White House

Donald Trump is making an offer to NFL players -- telling them he wants their recommendations for people who deserve a presidential pardon ... and promises to take their requests seriously.

Trump was speaking with reporters in front of the White House when he talked about his new plan to help determine who should be pardoned.

"What I'm thinking to do, you have a lot of people in the NFL in particular ... they're not proud enough to stand for our national anthem ..."

"I'm gonna ask all of those people to recommend to me ... people that they think were unfairly treated by the justice system and I'm gonna ask them to recommend to me, people that were unfairly treated, friends of theirs or people that they know about and im gonna take a look at those applications."

Alice Marie Johnson was so inspired by Kim Kardashian West's efforts to spring her from a life prison sentence that she wants to help Kim do the same for others.

We spoke with the 63-year-old great grandmother, and she told us Kim was truly the difference maker in President Trump's decision to commute her sentence.

Not only did Alice offer love and praise for KKW -- even calling her an official member of the Johnson family -- Alice says she's down to help Kim in her fight for prison reform and to free anyone given unfair sentences.

As we reported ... Kim's been on a mission for Alice for months, working and communicating with Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump even before the White House meeting. As we first reported, Alice even sent a heartfelt thank-you note to Kim last year ... long before her freedom was a done deal.

Kim Kardashian West will come face-to-face with the woman she helped to free from prison ... TMZ has learned.

Alice Marie Johnson had her life sentence commuted on Wednesday by President Trump after spending 22 years behind bars. Kim championed Alice's release with the help of her attorney, Shawn Holley ... communicating for months with Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump.

Sources close to the situation tell us Kim and her team are working to arrange a meeting with Alice that could happen as early as this week.

Our sources say Kim will most likely travel to Alice -- not vice versa -- as the great-grandmother adjusts to life outside of prison. Moments after she got out, Alice told reporters she was thankful and felt as if her life was starting over again.

As we reported, Kim visited the White House last week for a meeting with 45 about Alice's situation and prison reform in general.

D.L. Hughley isn't giving President Trump an ounce of credit for letting Alice Johnson out of prison, 'cause he says it amounts to nothing more than sleight of hand.

We got the comedian leaving Mastro's in Bev Hills Wednesday night, and he says Trump commuting Johnson's sentence is essentially a Three-card Monte game ... all trick, no real results.

D.L. thinks Alice and her champion, Kim Kardashian, were simply a good photo op -- while Trump's still making other moves that fly in the face of real prison reform.

He might have a point about the big picture, but for her part ... Alice has expressed nothing but gratitude to Kim and Prez Trump since her release yesterday.

Alice Marie Johnson wasted NO time catching up with her loved ones, moments after she was released from prison ... courtesy of President Trump and Kim Kardashian West.

Alice was driven a short distance away from Alabama's Aliceville Correctional Facility, and bolted into the arms of loved ones waiting for her on the roadside.

As we reported ... the 63-year-old great-grandmother's case became national news after Kim tweeted about it. She was sentenced to life in prison for first time offenses of money laundering and drug conspiracy.

Kim Kardashian did good fighting for Alice Johnson's clemency, but at least one U.S. congressman thinks President Trump played celeb favorites and that has no place in the prison reform discussion.

We got Rep. Steve Cohen of Tennessee Wednesday on Capitol Hill, and he says there's a downside to Kim successfully lobbying Trump ... in the big picture. Cohen's afraid it will set a bad precedent for other harshly or wrongly convicted prisoners.

In other words, what happens if you're rotting in prison ... and don't have a celebrity who can get the President's ear fighting for your freedom?

Stormy Daniels just sued her former attorney ... claiming he was in cahoots with President Trump's personal attorney, Michael Cohen, to get her to falsely deny she had an affair with Trump.

Stormy -- real name Stephanie Clifford -- filed docs Wednesday claiming Keith Davidson colluded with Cohen and hatched a plan to get her on Sean Hannity's show back in January.

