuse trial, and says she isn't seeing a whole lot of accountability coming from DT.

As we reported, Trump's attorney made the connection on the same day he flew to NYC for his indictment. She said his legal trouble is going to boost his poll numbers, just like Tupac's record sales went up after spending time in prison.

Set says Tupac didn't get popular because of his lockup, though -- instead claiming his popularity grew because those who listened to his music "were able to measure him by his words and actions that aligned."

She goes on to praise her late brother, calling him an honorable man who stood for those needing protection ... always having others on his mind.

Set believes DT's attorney might be invoking Tupac's name as a ploy to play to the rapper's fans ... and she's hoping they don't take the bait.

Donald Trump's lawyer thinks there's a benefit to the former President getting indicted in New York City ... she says it puts him on par with Tupac Shakur and Notorious B.I.G.

Trump's attorney, Alina Habba, drew the comparison on "The Benny Show" podcast, claiming the indictment is going to boost Trump's profile similar to other celebs who went to jail ... like Pac and Biggie.

Personally, Alina says Trump is more like Biggie Smalls than Tupac ... but it sounds like there's an East Coast bias at play.

Anyway, the way Team Trump sees it ... Donald is his own brand and "he is everything" ... so the indictment will only make him more popular.

Trump's attorney believes the Pac and Biggie effect is already happening ... Alina says her boss is way up in the polls and she's calling on other Republican presidential candidates, like Nikki Haley, to drop out of the race now and get behind Trump.

Meanwhile, Trump just left Mar-a-Lago and is on his way to NYC, where he's facing more than 30 counts of business-related fraud ... stemming from his former lawyer, Michael Cohen, allegedly paying porn star Stormy Daniels $130,000 to shut her trap about a supposed affair.

We covered it all in a recent episode of The TMZ Podcast.

Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene sat down with "60 Minutes" -- something that has drawn the ire of some Dems -- but like it or not she now has power, and Lesley Stahl seemed incredulous as Greene doubled down on her view that Democrats are a party of pedophiles.

Greene points the finger at President Biden, claiming he backs "children being sexualized" by supporting transgender surgeries. Lesley's SHOCKED, but goes on to ask if she'd be able to do away with the name-calling while fighting her fight -- the response is ironic.

Lesley also put the Georgia Rep. on the spot by bringing up a comment she once liked on Facebook -- referring to Nancy Pelosi getting a bullet to the head -- she quickly denies that interaction, claiming she's not involved with everything presented on her social channels.

And check out her response to past comments the Parkland school shooting was fake.

Malia Obama is hittin' the streets of NYC with close family friends -- people with whom she has a lot in common -- the next generation of Bidens.

The oldest daughter of the former prez was out and about Sunday in Manhattan with the current president's grandkids ... Maisy, Finnegan and little Beau Jr.

It looks like everyone was having a blast, strolling around the big city after grabbing lunch together at Charlie Bird. They all were snappin' pics of each other, too -- documenting fond memories, no doubt.

Malia, Maisy and Finnegan are all within a couple years of each other in age ... so, they grew up around each other when Barack Obama was prez and Biden was his veep.

One non-White House-connected member of the group was the guy next to Malia ... Tyler Patterson is a private equity associate at Boston real estate firm, Rockpoint. It's unclear if they're an item.

FYI -- she was reportedly linked to 33-year-old music producer Dawit Eklund last year, but dating rumors were never confirmed. We also saw her with a mystery man in L.A. back in August ... but, again, just unconfirmed dating rumors.

Former President Donald Trump's indictment should go down in history -- literally, as a national holiday ... at least, according to "Veep" actor Reid Scott.

We got Reid at LAX Friday, and we chatted with the former (fake) Deputy Director of Communications about Trump's legal trouble ... and he says he's on cloud 9 about the news.

Reid is concerned, however, about all the good it could do for D.T., with some speculating the attention pointed back could actually help mobilize his supporters and grab him a ton of votes. Regardless, Reid explains why he thinks Trump is more than deserving of getting indicted.

As we reported, Trump didn't look too bothered -- albeit a little preoccupied -- as he strolled out of Mar-a-Lago after dinner on Thursday following news of the indictment ... but Reid seems to think he's got reason to worry, and he tells us exactly why.

ICYMI -- Trump's facing more than 30 counts of business-related fraud -- stemming from his former lawyer Michael Cohen allegedly paying porn star Stormy Daniels $130K to keep her quiet about a supposed affair.

