White House

12:10 PM PT -- Comey released a statement saying, "I respect the DOJ IG office, which is why I urged them to do this review. The conclusions are reasonable, even though I disagree with some."

"People of good faith can see an unprecedented situation differently. I pray no Director faces it again. Thanks to IG's people for hard work."

Ex-FBI Director James Comey had at least one agent working the Hillary Clinton email probe who was open about NOT wanting Donald Trump to win the election ... according to the Justice Department.

The Justice Department's inspector general issued a report reviewing Comey's actions, and it included text messages between FBI investigator Peter Strzok and FBI lawyer, Lisa Page. In one of them, Page says, "[Trump]'s not ever going to become president, right? Right?!"

Strzok replied, "No. No he won't. We'll stop it."

Despite those texts, the Justice Department didn't say Comey acted out of any political bias while investigating Hillary's emails -- but did say his actions "negatively impacted the perception of the FBI and the department as fair administrators of justice."

Kim Kardashian says the first person she called to start the process of freeing Alice Johnson was none other than Ivanka Trump ... who apparently got things in motion.

Kim and Alice sat down with "TODAY" host Hoda Kotb and explained how Alice came to be released from prison last week while serving a life sentence. Kim says she called Ivanka, who was completely sympathetic to Alice's situation. The rest is history.

A few other interesting tidbits from the interview -- Alice says she had no idea who Kim was before getting a ton of help from her. Also ... Kim says she cracked a joke about Khloe to President Trump to break the ice during the Oval Office meeting.

Donald Trump can't stop complimenting Kim Jong-un ... even when he's confronted with the fact the dude's a murderer.

The Prez continued to heap praise on the North Korean leader Wednesday following their historic summit this week, during an interview with Fox News' Bret Baier ... despite Baier bringing up Kim's history of executing people.

"He's a tough guy," POTUS replied. "When you take over a country, tough country, tough people, and you take it over from your father ... if you could do that at 27 years old, I mean, that's 1 in 10,000 that could do that."

Dennis Rodman had a hearty laugh about President Trump possibly winning a Nobel Peace Prize, because he thinks someone else should be considered ... Dennis Rodman!

We talked to The Worm about the historic meeting between his friends, Trump and Kim Jong-un, and what it might mean in the long run ... he makes some jokes, but tells us he's truly happy it went down.

Rodman insists he's not seeking accolades for the 2 leaders talking peace, but also reminded us he played a part in it ... and feels vindicated for his efforts.

We also asked Rodman about Donald's comments back in 2014 ... accusing him of being drunk or high when discussing Trump and North Korea.

Lil Boosie says he's got no problem with Kim Kardashian meeting President Trump to discuss prison reform, and as an ex-inmate himself ... he's sure other prisoners would back her efforts too.

We got Boosie Tuesday at Atlanta's Lenox Square Mall and he joked about why Kim's the perfect spokesperson for unjustly convicted inmates -- something about many of them enjoying her body of work.

On a serious note, he applauded her impassioned efforts to get Alice Marie Johnson's sentence commuted, and it seems she's inspired him. Boosie, who's admittedly not a Trump fan, told us he'd even be down to do his part -- with one caveat.

Dan Rather gives President Trump props for talking peace with North Korea instead of making war ... but adds, so far, Kim Jong-un's the only one who's won anything out of the summit.

The CBS news icon told us Tuesday in NYC, he's hopeful -- but still skeptical -- the summit will be a win for the United States. He says N. Korea's supreme leader's already rung up a big W, while all Trump has up to this point is a great photo op.

President Trump and Kim Jong-un's handshake heard around the world also happened to take place on some pretty pricey rug -- and it was all footed by the U.S. Government -- TMZ has learned.

According to federal docs -- obtained by TMZ -- that document lodging and other expenses for the trip ... the American Embassy in Singapore is on the hook for about $162k. About $151k of that pertains to costs incurred at the Shangri-La Hotel, where the U.S. delegation, including the Prez, stayed leading up to the face-to-face.

An additional $12,000 was charged to cover the carpets used for Trump's meeting with Kim at the Capella Hotel.

Unclear how much Trump himself was charged specifically to stay at the Shangri-La Hotel ... he was only there for 2 days, after all. But, the receipts do show that Secretary of State Mike Pompeo's team was singled out for a bit more than $8k of the grand total.

As happy as a lot of folks might've been seeing the U.S. and North Korea meet peacefully, no one was as jubilant as Dennis Rodman ... dude was literally crying tears of joy.

Rodman went on CNN shortly after President Trump met Kim Jong-un Tuesday, where he had streams coming down his face -- albeit behind sunglasses -- and praised the historic summit ... which he's insinuated he had a role in brokering by softening up Kim.

As you might know ... Rodman has been the U.S.'s unofficial spokesperson on all things North Korea for a while now -- even bringing over a basketball team to the country to get on Kim's good side. He also claims he got Trump's book, "The Art of the Deal," in Kim's hands.

