White House

Corey Lewandowski has his sights set on Hollywood ... he just needs to channel his inner Prez to blow past some negative pub and make it happen.

Sources close to Donald Trump's former campaign manager tell TMZ ... he's been shopping ideas for his own TV show around Hollywood, and is starting getting some takers.

We're told he had major interest months ago following the release of his book, 'Let Trump Be Trump,' but it quickly dissipated after he dropped a "womp womp" in response to a story about an immigrant child with Down syndrome being separated from her parents.

Apparently, enough time has passed for TV execs to forget about that, because we're told Corey met with Pilgrim Studios -- the home of Sean Spicer's upcoming talk show -- last week.

Our sources say Lewandowski wants to host some sort of unscripted political talk show that's more interview-driven and less Fox News, like "Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee" ... but with a different angle.

The 2 guys who took a crack at demolishing President Trump's Hollywood Walk of Fame star came face-to-face this weekend, and some wisdom was imparted ... TMZ has learned.

Austin Clay -- the latest Trump star vandal -- met up with his predecessor, James Otis, Saturday at the Polo Lounge inside the Beverly Hills Hotel to break bread (not concrete) over lunch. The meeting lasted about 2 hours, with 10-15 people total in attendance.

Sources who were present tell us James mostly talked to Austin about how to protect himself legally after being arrested last week for pummeling the star with a pickax -- much like James did in 2016. We're told James wanted to give Austin advice on how to navigate the criminal justice system for the best outcome, seeing how he's gone through it himself.

Aside from the heart-to-heart, we're told James and Austin really hit it off -- laughing in each other's company and posing for photo-ops together. Although James didn't end up paying for Austin's $20k bail, it looks like they're true kindred spirits in bashing 45.

As we reported ... Austin says he doesn't regret the bang-up job he did on Trump's star -- which will remain in place despite all the violence and vandalism it's seen in recent months.

Stormy Daniels' lawyer thinks Michael Cohen has more dirt to spill on President Trump, and he's forecasting a spanking ... the likes of which Donnie has never felt.

We got Michael Avenatti Saturday leaving Craig's in WeHo, where he was being followed by paps like your standard A-lister. He rattled off answers on the Cohen tapes -- one of which has already featured 45's voice -- and speculated on what's next for the Prez.

Mike says Cohen has turned the corner on his former client, and will probably leak more tapes in the days to come. In other words ... a second spanking for DT, according to him.

President Trump's nemesis and his firstborn son ... within feet of each other at the same airport gate! D.C.'s a small town, but Robert Mueller and Donald Trump Jr. just took it to a new level.

The near collision went down Friday morning in Reagan National Airport ... according to Politico Playbook, which first posted this amazing pic. DTJ on his phone, anxiously standing at the gate, waiting to begin boarding -- while Mueller's sitting in the gate area reading a newspaper. Perhaps reading a review of his work?

We don't know that they got on the same flight -- they were in a waiting area to catch shuttle buses to other gates -- but that would've been awesome.

The latest man to take a pickax to Donald Trump's Hollywood Walk of Fame star says he was so fed up with the President he had to let it all out, and despite getting arrested ... he's happy he did.

Austin Clay tells TMZ ... POTUS' treatment of immigrant families was the spark that set him off, and taking it out on Trump's star seemed like the perfect way to send a message.

It's unclear if Trump got the message, but Clay and his GF say his pickax attack caught the eye of a couple celebs ... including noted Trump foe Robert De Niro.

As we reported, Clay was arrested after destroying the star around 3 AM Wednesday and calling the cops on himself. OG Trump star vandal, James Otis, offered to pay his $20k bail ... but Austin tells us he was released this morning after someone else did. He didn't say who.

Sean Spicer's new book and subsequent book tour did not go over well in New York this week -- at least according to this heckler ... who called him "garbage" 3 different ways.

President Trump's former Press Secretary is making the rounds for his new publication, "The Briefing," and showed up for a book signing Wednesday at Barnes & Noble in NYC.

Almost immediately ... he got called out by a guy in the crowd.

The man interrupts a line of questioning from the event's moderator to call Sean a "real piece of garbage" ... which spurred shocked and angry reactions from other audience members. Security intervened and escorted the dude out, but not before a few more "garbage" shots.

A taped conversation between Donald Trump and his former lawyer, Michael Cohen, discussing financial payments has been released ... and this is going to get interesting.

CNN just released an audio recording it obtained of the Prez talking to Cohen, which it says is a convo between the 2 about buying the rights of former Playboy model Karen McDougal's story of an alleged affair with Trump.

On the tape, you hear Cohen say ... "I need to open up a company for the transfer of all of that info regarding our friend, David," who CNN suggests is a reference to David Pecker, the head of America Media, which publishes National Enquirer.

Then, after some more financial discussions, Trump is heard saying what sounds like either "Pay with cash" or "Don't pay with cash" ... and the debate over what this all means is born.