The suit attached a series of texts Stormy says back her claims. In docs, obtained by TMZ, Cohen texted Davidson, "I have her tentatively scheduled for Hannity tonight." But, a few hours later ... Cohen texted Davidson, "The wise men all believe the story is dying and don't think it's smart for her to do any interviews." Davidson, according to docs, replied, "100%" ... with Cohen replying, "Thanks pal."

Stormy claims "wise men" is in reference to Trump, essentially alleging he knew Davidson and Cohen were communicating all along. Stormy also claims Davidson broke attorney-client privilege when he tipped off Cohen that she was about to get a new lawyer, Michael Avenatti, and announce in court she had an affair with Trump but signed an agreement to keep quiet about it in exchange for $130,000.

The suit alleges, "Mr. Davidson abdicated his role as an advocate and fiduciary of his client Ms. Clifford and instead elected to be a puppet for Mr. Cohen and Mr. Trump in order to advance their interests at the expense of Ms. Clifford."

Malcolm Jenkins wants people like Donald Trump to know what the national anthem demonstrations were really about ... so he spelled it out in the Eagles' locker room today -- using signs.

He didn't speak a word to reporters -- instead, Jenkins flipped through a series of handwritted signs he made ... clearly trying to get his point across to critics like POTUS.

Here are a few examples ...

"You aren't listening"

"More than 60% of people in prison are people of color"

"Nearly 200,000 juveniles enter the adult criminal system each year, most for non-violent crimes"

"Chris Long gave his entire year's salary to educational initiatives"

"Colin Kaepernick gave $1 million to charity"

"Devin McCourty, Duron Harmon, Matt Slater and Johnson Bademosi lobbied to raise the age from 7 to 12 entering the criminal justice system"

Pamela Anderson says she might pull a Kim Kardashian and ask President Trump to pardon WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange.

We got Pam Wednesday in NYC as reports surfaced that the Prez was prepping to grant clemency to several prisoners. So, with Pam being a huge advocate for her friend Assange, we asked if she'd go to Trump to clear Assange's name in the U.S. -- even though he hasn't been charged with a crime here, yet.

Pam says it would be "the smartest move" -- not sure if she meant her visiting Trump, or Trump pardoning Assange.

Of course, this comes on the heels of Kim Kardashian successfully lobbying POTUS to release Alice Marie Johnson ... so, makes sense Pam could be feeling empowered.

After all, Pam's been going to bat for Assange, saying he's a misunderstood soul ... not a criminal hacker. We suspect the President would be more likely to show mercy on a grandmother who got a life sentence for a first time, nonviolent offense.

Philadelphia Eagles head coach Doug Pederson says he was "looking forward" to visiting the White House to celebrate the Super Bowl victory ... and seemed kinda bummed it didn't happen.

"I was looking forward to it," Pederson said at a Wednesday news conference ... "You win a world championship ... you wanna be recognized that way."

When asked if other teams should boycott the White House after the drama that surrounded his team, Pederson said he can't speak for other teams, but reiterated ... "I was looking forward to it."

Kim Kardashian has a chance to use her influence for the good of the nation, just like Robert F. Kennedy did ... that is, if she heeds the advice of one of RFK's daughters.

We got Kerry Kennedy, Bobby's 7th child, on Capitol Hill Tuesday -- the eve of the 50th anniversary of her dad's assassination -- and asked what she thinks of the Kardashian sisters wading into politics.

It's a great question for Kerry, in particular, because she let out a hearty laugh when we raised this topic in 2013. Kerry was highly amused by our comparison of the Kardashians and the Kennedys back then.

However, on the heels of Kim's White House visit lobbying Prez Trump to commute Alice Johnson's prison sentence ... Kerry's no longer laughing. In fact, she offered the K fam guidance on how best to conduct themselves in the political arena.

You'll recall, Kourtney was also in D.C. recently working toward environmentally-friendly cosmetics.

Donald Trump just wrapped up his "Who Needs the Philadelphia Eagles to Have a Good Time?" party at the White House ... and proved he actually knows the words to the national anthem!!

As for "God Bless America" ... not so much.