Rep. Don Beyer says AI technology has the potential to help save the human race ... and he thinks Elon Musk and others who say it's a threat are just trying to protect their assets.

We got the Congressman from Virginia on Capitol Hill and asked him about the Tesla honcho, Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak and 1,100 others sounding the alarm in an open letter about AI.

The way Don sees it ... Elon and co. are mostly just concerned with pumping the brakes on developing large-scale language models like ChatGPT ... and he thinks the tech giants are really just trying to stifle development from competitors now that they've created their own algorithms.

Don is taking graduate-level courses on AI for a machine learning master's degree from George Mason University ... and he says he sees potential for AI to solve huge problems in medicine, biology and engineering ... and he thinks the chatter about robots writing papers for folks is just distracting from AI's real possibilities.

Another reason the open letter -- which says AI has morphed into a "dangerous race that could imperil our very existence and thus merits a 6-month moratorium on AI development to assess the risks -- didn't sway Don ... he says opponents aren't explaining any specific risks or downside to A

Meghan Markle and Prince Harry's nonprofit paid a pretty penny to the woman who used to run point on all things PR for Michelle Obama ... and some smell politics in the air.

The revelation surfaced in the Archewell Foundation's 2021 tax disclosure docs -- which appear to have just been posted in March ... and which the media perused over the weekend ... only to see MM and co. shelled out hundreds of thousands in strategic PR consulting.

A little over $215,000 was forked over to a company called Invisible Hand, which specializes in social impact and culture ... offering a wide variety of PR-related services on their menu.

What caught people's eye, however, was the $110k that was paid to a company called KMLSA -- a good old-fashioned PR agency based near San Diego, CA. The top dog at this org is none other than Katie Mccormick-Lelyveld ... who's directly tied to the Obamas.

Indeed ... she was actually Michelle's Press Secretary for a while, officially working for the former First Lady from 2007 to 2011. She's also provided PR work for Hillary Clinton in the past ... not to mention John Kerry -- both of whom are huge political titans obviously.

Her company, KML Strategic Advisors, touts itself this way ... "From the corporate war room to the media battlefield, the corner office to the White House, KML Strategic Advisors are your guides through rarified air." Considering her resume, that's pretty darn accurate.

Now, as for what documented purpose the Archewell Foundation paid these 2 agencies ... their tax disclosure keeps it vague, only citing "Strategic Support for Social Impact PR."

That could be interpreted a million different ways ... but some are digesting it as a potential signal that Meghan herself might be gearing up for public office -- and is hiring the best people in the biz to guide her. Of course, it could also just be related to their Royal drama.

We know Meg and Harry are knee-deep in their philanthropy work, and the PR consulting could easily be just about that as well. But, by the same token, we also know Meghan is all about causes -- and there's no better place to advocate and fight for those than D.C.

Time will tell, we suppose!

Sen. John Fetterman is opening up for the first time about his hospitalization for clinical depression -- and one of the major takeaways is ... he now has a hearing deficiency.

The Pennsylvania legislator -- who was just elected to the U.S. Senate this past November in a tight race against Dr. Oz -- talked to CBS on camera a couple days before he was discharged from Walter Reed in D.C. ... where he's been receiving treatment since February.

Fetterman was released from inpatient care on Friday, and now says he's in remission for his depression. Here in this interview, he goes on to explain that he's looking forward to making up for lost time ... especially with his family.

As it turns out, JF actually went into the hospital on his son's 14th birthday -- a memory that brought him to tears ... as he didn't want his kid to remember that moment with this.

Unclear what sparked Fetterman's depression, but it sounds like he'd battled it for years ... even before he ran for the open PA Senate seat. The news report also suggests his stroke from last year -- which has affected his ability to communicate -- might've played a part.

One big revelation ... Fetterman says, at one point, he was indifferent about living or dying.

Another interesting nugget from this sit-down ... the Walter Reed docs have found a serious new hearing deficit in him, although it's not said explicitly if it's permanent or not. In any case, it sounds like Sen. Fetterman will continue using closed captioning devices for the time being -- which he'd already been doing since coming back from his stroke recovery.

"Saturday Night Live" had a hysterical cold open ... Donald Trump singing for legal defense money.

James Austin Johnson nailed it as the former prez, beginning with Taylor Swift's "Anti-Hero" and introducing himself.

