Politix

Hillary Clinton reacted to the horrible news of Kobe Bryant's death the same way as everyone else -- she was stunned, momentarily speechless ... then heartbroken.

The former Secretary of State was at Sundance in Park City, UT Sunday following the premiere of her new docuseries, "Hillary" ... and we broke the tragic news to her.

Hillary came back around later and touched on the passing of the NBA legend, saying she couldn't believe it until she checked her phone ... and felt anguished that it was real.

She called Kobe's death an "incredible loss ... in every way," echoing the sentiments of millions still reeling from the sad news.

We broke the story ... Bryant died in a helicopter crash Sunday morning, along with his 13-year-old daughter, Gianna and 7 other people -- later identified as John Altobelli (56), Keri Altobelli, Alyssa Altobelli, Sarah Chester, Payton Chester (13), Christina Mauser and the pilot, Ara Zobayan.

Rufus Wainwright says aspiring gay parents have as just much love to offer as straight couples -- which is why he thinks a new law in Tennessee limiting that is horses**t.

We got the acclaimed singer Saturday at Sundance in Utah, and made him aware of a new bill the Governor of TN, Bill Lee, just signed which allows adoption agencies to turn down gay couples. RW and his partner, Jorn Weisbrodt, couldn't help but roll their eyes.

Check out each of their answers ... Jorn says love knows no gender, which Rufus piggybacks on by adding gay people have so much love to offer. He also says there are countless kids who need help, and a person's sexual orientation shouldn't have any bearing on that.

Here's what former President Bill Clinton won't be watching this weekend -- unless, of course, he's in the mood to laugh about his alleged ties to pedophile Jeffrey Epstein. Yeah, we don't think so either.

Bill and Hillary will be featured on "Our Cartoon President" in a scene that has him hysterically crying over Epstein's death, 5 months after the fact. Even after Hillary begs, "Get a hold of yourself" ... he's still bawling about his pal being in heaven.

THAT concept alone is hilarious.

But, watch how the ex-First couple's emotional moment gets interrupted ... by Sen. Elizabeth Warren, who's looking for some campaign advice. Bonus laughs!!! The episode airs Sunday night on Showtime.

Ricky Martin is getting to work to help the people of Puerto Rico who have been devastated by recent earthquakes ... sitting with local politicians to come up with effective solutions.

Sources close to the situation tell TMZ the singer met with Mayors representing districts hit by the quakes Friday to formulate plans to fast track help to those in need. We're told the meeting took place at the Roberto Clemente Coliseum in San Juan.

As you probably know by now ... Puerto Rico's been battered with powerful earthquakes since late last month. The most powerful quake -- a 6.4 magnitude on Jan. 7 -- wreaked havoc in several villages and damaged homes, attractions and hotels along the southwest coast.

The State of Mississippi is doing nothing to prevent inmates from dying under hellish conditions, according to Yo Gotti ... who's sounding alarms in federal court.

As we've reported, the rapper's been outraged by what's going on at Parchman State Penitentiary and got Team Roc involved in a legal battle to improve conditions. Their latest move is filing for an emergency restraining order, on behalf of more than 25 inmates.

According to the docs, 8 people in the prison have died in the last 26 days -- and it's no wonder when you hear what's allegedly going on behind Parchman's walls. In the filing, they say there's just ONE guard for 160 inmates, in a particular cell block. Even worse, inmates throughout the prison are allegedly being served cold, rotten food containing rocks, insects, and bird and rat droppings -- and toilets are spilling out onto floors. They also claim Parchman's drinking water is contaminated with human waste.

The biggest issue with the grossly understaffed cell block -- in docs, they claim the limited number of guards "can't, or won't, enter Unit 29 buildings to prevent violence or even render much needed emergency medical assistance." Prisoners have resorted to setting fires just to get the attention of guards.

Widespread prison riots have been reported all month at Parchman.

Two police officers who busted Stormy Daniels during her 2018 strip club gig in Ohio are outta work for what police now admit was a bogus arrest.

The Columbus Police Department announced its decision Thursday after it found officers Steven Rosser and Whitney Lancaster violated rules when they arrested Stormy on 3 counts of illegal sexually oriented activity. The department also said the officers lied during an internal investigation about the basis for their sting operation.

As you might remember, Columbus PD hauled in Stormy for motorboating an undercover cop. Ohio has strict laws on touching strippers. Stormy's attorney at the time, Michael Avenatti, accused officers of setting her up and alleged the arrest was politically motivated -- she'd gone public about her alleged affair with Donald Trump.

City officials ultimately determined Ohio's no touching law should have only applied to regular performers and NOT Stormy, a guest performer.