Remember, Trump had initially invited the NFL champs to his D.C. pad to honor the Eagles for winning the Super Bowl. But many key players declined the invite, and then Trump pulled the plug altogether when he learned barely anyone was gonna show up.

Instead, Trump hosted replacement party featuring the U.S. Marine Band and the U.S. Army Chorus performing the anthem.

We should note -- when Trump took the podium, several boos are heard ... but it's unclear who was the intended target.

Trump gave a speech about the importance of standing for "The Star-Spangled Banner." He successfully sang along to the anthem, but definitely needed help with the lyrics when the broke out, "God Bless America."

LeBron James says the Cavs and the Warriors are united when it comes to Donald Trump -- "No matter who wins this series, no one wants the invite [to the White House]."

"It won't be Golden State or Cleveland going."

LeBron just faced the media and said he learned about Trump pulling the invite to the Philadelphia Eagles moments before he got to the podium ... but says, "It's typical of him and I'm not surprised."

"I think as long as he's in the office, the communication and things like that is gonna continue to happen. It's a lot of things that we believe in as Americans that we don't feel that he's for."

"It's a lot of people that believe that he's not for the people or doing things that are not right by the people."

After James finished his session, Steph Curry had a few words for the media -- "I agree with Bron."

LeBron has attacked Trump before -- calling POTUS a "bum" for criticizing Steph Curry when he didn't immediately accept an invite to 1600 Penn.

Bill Belichick sure as hell doesn't want to talk about his good friend, Donald Trump -- and shut down reporters when he was asked about the drama surrounding the Eagles' White House visit.

Remember, Belichick and Trump are tight ... in fact, Trump just appointed him to the President's Council on Sports, Fitness and Nutrition.

Plus, Belichick famously wrote Trump a congratulatory letter right before the election -- a letter Trump read onstage at a major event.

So, when Belichick faced reporters at Patriots training camp on Tuesday ... the media wanted to know how he felt about the way Trump was handling the Eagles situation and the NFL's new national anthem rules.

Guess what ... Belichick deflected and deflected.

He did sorta address the Tom Brady drama after his QB blew off Pats voluntary workouts.

"I've always had a good relationship with Tom," Belichick insisted.

Terrell Owens has some strong words for his former 'Celebrity Apprentice' boss ... telling Donald Trump when it comes to the Eagles, YOU WERE REJECTED FIRST!

T.O. was leaving Avra Estiatorio in Beverly Hills when we asked the former Eagles WR for his thoughts on Trump uninviting the Eagles to the White House.

"I'm sure it wasn't him uninviting the Eagles. I'm sure they didn't wanna go! So, how does he uninvite people that didn't wanna go?! Come on dog, let's keep it real!"

According to Trump himself ... only a "small number of players" were planning on attending the Super Bowl ceremony Tuesday morning, so he pulled the invite rather than have a small showing.

As for Terrell's opinion on the NFL's new national anthem rule?

"It is what it is ... I just think they're taking away people's freedom of speech."

Donald Trump has announced the plans for the Philadelphia Eagles to visit the White House to celebrate the Super Bowl victory is officially OFF ... and POTUS is making it seem like it was his decision.

Instead, Trump says he will still have the United States Marine Band and the United Army Chorus playing the national anthem at 1600 Pennsylvania ... while he stands proudly and watches.

The team was scheduled to visit on Tuesday ... without several key members from the team who opted out as a way to protest Trump's stance on the national anthem.

But, Trump says the "smaller delegation" of players who accepted the invite are no longer coming because "the fans deserve better."

"The Philadelphia Eagles are unable to come to the White House with their full team to be celebrated tomorrow."

"They disagree with their President because he insists that they proudly stand for the National Anthem, hand on heart, in honor of the great men and women of our country."

"The Eagles wanted to send a smaller delegation, but the 1,000 fan planning to attend the event deserve better."

"These fans are still invited to the White House to be part of a different type of ceremony-one that will honor our great country, pay tribute to the heroes who fight to protect it, and loudly and proudly play the National Anthem."