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President Donald Trump has left the door open to possibly pardon Jeffrey Epstein's child sex trafficking associate -- Ghislaine Maxwell -- in a shocking reversal of what the White House promised just two weeks ago.

The commander-in-chief gathered with a gaggle of reporters on the White House lawn Friday morning ... and one journalist fired off the question that's on everyone's mind -- Will Trump consider a pardon or a commutation for Maxwell?

And Trump's response was ... well, let's just say it gives plenty of wiggle room ... check out the clip to hear 47's own words on the subject, which is a far cry from what his White House said recently.

Joe Rogan shocked much of his fanbase in July of 2025 when he encouraged James Talarico, a Democratic state representative from Texas, to run for president.

And it turns out, the rising politician's made quite the impression on state voters for his progressive views -- and for his liberal interpretation of biblical matters.

We're going to check out how the rising Democratic star is making waves within his home state ... and see what he's got planned for his future.

Talarico was born in Round Rock, Texas, and was educated in local schools before he earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in Government from the University of Texas at Austin.

The politician continued his studies at Harvard University, and he holds a Master of Education degree from the prestigious institution.

Talarico later began working as a middle school teacher in San Antonio before he moved back to Austin in order to pursue his political interests.

By the way, in addition to his career as a politician, he's pursuing his calling as a pastor, and he's currently enrolled at Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary, where he's studying for a Master of Divinity degree.

Talarico, who was first elected to the Texas House of Representatives in 2018 and has since repped both its 50th and 52nd districts, made waves across the nation when a video featuring him went viral in 2023.

In the clip, the politician argued against a bill that would have required the Ten Commandments to be posted in classrooms across the state, which he described as "not only unconstitutional and un-American, it's deeply un-Christian."

Talarico even quoted a Bible verse while arguing against the bill's passing, and the video of the exchange received more than a million likes on TikTok.

Texas Governor Greg Abbott ultimately signed Senate Bill 10, which requires public school classrooms to display the Ten Commandments, in May 2025.

One of the people who took notice of the video was Rogan, who invited Talarico to appear on his podcast ... although the politician later told Politico he thought the invitation was "a phishing scam" at first.

He described the podcast host's way of maintaining a conversation "very natural and fluid," and expressed he felt as if the show's popularity is largely due to Rogan's style of conversation.

Talarico claimed the show's host was "not loyal to either political party," and described him as "deeply skeptical of our political system" -- and he called Rogan, who described the politician as "someone who is actually a good person" on the episode, and his team "very genuine and very, very chill."

The state representative then described Rogan's willingness to speak with people from across the political spectrum as "refreshing" and floated the idea of bringing people with differing opinions together as "maybe how we can fix this democracy."

Although Talarico's focused on the politics of his home state at the moment, he could be heading to Washington, D.C. in the future, as he's floated the idea of a run for U.S. Senate.

The Texas state rep told Politico he hadn't made a solid decision regarding the run, although he described himself as "seriously considering" the possibility of continuing his political career at the national level in the future.

Talarico attributed much of his popularity with Texas Democrats to the fact that he's "very disconnected from Washington, D.C" and "not even up to date on the D.C. drama" within Democratic factions.

Saikat Chakrabarti is running to unseat Nancy Pelosi in San Francisco -- which may sound sacrilegious to Democrats -- but he says the old guard's time is up ... because Americans want drastic new ideas.

Saikat, a tech millionaire who was Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez's first chief of staff, joined us on "TMZ Live" Thursday and told us why he's challenging Pelosi for her seat in Congress.

The way Saikat sees it ... Nancy was the perfect politician for the days of old, when she gathered bipartisan support to pass legislation, but he says the landscape is drastically different and it's time to inject the Democratic Party with new ideas and new faces.

Paul Walter Hauser's roasting Donald Trump after his late-night TV nemesis Stephen Colbert’s show cancellation -- telling the Prez he should be getting his own affairs in order instead of picking catfights with talk show hosts.

We caught up with the actor at LAX earlier this week, and he didn’t hold back -- comparing Trump’s Colbert feud to a 5-year-old trying to attend college.

Paul also weighed in on the downside of Colbert’s cancellation, pointing out a lot of people will be out of work come May '26. But he hinted there are some silver linings too -- catch the full clip to hear what he spills.

Nancy Mace suspects way more people are tied to the Jeffrey Epstein sex trafficking ring than we know about ... and she's calling for a full release of all related documents.

We got the South Carolina congresswoman out on Capitol Hill Wednesday, and she believes there's a cover-up in the case. As she puts it, "How do you have a thousand kids trafficked, only one accomplice in jail?"

Mace points to drivers, pilots -- even people who just opened doors -- as those helping Epstein carry out his crimes ... and says they need to be held accountable.

The Epstein Files controversy continues to dog President Donald Trump as his relationship with the disgraced financier and convicted sex offender is under greater scrutiny lately ... now CNN is releasing more newly unearthed video of the two men together, happily chatting it up at an event in 1999.

In the newly unearthed video, obtained by CNN ... Epstein and Trump stand close together in a crowd at a Victoria's Secret fashion show in New York City -- Trump tapping on his shoulder at one point -- as they interact with other attendees ... including a young Melania.

In the minute-long-plus video of spliced-together clips from the event, Trump and Epstein are also seen sitting a couple of seats apart along the runway ... as a young Tyra Banks struts down the stage. Trump and Melania sit next to each other and enthusiastically comment on the models.

