TMZ.com

Imagine getting together with your book club and getting a surprise visit from an author, who also happens to be a former President ... named Barack Obama.

Members of the MahoganyBooks & the Very Smart Brothas Book Club had that very experience Tuesday as Obama surprised and delighted them by crashing their Zoom discussion about his memoir, "A Promised Land."

Barack said he had a couple of objectives for the appearance -- supporting Black-owned independent bookstores, but also ... he just had to meet the guys dubbed themselves the Very Smart Brothas Book Club.

Kinda hard to argue with their name, considering who they landed as a guest.

Obama then fielded some questions, including what he thought about Michelle's "inauguration drip." It's not often you see the ex-Prez struggle for an answer ... but he eventually got there, and said exactly the right thing.

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez says a past trauma -- as a sexual assault victim -- is compounding her current trauma from a near-death experience during the Capitol insurrection.

AOC choked up Monday evening as she said, "I'm a survivor of sexual assault, and I haven't told many people that in my life." She only made the revelation to provide context for what she's clearly going through now.

The Congresswoman talked about the cumulative effect of multiple traumas  ... and how it gets more difficult to recover after each event. She was clearly referring to the events of Jan. 6 as a trigger for her PTSD.

She took a pointed jab at Republicans, and others, who suggest it's best to "move on" or forget Jan. 6 -- accusing them of using the same tactics abusers use on their victims.

As we reported ... AOC had previously said she felt like she "was going to die" during the Capitol evacuation in a "very specific way." Monday night, she provided much more detail ... describing the moment she was hiding behind a door and heard someone enter the room, repeatedly yelling, "Where is she?!?"

She also said she was already on edge on Jan. 6, because she'd gotten numerous text messages from colleagues that week warning they'd heard something might happen -- in general, at the Capitol, and specifically to her.

AOC was online for more than 90 minutes as she poured out everything she's been feeling about that day, including a scary moment with a Capitol police officer.

D.L. Hughley thinks Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene would be in jail if she were a rapper like Bobby Shmurda ... but he at least wants her held accountable and booted from Congress.

We got the comedian and author at LAX Monday and our photog asked what should be done about the newly-elected Congresswoman from Georgia ... and D.L. didn't hold back.

D.L. says Rep. Greene should be expelled from Congress, prosecuted and never be allowed to hold public office again for embracing online remarks about having Speaker Nancy Pelosi killed and allegedly inciting the Capitol riots.

As you know ... MTG's old Facebook activity suggests she's been cool with executing Democrats like Pelosi, Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton.

D.L. says the fact Rep. Greene is still in office is proof she's being held to a lower standard than rappers, like Shmurda, whose words or lyrics have contributed to their criminal convictions.

Rep. Greene promoted QAnon's baseless conspiracy theories on the campaign trail, and D.L. has a few thoughts on Q -- he's pretty offended white people make up bad things, when Black people actually have real terrible things happening to their kids.

Mike Pence has just gotten a dose of post-Veep reality, because Air Force 2 has a new leaseholder ... which is why he took a flight Monday -- IN COACH!!!

Pence and his wife, Karen, hopped aboard an American Airlines jet from Saint Croix to Charlotte, NC. They settled into their coach seats, with Secret Service agents nearby.

It gets even more real. There are reports the former Vice Prez is couch surfing while he and his wife look for more permanent digs. He has said his family will move back to Indiana come summer.

Rep. Adam Kinzinger is fed up with today's Republican Party ... so he's starting a movement to reclaim the GOP ... and he's even open to becoming its standard-bearer.

The Republican Congressman from Illinois appeared on "TMZ Live" Monday and said he launched his Country First PAC because of the state of his party, which has embraced Donald Trump's big lie that the election was stolen ... and that's just for starters.

Kinzinger -- who is one of 10 GOP members who voted to impeach Donald Trump -- acknowledges there's a wrestling match of sorts within the party.  He thought eyes would open after the January 6th insurrection ... he uses the metaphor of a Friday night bender to describe what he thought would be a turning point for the party, but that didn't happen.

So the Congressman has made it clear ... he will be a leader in the movement he's starting, and turns out there are like-minded members of Congress who are quietly supporting his effort.  There are also lots of Republicans who are sick and tired of people like Marjorie Taylor Greene and others with crazy conspiracy theories ... who may find a home in Kinzinger's camp.

Rihanna is once again calling out Kentucky Attorney General Daniel Cameron for his handling of the Breonna Taylor case ... dragging him on the first day of Black History Month.

RiRi ripped Cameron on social media Monday, responding to a Black History Month video he posted on Twitter. Her dig at him was short and definitely not sweet -- she simply said, "Sup n***a?"

In his video, Cameron -- the first Black man elected to statewide office in Kentucky and the commonwealth's first Black A.G. -- says he's standing on the shoulders of the great Black men and women who came before him.

Rihanna's not feeling it ... remember, 3 grand jurors in Breonna's case called for Cameron's impeachment after claiming he lied about putting possible homicide charges on the table for the Grand Jury.

