Politics

12:18 PM PT -- During today's segment on TMZ Live, Harvey, Charles, and Babcock debated over whether or not Trump should have accepted the award.

Although President Donald Trump was disappointed about losing out on his hunt for a Nobel Peace Prize last year, he got a taste of how it felt to have one Thursday when Maria Corina Machado presented him with her medal.

The Venezuelan opposition leader met with POTUS at the White House, where she presented the medal. It wasn't immediately clear if Trump had accepted the medal, but the White House later confirmed he did -- sharing a photo of him holding it next to Machado.

The Nobel organizers were aware of Machado's plans and posted on social media ... "a medal can change owners, but the title of a Nobel Peace Prize laureate cannot."

FYI ... Machado was presented with the Peace Prize last October for her efforts to promote democracy in Venezuela.

Although Trump's been nominated for the Peace Prize on several occasions, he's never received the award.

"Teen Mom" Farrah Abraham wants to get into politics ... but she's having a premature political birth here ... because she's jumping into the race for mayor of Austin, Texas way too early.

Farrah joined us on "TMZ Live" Thursday and we asked her about her recent social media announcement that she was running for mayor in the Texas capital ... and we kinda burst her bubble with some quick fact-checking, and her reaction is priceless.

Thing is ... Farrah says she's running for mayor in 2026, but we called up City Hall during our live interview ... the election isn't until 2028 -- that's over 2 freaking years from now!!!

Online users discovered Thursday morning that typing "Nazis.us" into a web browser instantly flips to the official homepage of the U.S. government's Department of Homeland Security.

Instead of whatever you’d expect to see (🙄), users are landing straight on the DHS website. Screenshots confirm the redirect, and for now, nobody seems to know why it’s happening.

There's a big question mark as to who owns the domain, whether it recently changed hands and was deliberately rerouted to the DHS ... or whether it's just a flat-out tech glitch. To be clear, anyone purchasing a web domain can redirect the URL to any other site on the internet if they so choose.

DHS Spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin told TMZ Thursday morning ... "We've successfully blocked the redirect."

John Hinckley Jr., the man who tried to assassinate Ronald Reagan, is convinced he's the reason Jodie Foster is sexually attracted to other women.

John tells TMZ he has a theory that his failed Reagan assassination attempt in 1981 traumatized Jodie to the point where she turned away from men and became a lesbian. He believes Jodie's trauma also stemmed from him bringing her into his assassination attempt with his public fascination of her.

He says Jodie was dating men in the early 1980s and only became a lesbian in the years after he tried to shoot Reagan dead. Jodie first came out publicly as gay during the 2013 Golden Globes Awards. John says this is the first time he's ever revealed this theory publicly as he promotes his new memoir, "John Hinckley Jr.: Who I Really Am."

Journalist Laura Jedeed should be considered a domestic terrorist, according to the Donald Trump administration's warped metric ... but she tells "TMZ Live," she was hired by ICE anyway!

This is a wild story ... Laura was curious about how diligent the Dept. of Homeland Security is about screening ICE candidates during the agency's current hiring surge ... so she took a skills-based resume to a jobs event to find out how she'd fare.

Despite maintaining an online portfolio chock-full of Trump hate and anti-ICE sentiment, Jedeed -- who says she has her own page on an Antifa watch website -- passed ICE's shoddy screening process with flying colors.

President Donald Trump is threatening to cut funding to states with sanctuary cities, a move that could affect a sizable portion of the United States ... though he's tried it before, unsuccessfully.

POTUS reaffirmed his desire to stop the payments during a speech at the Detroit Economic Club on Tuesday, and claimed "sanctuary cities" -- places that limit cooperation with federal immigration authorities -- "do everything possible to protect criminals at the expense of American citizens," reports NBC News.

Trump alleged the policies of sanctuary cities encourage "fraud and crime and all of the other problems that come." He didn't give any specific details ... but he did warn the effects on funding for states would be "significant."

