Politics

"Tiger King" star Joe Exotic has retained a lawyer with ties to President Donald Trump ... and now he is hopeful for a pardon, TMZ has learned.

As you know ... Joe is currently locked up in federal prison in Texas, serving a 21-year prison sentence for a murder-for-hire plot to kill his nemesis, Carole Baskin, and for wildlife violations.

His new attorney, Peter Ticktin, went to military school with POTUS back in the day, and Joe and Peter seem confident they'll be able to work something out.

Keith Urban is in the middle of a bizarre controversy after performing an LGBTQ+ anthem at Mar-a-Lago with the prez in the room ... but the country star wasn't trying to send a message, TMZ has learned.

Here's the deal ... KU played Chappell Roan's “Pink Pony Club" among other tunes during a private gig for Pratt Industries ... an annual event at Trump's second home, for staff and partners of the biz headed by billionaire Anthony Pratt. A mixture of criticism and cheer was instantly dished out online as soon as a clip was posted, with some asking ... WTF?

A source close to Keith tells TMZ ... Keith playing “Pink Pony Club” at the event -- with Trump unexpectedly in attendance -- was not a political statement, despite the rampant online speculation.

Spencer Pratt is heating up his beef with California Governor Gavin Newsom amid lawsuits over wildfires ... he says "Newsom's lawyers" are either bumbling idiots or the world's biggest liars.

The reality TV star hopped on social media and blasted Newsom over a section from a recent legal filing in a lawsuit where wildfire victims are going after the State of California.

Spencer says "Newsom's lawyers" are arguing Topanga State Park in Los Angeles County did not store large quantities of highly combustible gasoline before the January fires.

Tom Steyer wants to be the next Governor of California.

The billionaire businessman announced his intention to run in the Golden State's gubernatorial race, which will be decided next year, in a video posted on his X account Wednesday.

Steyer says he'll be focusing primarily on cost-of-living issues, and says politicians in Sacramento are "afraid" of changing the current system.

Karoline Leavitt's tackled some tough questions in her time as the White House Press Secretary ... but she says the age gap between her and her husband was the subject of an awkward conversation with her parents.

Leavitt made the admission about her personal life in a recent episode of the "Pod Force One" podcast ... she said telling her parents she was dating a man who is nearly their own age was "challenging" at first.

Leavitt's husband, Nicholas Riccio, is 60 and Karoline is 28 -- that's a 32-year age gap. They got married in January this year ... they welcomed a baby boy, Niko, in July last year.

Leavitt's parents were suspicious about the gap ... although she said they eventually got over it once they started spending time with Riccio.

She said her folks eventually found it "quite easy" to hang out with him.

It's no secret President Donald Trump's comments are often abrasive ... and one of his newest jabs was just defended by a supporter in Congress.

FYI ... POTUS responded to reporter Catherine Lucey's question on Air Force One Friday -- "If there's nothing incriminating in the [Jeffrey Epstein] files, sir, why not act?" -- by pointing his finger at her and telling her "Quiet. Quiet, piggy."

47's remark has been widely criticized ... but predictably, he's still got support from some Republicans, including Florida Representative Maria Elvira Salazar, who defended his comment on Tuesday's episode of "The Lead," according to The Hill.

Salazar told host Jake Tapper ... "President Trump is a very picturesque and difficult and different type of politician. But I always say that I look at his policies and not at his personality."

Just weeks after Cristiano Ronaldo said he'd love to meet President Donald Trump, the international soccer superstar got his wish -- making his way to the White House for a black-tie dinner for Saudi Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman.

The Portuguese striker and his partner, Georgina, were guests at 1600 Penn on Tuesday ... as well as FIFA president Gianni Infantino, Tim Cook, and Elon Musk.

When addressing the folks in attendance, Trump couldn't help but brag about getting some serious "cool dad" points with his son, Barron, after linking him with the iconic athlete.

2:50 PM PT -- Hours after the U.S. House of Representatives passed a bill to require the Dept. of Justice to release the Epstein Files, the Senate agreed to pass the same bill by unanimous consent -- to move the bill forward with no amendments to the House's version, according to the New York Times. This avoids a recorded vote in the Senate chamber.

Once the bill formally transfers from the House and is received by the Senate, it will automatically go to President Trump's desk. The transfer process generally takes several hours.

Bottom line, the bill could land on President Trump's desk tonight. Trump has said he will sign it.

We're one step closer to finding out who was dealing with Jeffrey Epstein ... the House just approved a bill demanding the Dept. of Justice release the Epstein Files.