As you know, no charges were filed for the killing of Breonna ... just one charge of wanton endangerment against Brett Hankison, for firing his gun into her neighbor's apartment.

Donald Trump's banned from Twitter, but he can still have a voice on Ja Rule's new app ... but Ja says he has a few ground rules, and the Proud Boys aren't welcome.

The rapper tells TMZ ... the ex-Prez can start a page on his celebrity booking app, Iconn, and start fresh with a clean slate ... which is more than almost every digital platform's willing to give him these days.

As you know ... Trump's permanently banned from Twitter because of the Capitol riots he's accused of inciting, and a bunch of other apps are keeping the former President in social media timeout.

Ja says Trump's welcome on Iconn, as long as he doesn't use it to rile up his base and do "crazy things." Ja says any funny business from Trump, like bringing in the Proud Boys, will get him booted.

Congresswoman Cori Bush may have moved her office away from Marjorie Taylor Greene, but she's anything but afraid of her ... rather Bush has given Greene an ultimatum.

Bush vented her anger toward her white supremacist colleague Friday night on Joy Reid's show ... incredulous that Greene is somehow equating mask-wearing to the Black Lives Matter movement.

The Congresswoman describes the confrontation they had in one of the tunnels connected to the Capitol, when she implored Greene to put on a mask.

But, that was only the beginning. You hear the frustration in Bush's voice as she describes how all of the rules and conventions have been shattered now that members are verbally attacking their colleagues and their staff in the hallways. She's also livid some members are carrying guns onto the House floor.

As we reported, Greene has embraced calls for the assassination of Nancy Pelosi, Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton ... again, something that's hard to fathom.

Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene is under fire again, and this time from other members of Congress ... Rep. Cori Bush claims a maskless Greene berated her in a Capitol hallway.

The newly-elected Congresswoman from Missouri sounds shaken by the alleged incident ... she says she's moving her office on Capitol Hill as far away from Greene's as possible.

Rep. Bush says Greene wasn't alone during the incident ... she had backup from her staff. She also points out Greene had already targeted her and others on social media.

As we've reported ... Greene, the freshman Congresswoman from Georgia, is getting heat for old Facebook activity suggesting she was cool with executing Democrats like Nancy Pelosi, Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton. MTG says it's just "fake news."

Rep. Bush doesn't want to just move her office away from Greene's ... she says she wants MTG booted from Congress for inciting the insurrection.

Gov. Andrew Cuomo's in hot water following a report claiming his administration severely undercounted COVID-related deaths in nursing homes ... but he's not backing down.

Cuomo says he understands the pain and instinct to place blame, but Friday he adamantly defended his state's Department of Health ... claiming everyone has been doing the best they can do.

He also repeated his belief that the nursing home death count issue is a political attack started by President Trump's HHS. Cuomo claims his state health dept. was following federal guidelines ... and the whole issue's become a "political football."

As for the actual death count discrepancy ... both Cuomo and his health commissioner, Dr. Howard Zucker, claim they've been transparent about how nursing home deaths were only counted if they were in-facility, and that there were additional deaths at hospitals.

Cuomo added ... the COVID-related deaths of seniors are a tragedy, regardless of where they occurred -- hospital or nursing home -- but he's not accepting blame for any alleged coverup or undercounting.

The governor's reputation took a blow Thursday when a report from the New York State Attorney General, Letitia James, suggested state nursing home deaths due to the virus were thousands higher than reported.

The Health Department later increased the public death tally of nursing home residents by 3,800 ... putting the new total at 12,743, about a 40 percent increase.

Brian Williams put his dry-wit on full display to troll House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy's meeting with Donald Trump -- and viewers never saw it coming.

The longtime anchor teed up the gag by earnestly telling his guests -- Baratunde Thurston and Bill Kristol -- that he'd obtained exclusive video of the highly criticized Thursday meeting between Rep. McCarthy and Trump at Mar-a-Lago.

What he ended up rolling, though ... was an iconic clip from the Oscar-nominated film, "Jerry Maguire."

The clip alone would've been funny, given the context, but Williams -- who clearly has late-night talk aspirations -- continued to sell the joke with his deadpan style ... claiming he thought it was going to be a vid of the meeting, and "someone’s gonna be, of course, in big trouble."

Trouble is a good word to describe how many anti-Trump folks feel about the Mar-a-Lago meeting between the former President and the House Minority Leader.

McCarthy's taking heat because 2 weeks ago he criticized Trump for inciting the Capitol riots, but now appears eager to work with him -- a sign Trump still has major power with the GOP.

One of President Biden's Senior Advisors says the Prez is laser-focused on fulfilling campaign promises, and unlike the previous POTUS ... he's not thirsting for the spotlight.

Former Congressman Cedric Richmond -- who now serves as Director of the White House Office of Public Engagement -- joined "TMZ Live" Thursday to run down the record-setting list of executive orders Biden's signed. It's the most ever for a President during his first week in office.