This isn't the first time Trump has threatened to cut funding to sanctuary cities ... he attempted to do so in 2017, although his attempt was struck down in court.

Trump issued an executive order last year directing officials to withhold federal funds from sanctuary cities, but his effort was ultimately shot down by a California judge.

2:45 PM PT -- White House Communications Director Steven Cheung tells TMZ ... "A lunatic was wildly screaming expletives in a complete fit of rage, and the President gave an appropriate and unambiguous response."

Donald Trump turned into Donald Grump during a Tuesday appearance at a Ford plant ... launching into an F-bomb attack on a worker who appeared to yell "pedophile protector" at the Prez.

47 toured the Ford F-150 plant at the Detroit Economic Club before giving a speech ... while walking the factory floor on his tour, someone began shouting at Trump. It's hard to make out the full sentence shouted at Trump, but it seems to have included the words "pedophile protector."

The angry worker is obviously referencing Trump's association with late convicted pedophile Jeffrey Epstein ... and the Dept. of Justice's slow release of the infamous Epstein Files.

TJ Sabula, the Ford plant worker who yelled "pedophile protector" at President Donald Trump during his visit, has the full backing of his powerful union amid a paid suspension ... and they're fighting to keep his job.

United Auto Workers Union Vice President Laura Dickerson tells TMZ ... "[TJ Sabula] believes in freedom of speech, a principle we wholeheartedly embrace, and we stand with our membership in protecting their voice on the job."

Dickerson adds ... "The UAW will ensure that our member receives the full protection of all negotiated contract language safeguarding his job and his rights as a union member."

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. may have put steak near the top of the food chain ... but even he knows President Donald Trump eats like a stoner on death row.

The Health and Human Services Secretary opened up about his boss's outrageous diet during an interview with Katie Miller -- the wife of Deputy Chief of Staff and Homeland Security Advisor Stephen Miller -- on her podcast.

When asked, "Who has the most unhinged eating habits?" RFK Jr. knew immediately ... "The president."

According to RFK Jr. ... "He eats really bad food, which is McDonald's and candy and Diet Coke. He drinks the Diet Coke at all times. He has the constitution of a deity."

A pair of GoFundMe campaigns for TJ Sabula have collectively received more than $350,000 for the suspended Ford worker ... all within 24 hours of him calling President Donald Trump a "pedophile protector" to Trump's face.

FYI ... TJ hurled the insult at 47 during the president's visit to a Ford manufacturing plant in Michigan on Tuesday ... and POTUS responded with a concise "f*** you" and flipped off Sabula.

TJ later said he doesn't have any regrets about it, although he is concerned about his future job prospects, as Ford suspended him without pay.

This is where the GoFundMe campaigns come in ... one campaign's organizer -- who described herself as a "longtime personal friend" of TJ's family -- set a goal of $10,000 for her campaign ... which has since received more than $100,000 in donations.

That campaign's funds will apparently go directly to help TJ and his family cover expenses in the aftermath.

The other GoFundMe campaign was organized with a loftier goal of $250,000 ... and it's since raised more than $270,000 for the suspended worker.

The worker who yelled "pedophile protector" at President Donald Trump during his visit to a Ford plant in Michigan Tuesday has been suspended.

The suspended worker has been identified as 40-year-old TJ Sabula, the United Auto Workers Union confirms to TMZ. Sabula admitted to The Washington Post to being the individual who shouted at the prez.

Sabula told the Washington Post ... "I don’t feel as though fate looks upon you often, and when it does, you better be ready to seize the opportunity. And today I think I did that."

It's unclear if his suspension is paid ... the union tells TMZ they are exploring next steps.

Charlie Kirk's assassination inspired some sick users to create online missions depicting the tragic shooting in "Grand Theft Auto Online" ... but, the game's parent company says the scenarios are now banned.