He started with what seemed like a shocker ... “Well folks, it happened. I got indicted, or as I spell it: indicated. Frankly, it’s time that I come clean, admit that I broke the law and go quietly to prison. April Fools! That was a prank. I was doing a Jim from Office.”

Then he touted his song from the J6 choir, 'Justice for All,' bragging it beat Miley Cyrus on the charts for a nanosecond. So, he says, if that song can raise money for his legal defense, how 'bout an entire album of songs!  The album, titled "Now That's What I call My Legal Defense Fund," or "Trump Bopz," is what he hopes is a goldmine.

President Biden is apparently skipping King Charles' coronation -- but there still might be a U.S. presence in the stands ... and it could be one of his two favorite ladies.

The Telegraph broke the news Friday ... reporting that they've been told by their Buckingham Palace sources that the King and co. were recently made aware of JB's intentions -- namely, not being in attendance as one of the many heads of state that are scheduled to show up.

That doesn't mean there won't be someone on his behalf, though. Per the UK outlet, he's mulling sending either his wife, First Lady Dr. Jill Biden, or his Veep ... Kamala Harris.

In addition to Jill/Kamala, there'll also be a formal U.S. delegation -- which will presumably include ambassadors, diplomats and other personnel ... the White House has said they'll announce those names in the coming weeks.

As for why Joe's bailing ... the word is, he has prior commitments -- although it's unclear what exactly. Here's the thing, the Telegraph reports it's no harm, no foul as far as Charles is concerned. In other words, he isn't taking it personally ... as no U.S. Prez has ever attended a British coronation, so it's not like POTUS is bucking tradition by failing to appear.

There's another thing to consider here, that some are reading into as it relates to Biden and his feelings about Charles and the monarchy at large -- perhaps he doesn't like 'em much.

There are reports that Biden's mother, who was of Irish descent, absolutely hated England (see history for why) ... which, if true, surely might've been communicated to Joe at some point. There's also the Harry and Meghan factor ... which could also be playing into this.

He's been pretty neutral on commenting about them -- but his ex-Press Sec., Jen Psaki, did publicly praise them for speaking up in the Oprah interview, saying JB felt that took courage.

In any case, Joe's gonna be a no-show.

Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene is scheduled to be the next big guest on "60 Minutes" this weekend ... and Twitter sure ain't happy about it.

The controversial Georgia congresswoman was tapped as one of the big interviews on the weekly magazine news program, with none other than Lesley Stahl taking on the challenge of talking to her on camera. The official "60 Minutes" account teased their time together.

Their description of MTG was weirdly flattering ... at least that's how many took it, and it left a lot of folks sour. "60 Minutes" writes of Rep. Greene, "Georgia Republican Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, nicknamed MTG, isn’t afraid to share her opinions, no matter how intense and in-your-face they are. She sits down with Lesley Stahl this Sunday on 60 Minutes."

Of course, political pundits and journos on the bird app have been crying foul for the past 24 hours ... openly wondering why CBS would think it's a good idea to sit down with Greene.

The reason they're asking, of course, is because MTG has, at times, apparently shown support for the Jan. 6 insurrection, displayed transphobia, advocated for a new national secession ... and continued to support President Trump, among many other issues.

For her part, Greene actually signaled that the interview went well ... shouting out Stahl for being a trailblazer in journalism, and for giving her fair questions. MTG wrote, "It was an honor to spend a few days with the legendary icon Leslie (sic) Stahl and talented crew @60Minutes. Leslie (sic) is a trailblazer for women in journalism. And while we may disagree on some issues, I respect her greatly. Tune in tomorrow 7 pm ET on CBS."

Bill Maher wants his day ... a day he will share with 100 million Americans -- Atheist's Day.

The 'Real Time' host chose the Easter egg roll up to one of the holiest of religious days to push for a national day where 1/3 of the American population can "recommit ourselves to observable reality."

Bill has always scoffed at religion, calling it a cult, but he's now gone further.  Why, he asks, do we celebrate so many religions with national holidays yet atheists are ignored in a country where inclusion is the goal?

He's incredulous people are made to feel ashamed if they don't believe in God, or even if they're just unsure to the point they won't buy into organized religion.  He points out former President Obama has referred to himself as a "secular humanist" -- sounds like code.

And then he bores in on what he says is the absurdity of it all ... people worship a "mythical daddy figure who judges and condemns you for being the exact person he made you."