Richmond tells us these orders are all Constitutionally-sound and address some of the most important issues for the nation in the eyes of the administration.

That includes COVID vaccines and recovery, protecting Dreamers, racial equity, climate change and, of course, overturning some Trump-era policies.

As for Trump ... the current Prez isn't concerned about all the media attention his predecessor continues to get. Richmond compared Biden to a certain Hall of Fame football star known for scoring a lot of touchdowns.

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez wants to reach across the aisle to fix the Robinhood investors controversy -- as long as she doesn't have to work with Sen. Ted Cruz, who she says he tried to get her killed.

AOC blasted Cruz on Twitter after he agreed with one of her Thursday tweets questioning Robinhood's trading halt amid the GameStop stock surge ... she says he needs to sit this one out or resign because of his role in the failed coup.

In her scathing response, AOC says Cruz "almost had me murdered 3 weeks ago" during the insurrection ... and she's happy to work with "almost any other GOP that aren't trying to get me killed."

Remember ... AOC said she thought she was toast when Trump supporters stormed the Capitol in search of lawmakers, detailing her harrowing experience in an eye-opening video.

The feds are putting the entire country on high alert ... warning of a looming domestic terrorism threat from groups pissed about President Biden's victory and several other issues.

For the first time, the Dept. of Homeland Security issued a federal bulletin about Americans plotting to attack Americans, saying there's a potential threat of "ideologically-motivated violent extremists."

The feds feel these domestic terrorists may be emboldened by the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol -- and say threats across the country are likely to persist in coming weeks motivated by several issues ... including anger over COVID-19 restrictions and the 2020 election results.

For example ... there's a full-on manhunt right now for a person who left pipe bombs intended to be detonated at the Democratic and Republican headquarters in Washington just days after the insurrection.

Most recently, a Napa man was arrested after authorities were tipped off about a huge stockpile of firepower at Ian Benjamin Rogers' house and business. They found more than 50 guns, 15,000 rounds of ammo, several pounds of gun powder ... and text messages in which Rogers said he'd like to blow up a democratic building.

Capitol Police officers are furious with their Police Chief for apologizing to lawmakers for the Capitol riots ... while still failing to talk to them about what went down January 6, and what to do if something similar happens again.

Sources within the Capitol Police tell TMZ ... neither acting Police Chief Yogananda Pittman, nor any of the other USCP higher-ups have directly addressed the officers who were on duty during the insurrection to say sorry to them for the lack of preparedness.

Even worse, we're told upper management has not clearly communicated to the officers what's being done -- or should be done -- to thwart another coup attempt at the Capitol.

According to our sources, cops want to hear from their leaders, "This is what went wrong, and this is what we need you to do next time" ... but so far, nothing.

Instead, Chief Pittman issued an apology to Congress on Tuesday, admitting that her department was not well enough prepared for the terrorist attack. She added they knew armed militia groups and white supremacists would be protesting, and there was a strong potential for violence and that Congress was the target.

We're told the feeling among the police officers is ... USCP management cares more about the image of the agency and getting the media off its back than taking care of its force, and Pittman's apology lends more proof.

Our sources say there's also not much internal support for Pittman as police chief, especially because she was the head of intelligence during the Jan. 6 riots ... and cops involved that day feel she let them down.

We broke the story ... Capitol Police officers were also incensed by the lack of direction before President Biden's inauguration, and a lack of clarity in the use of deadly force.

Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene is under fire for old Facebook activity that suggests she was onboard with the killing of Democrat lawmakers ... but she's brushing most of it off as "fake news."

The newly-elected Congresswoman from Georgia has a ton of posts, likes and replies/comments that were still active of late, and dug up by several outlets, including CNN, which say she either co-signed or outright called for the execution of folks like Nancy Pelosi, Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton ... just to name a few.

One such post from 2019, before she ran for office and was elected, reportedly shows she liked a comment that read, "a bullet in the head would be quicker" in response to someone speculating how to remove the House Speaker. Screenshots seem to prove ... it's legit.

There are other posts Rep. Greene reportedly liked about FBI agents getting killed ... because they were apparently part of the "deep state" working against Trump.

Her sights were also set on Hillary, it would seem -- she reportedly mentioned her in a couple different posts over the years. In one such case, she agreed with someone on a conspiracy theory about a "hit" Hillary supposedly ordered on a woman who'd seen heinous child-killing content on Anthony Weiner's laptop, and in another ... looping in Obama too.

Somebody reportedly once asked if "H & O" -- apparently referring to Hillary and Obama -- ought to be "hanged" ... to which Greene reportedly replied, "Stage is being set."

In light of all these old posts coming to light, Rep. Greene is commenting, but in a very defiant, Trump-like way.

She writes, "Fake News CNN is writing yet another hit piece on me focused on my time before running for political office. I will never back down to the enemy of the American people and neither should you." Greene goes on to say different people have managed her accounts for her at different points -- and while acknowledging some posts were legit, not everything she engaged online represents her views.