Here's the deal ... videos surfaced on social media recently showing a mission titled "We Are Charlie Kirk" where the player grabs a sniper rifle and shoots an NPC standing under a canopy on the University of San Andreas, Los Santos campus.

It's meant to parody Charlie's appearance at Utah Valley University in Orem, UT, back in September ... when he was shot and killed.

The Pentagon used a military aircraft painted to look like a civilian plane to attack a boat off the coast of Venezuela in September -- the Trump administration claimed the boat was transporting drugs -- and that deception violates international law, The New York Times reports.

This is one of the attacks that is already controversial -- after the initial bombing, a second strike was ordered, killing two survivors who were clinging to the hull of the destroyed boat. That is considered a war crime.

The bombing of unconfirmed criminal suspect boats and their occupants is also legally questionable in international maritime law.

The aircraft used in the Sept. 2, 2025 attack -- which killed 11 people -- reportedly flew low enough for the boat's passengers to see it ... meaning they would have been under the impression it was a civilian plane. The plane's munitions were also concealed, according to the report.

Legal specialists told the NYT that's vital ... as the laws of armed conflict prohibit combatants from pretending to be civilians to trick adversaries into lowering their defenses before attacking them, which is a war crime known as "perfidy."

The type of aircraft used in the attack hasn't been publicly revealed.

White House spokeswoman Anna Kelly issued a statement defending the strike -- President Donald Trump has called these attacks acts of war against drug cartels -- and described it as "fully consistent with the law of armed conflict."

OnlyFans models need to do something more productive with their lives, a Florida gubernatorial candidate says ... and he wants them to literally pay for their "sins."

We spoke to James Fishback -- a candidate running for governor of The Sunshine State -- who is proposing a 50% tax on income brought in by OF stars living in the state.

Fishback says his proposed "Sin Tax" is meant to deter young women from selling their bodies online ... which he says is something they're compelled to do by society's objectification of them -- not as a choice.

He specifically calls out Sophie Rain, the popular content creator who rakes in millions of dollars per year in the state ... saying he thinks she could be a nurse or teacher, or homemaker, instead of posing naked for money.

Stephen A. Smith was on the ESPN airwaves Tuesday morning when he had quite the slip of the tongue while breaking down the Texans' playoff win over the Steelers ... mistakenly referring to Houston's star wide receiver as Charlie Kirk.

"We saw Charlie Kirk catch 8 receptions for 144 yards," SAS said on "First Take," before host Shae Cornette corrected him.

"I'm sorry. Christian. I apologize. I apologize. Oh my God. Christian Kirk," Stephen A. quickly responded.

Clearly, Smith meant no harm by what he said -- the guy spends hours and hours talking each week, and mistakes happen.

The Republican-led House Oversight Committee is looking to hold Bill Clinton in contempt of Congress, according to its chairman ... after the former president didn't show up for a deposition about his connection to Jeffrey Epstein.

Oversight Committee Chair James Comer spoke to reporters Tuesday morning and announced he would move to hold the former President, who served from 1993 to 2001, in contempt next week, reports NBC News. If a panel vote moves it forward, the contempt would need a full House vote to proceed. Then the Dept. of Justice would decide whether to pursue it.

Bill and Hillary were scheduled by the committee to be deposed Tuesday and Wednesday ... but the Clintons sent a letter to Comer stating they would not show up, pointing out they've already made sworn statements.

The Clintons wrote they expected to be held in contempt for their decision ... and claimed the subpoenas they'd been sent were "invalid and legally unenforceable," reports The New York Times.

The House Oversight Committee announced it had sent the Clintons deposition subpoenas last August, and their depositions were originally scheduled for last October.

Bill's received scrutiny for his connection to Epstein over the years, and photos featuring the him have appeared in newly released photos from the Epstein Files. Other powerful political, business and entertainment figures, including President Donald Trump, have also been closely associated with Epstein, a disgraced financier and convicted pedophile. The Dept. of Justice has said less than 1 percent of the Epstein Files have been released, despite a December legal deadline.