2024 Presidential Election

Lara Trump says she changed her RNC speech after someone tried taking out her father-in-law ... and the one she gave instead certainly resonated, especially with him.

Donald Trump's daughter-in-law -- who's married to his son, Eric Trump, and who serves as a co-chair for the Republican National Committee -- stepped up to the podium Tuesday at the party's convention in Milwaukee and delivered what many are calling powerful remarks.

Take a listen ... right out of the gate, LT acknowledges she had a very different speech written out before DT was shot on Saturday -- and she reflected on how seeing that felt.

Rep. Matt Gaetz is keeping his beef with ex-House Speaker Kevin McCarthy alive and well at the RNC -- taunting his nemesis on the floor ... and getting checked in the same breath.

A couple different videos from the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee show Gaetz heckling McCarthy as the former congressman gives a TV interview ... interrupting him while he was speaking and mockingly wondering if he was set to speak Tuesday night.

Gaetz -- who led last year's charge to oust McCarthy as House Speaker -- can be overheard taunting KM over his lack of a speaking slot at the RNC ... at which point Gaetz drops the hammer, saying ... "If you took that stage, you would get booed off of it."

Donald Trump's Secret Service detail is catching heat for a security failure after he was shot -- and an ex-agent who worked with him has thoughts on how they could've prevented this.

Mike de Geus -- who worked for the Secret Service during the Trump years, and who used to guard the former President -- tells TMZ there were a lot of problems he saw with the way the Secret Service handled things Saturday, including several glaring issues they missed.

He points out that there are very simple things the agency could've done to block off the clear line of sight Thomas Matthew Crooks had from a building outside the perimeter ... even if that technically wasn't within the Secret Service's ring of protection.

Whoever created a fake 'Simpsons' image, falsely suggesting the show predicted Donald Trump would be assassinated is drawing the ire of the show's head honcho, who calls it a sick move.

The drama kicked off shortly after Thomas Matthew Crooks opened fire on the ex-Prez -- a social media user posted a doctored animated image of Trump from "The Simpsons," showing him in a casket with the caption, "First time I've seen a 'Simpsons' prediction fail."

Now, this entire premise is based on misinformation (more on that in a minute) ... but "The Simpsons" showrunner Matt Selman is still slamming the image in the strongest possible terms.

President Biden has an interesting question for Donald Trump, Bhad Bhabie has a lot of OnlyFans money coming in and Brandon Aiyuk has a request ... all this on today's TMZ TV Hot Takes.

First up on "TMZ Live" Harvey and Charles read into a video of Robert F. Kennedy Jr. getting a call from Trump ... and the question Trump claims Biden asked him after the failed assassination attempt.

Joe Biden torched Donald Trump's comment about "Black jobs" -- saying the guy must not know the highest positions in government have been occupied by African Americans.

The Prez stopped by the annual NAACP convention in Vegas Tuesday, where he gave a keynote address ... in which he brought up his political rival's debate claim that "Black jobs" are being taken away by illegal immigrants as a result of the border crisis.

Many have blasted 45 over the remark -- calling it racist -- which is probably why Biden invoked it yet again in Sin City ... this time spinning it to note that Barack Obama and Kamala Harris have carried some of the most important "Black jobs" in American history.

Rudy Giuliani clearly wasn't having the best day out in Milwaukee -- he took a tumble right in front of everyone at the Republican National Convention ... and it's pretty sloppy.

Check out this clip that's going viral from inside the RNC facility -- the freshly disbarred lawyer could be seen strolling through day 2 of the convention Tuesday ... when he suddenly lost his footing, stumbling into a row of seats.

You can see him trying to grab onto something, but it just wasn’t happening ... he went down and didn't stop. He hovered for a bit, and it took a full 4 people to help get him off the floor.

Donald Trump surviving an attempted assassination makes him a martyr in the eyes of millions of Americans -- and shakes up the election too ... so says a presidential historian.

Douglas Brinkley -- a professor at Rice University and an expert in all things POTUS history -- tells TMZ ... the shooting gives Trump a chance to ride a wave of momentum to the White House, with DT emerging from the bloody rally looking like a leader and a brave warrior.

The image of a bloodied Trump pumping his fist is giving his campaign a shot in the arm, Douglas says ... and the shooting will likely be talked about and dissected all summer.