Megyn Kelly moved the political seismograph in an interview with former Chicago Mayor/Obama White House Chief of Staff/Ambassador to Japan/Possible 2028 Presidential candidate ... when she asked him if a man could become a woman, and he said, "No."

Megyn fired off a series of questions before hitting him with the biggie -- Should men be allowed to play in women's sports? Rahm said no. Should kids under 18 ever be put on puberty blockers? Rahm said only with parental consent. Should men be placed in women's prisons? Rahm said no.

After he said unequivocally men cannot become women -- a position at odds with many if not most Democrats -- Megyn exhaled with approval.

Elon Musk's A.I. chatbot Grok is coming for Donald Trump's new probe into Barack Obama ... bluntly claiming it's all a ruse to get people's minds off the Jeffrey Epstein files drama!

Check out Grok's reply to a user who asked if Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard has any evidence of crimes committed by former President Obama's administration or if it's all an effort to "distract from Jeffrey Epstein."

Grok's answer is crystal clear, stating there is no such evidence against Obama -- who Gabbard accused of treason involving the 2016 election Friday -- and that Gabbard's claims "appear politically motivated to distract from Epstein file scrutiny."

10:48 AM PT -- Jimmy Kimmel has hit back at President Trump by saying he's next ... unclear what that means.

Donald Trump says no late-night comedians are safe ... taking aim at Jimmy Kimmel and Jimmy Fallon, on the heels of Stephen Colbert telling the prez to "Go f*** yourself."

DT just unleashed on the hosts in a new Truth Social post ... saying, "The word is, and it’s a strong word at that, Jimmy Kimmel is NEXT to go in the untalented Late Night Sweepstakes and, shortly thereafter, Fallon will be gone."

Trump says Kimmel and Fallon have "no talent," and despite being paid millions, are "destroying what used to be GREAT Television."

Major update in the Jeffrey Epstein investigation -- in a huge shift in its approach, the Department of Justice is now willing to work with the late sex offender's right-hand woman, Ghislaine Maxwell.

In a surprise announcement Tuesday morning shared by Attorney General Pam Bondi, Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche said the FBI and the DOJ would like to know anything Maxwell has to offer about uncharged third parties who participated in Epstein’s criminal enterprise.

Blanche said in the statement the government has already reached out to Maxwell's legal team and even expects to meet with her "in the coming days."

Hunter Biden is going scorched Earth on George Clooney and a bunch of other Democrats he blames for turning on his father and torpedoing his reelection bid.

Joe Biden's son unloads on Clooney in a new interview with YouTube personality Andrew Callaghan ... dropping a ton of f-bombs and ripping George for being more of a brand than a decent actor.

Hunter's still pissed at George for last year's guest essay in the New York Times where Clooney called for Democrats to nominate someone else to run against Donald Trump ... and HB says Clooney had no right to wade into politics there.

Hunter Biden is offering up a new explanation for his father's poor performance in a 2024 presidential debate with Donald Trump ... Hunter says Joe was on Ambien!!!

The former president's son says Biden took the popular sleeping aid before the debate because he had been traveling the globe on presidential trips and was tired.

Hunter makes the claim in a new interview with YouTube personality Andrew Callaghan. The clip is making the rounds online, and the interview was released Monday on the anniversary of Biden dropping out of the 2024 presidential race.

Maurene Comey wasn’t the only Comey who had a bad week … her father James Comey might face criminal prosecution in connection with the 2016 Russia gate scandal.

Here's the deal ... on Friday, Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard dropped a bombshell report alleging the Obama administration manipulated intelligence related to Russian interference in the 2016 election.

Gabbard was spitting fire in her statement ... accusing former Obama officials of engaging in a “treasonous conspiracy” -- adding that her office was turning over evidence to the DOJ for possible criminal referrals.

No TACO this time from President Trump ... as promised, he's filed a defamation lawsuit over the Wall Street Journal story claiming he wrote a racy 50th birthday note to Jeffrey Epstein.

Trump filed Friday in federal court in Florida -- just about 24 hours after the WSJ story dropped. According to the docs, obtained by TMZ, he says the Journal falsely passed off as fact he'd drawn the image of a naked woman, and signed his name "Donald" to mimic pubic hair.

He claims the outlet had access to information showing their story was false ... although, he does not say what that information is.

The suit insists there is "no authentic letter or drawing," and the Journal concocted the story "to malign President Trump's character and integrity and deceptively portray him in a false light."

Theo Von seems disillusioned with the American government right now ... arguing it feels like politicians aren't serving the people like they should be, while giving a few thoughts on the Gaza War and the Epstein files controversy.

We caught up with the comedian at LAX Thursday ... and, we asked him about what he would ask President Donald Trump if the Commander-in-Chief came back on his podcast "This Past Weekend."

Remember ... Trump went on his podcast for a chat back in August, before the election, where he dove into a whole bunch of different topics -- including a discussion about cocaine.

President Donald Trump has been diagnosed with a vein disorder ... the White House revealed Thursday.

Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt spoke to the press corps from the White House Briefing Room today ... and, she announced the president has chronic venous insufficiency -- a condition where blood in the legs struggles to circulate throughout the rest of the body.

According to the Cleveland Clinic, CVI can lead to blood pooling in the legs ... causing high pressure in those veins. The clinic says about 1 in 20 adults is affected  -- mostly adults over the age of 50. Trump turned 79 last month.