President Trump got a chance to finally size up North Korea's leader, Kim Jong-un ... and he didn't miss the opportunity to get the upper hand in the situation.

Trump came face-to-face with Kim Tuesday morning in Singapore at the Capella Hotel. It's the first time a sitting U.S. president has met with N. Korea's chief, making the summit historic and quite the diplomatic gesture.

But enough about that -- check out Trump's power move in the initial handshake. They both go in firm, but Trump is the first one to pat Kim on the arm. In our book, that's establishing dominance. The Prez kept patting Kim in a friendly way ... and kinda guided him inside.

Rudy Giuliani isn't the least bit worried his post-9/11 rep might be ruined by representing President Trump.

No doubt, Giuliani's had some rough patches since joining the President's legal team in April -- but Monday in D.C., he had a pretty positive outlook. Rudy told us why he has no concern about losing face during Robert Mueller's investigation.

Yes, he's made headlines for what, at the time, appeared to be major missteps in strategy -- but Giuliani believes Americans won't forget his heroic leadership as NYC's Mayor during the 9/11 attacks.

Robert De Niro's over coming up with clever ways to insult President Trump -- he's now sticking with "F*** Trump," which he just blurted out at the Tony Awards ... twice.

Bob was introducing Bruce Springsteen ahead of his Tony performance Sunday night, and before he could utter a word of grace ... he dropped the big F-bomb on DT.

De Niro didn't waste any time with his message either, going right into ... "I just want to say one thing -- F*** Trump." He got a huge standing ovation from the room, and continued with ... "It’s no longer down with Trump. It’s f*** Trump." Even more cheers erupted.

CBS ended up bleeping huge sections of his remarks in an attempt to censor the profanity -- and that left many wondering exactly what De Niro had said.

Donald Trump's chief economic adviser says Canadian PM Justin Trudeau screwed the U.S. ahead of an historic meeting with North Korea ... so POTUS had to hit back.

We got Larry Kudlow Sunday in D.C. after going on TV to slam the Prime Minister for making DT look weak after he'd left the G7 summit this week -- and right before he's set to meet with Kim Jong Un. He says Trump wasn't gonna take that lying down.

Trudeau held a press conference addressing the U.S. recently announcing they'll be imposing tariffs on certain Canadian imports, saying Canada wouldn't be "pushed around" and will do the same to us.

Kudlow says Trudeau's remarks were a betrayal to everything the G7 summit accomplished, and that Trump had every right to retaliate ... and call off signing a unifying communique between a bunch of Western allies. More importantly ... he had to look tough for Kim.

Dean Cain says President Trump's offer to listen to protesting NFL players on who they'd like to see pardoned is a great opportunity ... and one not to be missed.

The 'Superman' star made an interesting point Sunday at LAX -- telling us that players who are kneeling against an unjust criminal justice system on the field should get up, and walk into the White House ... considering DT's apparently leaving the door wide open for talks.

As we reported ... the Prez said he'd be willing to take pardon recommendations from NFL players -- even the kneeling ones -- suggesting that would address the issues they're protesting.

Terry Bradshaw is sticking up for the Philadelphia Eagles ... telling TMZ Sports he supports their decision to not go to the White House -- saying, "1st Amendment rights, I totally believe in it."

The "FOX NFL Sunday" star didn't mince his words when we asked about the issue -- telling us, "I agree with the Eagles. Totally. 100 percent."

When asked about Donald Trump specifically, Bradshaw said ... "Trump just needs to ... he just needs to go somewhere and enjoy the money he's got."

Bradshaw continued ... "You know what's so bad about that whole event? Was how they were portrayed as protesting, kneeling, during the national anthem when they were praying. That is just wrong."

Muhammad Ali's ex-wife says Donald Trump is wasting his time if he's considering pardoning the legendary boxer ... telling TMZ Sports he should focus his energy on the LIVING!

We spoke with Khalilah Ali -- who was married to Muhammad from '67 to '76 -- and she was shocked when she watched Trump tell the media he was considering pardoning Ali ... presumably for his conviction for resisting the draft in 1971.

That conviction was overturned by the Supreme Court ... so, as Khalilah pointed out, "There's no necessary need for a pardon."

"I think [Trump] probably was a fan of Ali and he thought he would say something positive about him. That might be it ... but it's a little too late."

Khalilah says if Trump really respects what Ali stood for ... he would "pardon" the NFL players who knelt during the national anthem -- and by that, she means Trump should stop trashing them for standing up for what they believe in.

Andre Rush -- the White House chef who looks more like a bodybuilder -- says he never expected his military career to lead him to D.C., but it all worked out ... and speaking of workouts ...

The retired Army Master Sergeant Chef was on "TMZ Live" Friday after going viral this week when a reporter posted a shot of him preparing a Ramadan meal for the Prez and 30-40 guests. Ya can't help but stare at his massive guns.

Turns out ... Chef Rush has experience with real guns, too. He says he was an Army Ranger, but took up cooking to cope with the stresses of military life. Now, he's cooking for presidents and other world leaders.