1:54 PM PT -- Sources with direct knowledge tell TMZ ... the shooting Tuesday was completely unrelated to the RNC -- and the reason Secret Service was on the ground was because agents happened to be in the area and simply rendered aid.

A homeless man was reportedly shot and killed not far from the Republican National Convention -- and while it doesn't seem tied to Donald Trump ... cops were out in force.

The shooting took place Tuesday in Milwaukee, about a mile outside the Fiserv Forum -- where there's a wide perimeter of security ... and where a police officer from Columbus, OH opened fire on a man -- who, according to eyewitnesses, was a vagrant in town.

The Secret Service beefed up security for Donald Trump in the weeks before the attempt on his life ... because of intelligence concerning an assassination plot by Iran.

The alleged Iranian threat was gathered from a human source in recent weeks and it was known by the U.S. Secret Service ... according to CNN, citing unnamed sources.

The report says there's no indication would-be assassin Thomas Matthew Crooks -- the 20-year-old who tried and failed to kill Trump -- was connected to the alleged Iranian plot.

Cheryl Tyler, a former Secret Service Special Agent, is defending her female peers from a wave of criticism following the assassination attempt on Donald Trump.

In addition to protecting 2 presidents herself, Cheryl trained other agents, and she joined us Tuesday on "TMZ Live" -- in the wake of Saturday's attack -- to counter those hating on female agents, and to explain how difficult it is for any agent to get that detail ... whether they're female or male.

As Cheryl put it ... being a part of the Secret Service is no easy thing -- it's an elite group of specialists who are put through rigorous training and probation to earn the detail.

A private call between RFK Jr. and Donald Trump just hours after the assassination attempt was made public, and RFK Jr. is horrified his son is the culprit who posted it.

During the call, Trump talked about his phone conversation with President Joe Biden just after the shooting. Trump says Biden was inquisitive as to how he chose to turn his head to the right -- a move that probably saved his life.

Trump says he told Biden he turned because he was referring to a chart, although he was not specific. The chart was an indictment of Biden's immigration policies.

Lee Greenwood is positive Donald Trump surviving an assassination attempt was divine intervention ... and he's praying it'll result in a stronger Christian nation going forward.

The country music star -- who's set to perform at the Republican National Convention Tuesday -- tells TMZ ... he believes faith and prayer from supporters resulted in Trump's life being spared this weekend, this after Thomas Matthew Crooks tried killing him.

In the wake of that ... LG says this country needs faith and prayer now more than ever ... because he, and many other religious people, genuinely think it worked to save 45.

Thomas Matthew Crooks -- the would-be assassin who tried and failed to take out Donald Trump -- now has an official cause of death in the books ... if it wasn't already obvious.

The Butler County Coroner tells TMZ ... Crooks died from a gunshot wound to the head, and the coroner is ruling his death a homicide. Of course, he was shot and killed by a Secret Service agent after he opened fire into the crowd in Butler, PA this weekend.

To be clear, "homicide" is the manner of death, and not a crime ... like murder or manslaughter. The coroner's ruling in no way suggests the Secret Service snipers were in unjustified in taking out Crooks ... who had not only opened fire on a former President, but also shot and killed a citizen in the crowd.

Tenacious D singer Kyle Gass' birthday wish about taking out Trump has turned into his worst nightmare -- 'cause his management team is cutting him off ... TMZ has learned.

Michael Greene of Greene Talent -- which was repping Kyle of late -- tells TMZ ... they've parted ways with Kyle, and no longer represent him as a direct result of his incendiary comments.

This comes shortly after Jack Black announced they're pulling the plug on the rest of their tour ... so it looks like Kyle's career has taken a hit, for now, following his "Don't miss Trump next time" comment ... which pissed off a helluva lot of people.

Donald Trump showed up to the Republican National Convention this week with an army of Secret Service agents ... none of whom were women, which is sparking an interesting convo.

The ex-Prez -- who just survived an assassination attempt over the weekend -- popped up in Milwaukee for night #1 of the convention ... marking the first time he appeared at a public event since Thomas Matthew Crooks tried putting a bullet in his head Saturday.

Of course, since then ... everyone has been saying his security detail would be beefed up -- including President Biden, who dedicated more protection -- and that was apparent Monday.