Stormy's charges were dropped within 24 hours, but she later sued the department and won a $450,000 settlement. The controversy also resulted in the police department disbanding its controversial vice squad following a federal corruption investigation.

The federal probe determined Rosser lied about the purpose of the strip club sting ... saying he was searching for an underage stripper. The search never happened, and instead, they arrested Stormy. Two other officers were suspended for the arrest.

If the 49ers win the Super Bowl, don't expect to see Richard Sherman celebrating at the White House.

The NFL star was asked Thursday if he would go to D.C. to meet Donald Trump, as several championship teams have done in the past ... and Sherman essentially shot that down.

"I haven’t thought about it. We’ve got a long way between now and then, but I doubt it," Sherman told SF Chronicle's Scott Ostler.

As with most large groups of people these days, it's fair to assume not everyone on the team feels the same way Sherman does ... especially since his star teammate, Nick Bosa, is a proud Trump supporter.

First, the 49ers have to win the Super Bowl -- and the Kansas City Chiefs are obviously gonna try to not let that happen. That game goes down Sunday, Feb. 2.

The White House honor has become a VERY politically charged event now -- with star players from various sports boycotting including Chris Long, Torrey Smith, Mookie Betts, Alex Cora and the entire Golden State Warriors team.

See, President Obama ain't the only ex-Prez into hoop ... check out Bill Clinton at the Lakers game!!

#42 was sitting courtside at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn on Thursday to watch the Nets get smashed by the L.A. Lakers ... and judging by the smile on his face, Bill loved it!

After the game, Clinton went on to the floor and chopped it up with LeBron James and Anthony Davis ... and yeah, that's Michael Strahan right behind 'em!

In fact, 73-year-old Clinton kicked it with a ton of stars at the game -- including Matt Barnes, Dwight Howard, Marv Albert and more.

It doesn't appear Hillary was at the game -- unclear what she was doing instead.

The Lakers are still in 1st place in the NBA's Western Conference ... winning 8 out of their last 10.

Pete Buttigieg is back where it all started -- the exact place he hinted he had his eyes on The White House -- but this time around he's no longer a starry-eyed, long shot mayor ... he's not even a mayor at all!

Mayor Candidate Pete spoke Thursday at the U.S. Conference of Mayors' annual winter meeting in Washington D.C. ... exactly one year after he announced he was launching a 2020 exploratory committee at the same event.

Though he wouldn't officially announce his presidential campaign until April, he made it clear at the 2019 conference his sights were set on The White House ... and spelled out exactly why he thinks he's the right guy for the job.

Flash forward to today -- we asked Buttigieg to recap the past 365 days and he tells us it's "hard to believe" ... including his early retirement as the mayor of South Bend, Indiana.

Pete stepped down from the role and passed the torch to his successor, James Mueller, on New Year's Day, so he can focus on the tough race ahead for the Democratic nomination.

Vice Prez Mike Pence is feeling a big chill, courtesy of Prince Charles ... who blatantly dissed the veep -- but the only question is whether the cold shoulder was intentional.

Take a look -- the Prince walked down the line Thursday, greeting world leaders at the World Holocaust Forum in Jerusalem. Handshakes all around, until he got to VP Pence and his wife. Charles looked him right in the eye ... and moved right along.

No handshake, no shoulder pat, not even a head nod.

Pence appears to reach out and tap Charles on the arm, but the Prince was already engaged with Israel's Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu.

Snub or not, Pence's office is already on the defensive ... it released a photo of the VP and the Prince sharing a moment and claims they "spoke prior to entering the event floor and after his remarks as well."

It's unclear if the handshake snub happened before or after what appears to be a friendly greeting outside the event.

Neil Young's officially ready to keep on rockin' in the free world, and soon ... he'll be free to express his hatred for Donald Trump in a voting booth.

The legendary rock 'n' roll artist was granted U.S. citizenship Wednesday at the Convention Center in downtown L.A. ... and he's clearly proud to be an American.

Accompanied by his wife, Daryl Hannah, Neil excitedly waved his mini Old Glory as he left the Oath Ceremony while clutching his naturalization documents.

If ya don't know ... Neil's from Canada, but he's been a Southern (California) Man off and on since the '60s, and he recently decided to pursue dual citizenship so he could vote in the 2020 election.

Rep. Tulsi Gabbard just slapped a lawsuit on Hillary Clinton, claiming the former Secretary of State attacked her character simply because Tulsi refused to back her in 2016.

The current presidential Democratic candidate and Congresswoman claims in new court docs that Clinton was out to ruin her campaign this year ... and took deliberate steps to torpedo her chances. Specifically, Tulsi mentions the "Russian asset" comment HC made.