The audio's release comes on the heels of reports that Cohen had recorded them talking about the Karen McDougal situation, followed by Trump tweeting it was "perhaps illegal" for a lawyer to record a client.

Richie Incognito says Donald Trump is a couple steps ahead of the world ... and his meeting with Vladimir Putin only confirmed that -- telling TMZ Sports, "That was a power position taken by Trump."

We got the ex-NFL star (sweatin' his ass off!) in L.A. (it was 86 degrees) when he told us he was proud of the way the President met with Russia's leader in Helsinki.

"We're reinforcing the borders," Incognito says.

Marco Rubio doesn't need convincing Vladimir Putin kills his opponents ... he says it's obvious.

We got the Senator from Florida in D.C. Tuesday to get his take on Putin straight-up getting asked by FOX News host Chris Wallace why so many of his political rivals end up dead.

You'll recall Putin answered by calling out the U.S. for the assassinations of JFK and MLK. Rubio ain't buying the answer because there's a fundamental difference in those murders.

The Secret Service better seriously check that soccer ball Vladimir Putin gave Donald Trump at their summit, because security experts tell us there's a simple way of putting a bugging device inside that is difficult to detect.

As you know, Trump threw the ball to Melania during the summit and announced it was going to their son, Barron, who's into soccer.

We did some checking, and there are thin devices that can be stitched inside the ball with a power source that could last around 1 month or longer. Furthermore, we're told it's possible for a bug to be nonmetallic, which makes it harder to detect. And, any spy worth his or her salt would know ... you don't activate the bug right away, which would make detection much more difficult.

Obviously, there would be cause to thoroughly scan the ball for any signal, but in Trump's world he's been extremely trusting of the Russians ... even inviting Russian media into the Oval.

It's important to note Trump treasures sports memorabilia -- his office in Trump Tower is littered with balls, bats, golf clubs, football helmets and a lot more he's collected from pro athletes over the years. Barron lives with his parents in the residence quarter of The White House. So, if the ball is out in the open ...

What President Trump said publicly with Vladimir Putin standing next to him was so shocking it begs the question -- what kinda dirt does Putin have on Trump? That's what Rep. Ted Lieu wants to know.

We got the California Congressman on Capitol Hill Tuesday and he thinks what happened is obvious ... when Trump sold out the U.S. intelligence community by siding with Putin.

Christian Slater's throwing a jab at President Trump for the summit with Vladimir Putin, but not for his words ... this one's all about spending $300k on the summit.

We got the "Mr. Robot" star in D.C. Tuesday and he quickly shared his thoughts on the story we broke -- the administration's six-figure tab at the Helsinki summit. For the record, the full amount was $302,124.62.

Arnold Schwarzenegger is slamming President Trump for sucking up to Vladimir Putin and selling out the U.S. intelligence community in front of the whole world.

Arnold called 45's joint news conference with the Russian Prez an embarrassment because he "stood there like a little wet noodle ... like a little fanboy."

POTUS is facing heavy criticism for publicly blaming "both" sides -- Russia AND the U.S. -- for election interference, and saying Mueller's probe is driving a wedge between the countries.

President Trump threw the U.S. under the bus by publicly taking Vladimir Putin's word that Russia didn't meddle in the 2016 election ... so says Massachusetts' U.S. senator.

We got Sen. Ed Markey Monday in D.C. and he said Trump's display in Helsinki makes it clear he's only looking out for himself in dealing with Putin. He defied U.S. intelligence info, and said he didn't see any reason why Russia would have meddled in our elections.

Markey says Monday's summit should have been confrontational, but instead turned into an embarrassing display of virtual ass-kissing.

Vladimir Putin presented Donald Trump with a soccer ball from the World Cup in Russia ... and then dropped the following eye-rolling metaphor ...

"Mr. President, I'll give this ball to you ... and now the ball is in your court."

Ughhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh.

It all went down at a massive media event in Helsinki, where the two world leaders had a private meeting for several hours where they discussed everything from election interference to NATO.

Trump was fired up about the meeting -- and the soccer ball, throwing it to Melania (who was sitting in the front row) and announcing that he would be giving it to his son, Barron.

Beyonce and Jay-Z's close relationship with the Obamas is still going strong, now in full flex across the pond ... with Michelle and Sasha crashing the couple's concert in France.

The former First Lady and kid were spotted in the stands Sunday at the Stade de France stadium, where Bey and Jay are performing as part of their "On the Run II" tour.

Michelle even went beyond the front row barricades, standing alongside Beyonce's mom, Tina Knowles ... and getting her groove on as Jay rapped onstage. As mothers to very important people ... they looked like quite the duo shoulder-to-shoulder.

No sign of Barack or Malia here, but the Obama family was definitely well represented. It's no surprise they're there either -- Michelle and her 2 daughters did the same back in 2014, when B&J were performing in Chicago.

Seems like they like to catch 'em when they can. Who wouldn't?