The bill was put on the floor Tuesday for a full vote, and it passed by a 427-1 vote.

President Trump has done an about-face on the Epstein Files -- on Friday he said Republicans would be "soft and foolish" to vote for releasing the documents ... but he reversed course by Sunday night and said House Republicans should back the bill.

Nicki Minaj became the first female rapper to address the United Nations on Tuesday and gave credit where it was due ... to President Donald Trump for setting the stage!!!

The occasion was a bipartisan one ... however, the 'Pinkprint' megastar took on the U.N. invite to confront the situation in Nigeria, where Trump has claimed Christians are being murdered simply for their faith.

Nicki admitted she was nervous at the start of her speech and spoke in a soft, gentle tone throughout her entire speech, but firmly demanded urgent action for the killings.

Donald Trump gave an ice-cold response when asked about the slaughter of Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi Tuesday, sweeping it under the rug while seeming to imply that he just wasn't very popular.

As you know ... Khashoggi was famously murdered in a Saudi consulate in Turkey in 2018 by men who reportedly strangled him and sliced him up with a bone saw while he was still gasping for air. The CIA determined Saudi leader Prince Mohammed bin Salman was the one who ordered the grisly slaying.

During his Tuesday visit to the White House -- MBS was asked the inevitable question by a reporter about why Americans should trust him given that he's widely considered to be the mastermind of Khashoggi's horrific murder.

Mark Epstein is cynical about the House of Representatives' vote to compel the release of the Justice Department's files on his late brother Jeffrey ... he says House Republicans are only agreeing to the action now because he says the Epstein Files are being edited.

In an interview on NewsNation Monday, Mark alleged ... “The reason they’re gonna be releasing these things, the reason for the flip is that they’re 'sanitizing' these files. There’s a facility in Winchester, Virginia where they’re scrubbing the files to take Republican names out.”

Mark assured the information comes from a "pretty good source."

Hold onto your fries, folks! President Donald Trump, the unofficial mascot of McDonald's, is dropping a bombshell about his favorite meal ... and nope, it's not the Big Mac!

At the McDonald's Impact Summit on Monday, Donald dished that his top-secret munchie is the Filet-O-Fish ... but he also slid in a not-so-subtle note to the Golden Arches -- load that thing up with more tartar sauce!!

His tartar confession got some knowing chuckles from the crowd ... especially when Donald ranted about how much he hates having to ask for extra sauce, even locking eyes with one guy in the audience who clearly felt his pain.

President Trump is so annoyed by the Jeffrey Epstein scandal that he's resorting to personal attacks on reporters asking him about the notorious sex offender -- and he even called one journalist a pig!

As you know, Trump has been under tremendous scrutiny over his longtime association with Epstein -- including last week when the House Oversight Committee released 23,000 emails that pointed to the their connection.

New video's surfaced of Trump flying Friday on Air Force One with a bunch of reporters -- one of whom asked the prez about his name popping up in the thousands of never-before-seen emails ... and Trump didn't take too kindly to the question.

It looks like the "Pink Pony Club" made its way all the way to Mar-a-Lago ... 'cause Keith Urban just played the hit Chappell Roan song at an event at Trump's Florida golf club!

Check it out ... the Aussie country crooner sang the catchy pop tune -- inspired in part by Los Angeles gay bar The Abbey and the LGBTQ+ community -- over the weekend at a private event hosted by Australian billionaire Anthony Pratt.

Trump was recorded sitting next to Pratt -- who reportedly donated $10 million to his 2024 election campaign -- at the event.

"H3 Podcast" host Hila Klein says she's dealing with all sorts of vile threats simply for being Jewish ... and she says someone even sent her two human skulls in the mail!!!

The cohost of the comedy podcast tells TMZ ... she fears for her safety after two human skulls showed up at her office, and cops were called to her home over bogus claims that her children were living in filth.

We obtained photos of the human skulls sent to Hila and her husband, Ethan Klein, and it's pretty eerie.

President Trump says "somebody" is responsible for bringing white nationalist Nick Fuentes to dinner at Mar-a-Lago ... and that special someone is Kanye West.

Trump was defending Tucker Carlson's recent interview with Fuentes -- which has caused backlash among Republicans -- when he went down memory lane ... and things got funny, fast.

POTUS awkwardly referred to Kanye only as "somebody" who, unbeknownst to him, invited Fuentes to Mar-a-Lago a couple years ago for dinner. Trump then quickly identified that somebody as Ye.