You'll recall ... Hillary said on a podcast, "She's the favorite of the Russians. They have a bunch of sites and bots and other ways of supporting her so far."

Meghan Markle's an expert at pushing the envelope when it comes to what's politically acceptable to the Palace, and she proved it with some covert statements on her Royal IG with Prince Harry.

During her time as a Senior Royal, the Duchess of Sussex used the only social media she's allowed to have to make her political opinions known, but she did it subtly, knowing she was wading into dangerous waters with the Crown ... sources close to Meghan tell TMZ.

If you don't know ... Queen Elizabeth and her family are supposed to refrain from expressing political opinions publicly, but we're told Meghan never gave up her previously strongly held political beliefs.

Our Meghan sources say she carefully crafted IG posts to avoid overtly saying what she was thinking or supporting, but the writing was on the wall ... or in the photos.

For example, when her friend and women's rights activist, Loujain al-Hathloul, was imprisoned in Saudi Arabia ... Markle knew she couldn't come out and condemn a foreign government.

Instead, Meghan showed subtle solidarity by sharing a photo of herself with Loujain as part of a bigger post about One Young World ... a UK-based charity which is described as a global forum for young leaders. Meghan's support for the charity began in 2014, before she married Harry. Loujain was imprisoned on the weekend of Meghan's wedding and it's clear that, despite the diplomatic nature of her royal role, Meghan was calling for her friend to be freed by the Saudi regime.

That same post included a photo of Markle sitting next to Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, shortly after he won re-election -- a low-key shout-out of support for her friend.

Our sources say, for the most part, she knew how to walk up to the line without crossing it, which helped her dodge any issues with royal higher-ups. Call it effective self-censorship.

Conor McGregor is Team MAGA -- calling Donald Trump a "phenomenal President" ... and shocker, Trump LOVED the compliment!

The Irish superstar sent out a random tweet Monday night raving about POTUS for no apparent reason ... maybe he was just in a super-Trumpy mood following his UFC 246 victory.

"Phenomenal President. Quite possibly the USA [Greatest of All Time]," McGregor wrote.

"Most certainly one of them anyway, as he sits atop the shoulders of many amazing giants that came before him. No easy feet. Early stages of term also. Incredible."

He added, "Congrats and Happy Martin Luther King Jr. day America."

Trump LOVED the shout-out and responded early Tuesday morning -- writing, "Congratulations on your big @UFC WIN!"

We know Trump is a huge MMA fan -- and he personally attended UFC 244 to watch Jorge Masvidal fight Nate Diaz at Madison Square Garden.

But, we didn't know McGregor was a Trump guy. In fact, McGregor ripped Trump back in 2015 when Donald criticized Ronda Rousey for not touching gloves with Holly Holm.

"Donald can shut his big fat mouth," McGregor said at the time ... "I don't give a f*ck about Donald Trump."

Kellyanne Conway is here with a scorching hot take on Martin Luther King, Jr. Day ... she says MLK would take a hard stance against Donald Trump's impeachment.

Trump's aide was talking to reporters Monday in D.C. when she invoked Dr. King's name to illustrate her anger about the impeachment trial, which starts Tuesday in the Senate.

Kellyanne says the proceedings are tearing our country apart, and that's exactly the kind of divisiveness MLK Jr. opposed.

It seems a thin and shallow viewpoint ... considering the fact MLK fought and marched for the Civil Rights movement, even though it divided the country.

She added, Dr. King would not be down with the impeachment trial because he didn't envision having "Americans dragged through a process where the president is not going to be removed from office, is not being charged with bribery, extortion, high crimes or misdemeanors.”

Bottom line, for Kellyanne anyway, is Trump supports MLK's vision of unity -- therefore, if you love King ... you shouldn't support Trump's impeachment trial.

Like we said, hot take on ANY day, but especially on the man's holiday.

U.S. Senator Susan Collins knows tough times are coming for her, the country, and possibly President Trump ... which is why today she's finding some solace at the MLK Memorial.

We got the 4-term senator from Maine on her way there Monday in Washington D.C., and it's clear she thinks every senator should do the same ahead of the Senate trial for Trump's impeachment ... which is set to kick off Tuesday.

Collins says she wishes every senator would visit MLK's Memorial before performing their constitutional duty. She says she hopes her visit brings her strength and she's gonna need it.

The senator is in a unique position as one of just a handful of moderate Republicans. In fact, nearly 21 years ago, she broke party lines and voted to acquit President Bill Clinton.

Some Republicans are still furious with her for letting 42 off the hook. What's more, Collins is seeking re-election but the Senate trial puts her in a no-win situation -- a vote to acquit Trump means facing the democrats' wrath while a vote to convict Trump would trigger relentless attacks from Trump himself.