Politix

4:02 PM PT -- President-elect Donald Trump is wasting no time finding a new nominee for Attorney General after Matt Gaetz withdrew from consideration ... and Trump is going with Pam Bondi.

Trump only waited about 6 hours after Gaetz dropped out to announce his new pick. Bondi is the former Attorney General of Florida.

It's back to the drawing board for President-elect Donald Trump ... he's got to nominate someone else for U.S. Attorney General after his first choice, Matt Gaetz, withdrew his name today.

The former Congressman from Florida just announced on X he is pulling out of consideration to become Trump's AG.

Gaetz says ... "While the momentum was strong, it is clear that my confirmation was unfairly becoming a distraction to the critical work of the Trump/Vance Transition. There is no time to waste on a needlessly protracted Washington scuffle, thus I'll be withdrawing my name from consideration to serve as Attorney General. Trump's DOJ must be in place and ready on Day 1."

Donald Trump's incoming press secretary's a woman of few words ... 'cause we asked her for her reaction to Ellen DeGeneres and her wife Portia de Rossi leaving the U.S.A. -- and, all we got was a lot of LOLs.

We reached out to Karoline Leavitt for her reaction to ED and PdR ditching their former Montecito abode for the UK ... and KL responded "HAHAHA."

If this is a sign of things to come when Karoline's standing behind the Presidential Seal, a whole lotta White House reporters better find another way to fill column inches.

Afrobeats megastar Davido has some words for Black Americans who think the grass is greener in the African pastures ... it ain't, and let him tell ya, you're gonna be drowning in oil!!!

Davido was a recent guest on "The Big Homies House" podcast, where he ripped the notion of Black people, especially those upset over the Presidential election, fleeing for the Motherland, especially his own beloved Nigeria.

“It’s not cool back home…The economy now is in shambles,” Davido complained to host Big Homie Kodaq, and pointed out how African citizens are being reamed ... buying the homegrown oil for more than the people who get it imported!!!

Ellen DeGeneres and Portia de Rossi's big move news may've just surfaced, but it seems the couple has been settling down in the UK for some time.

The talk show legend and the actress were spotted taking in an acoustic set at a pub in the Cotswolds last week ... enjoying an intimate performance by The Corrs while visiting with singers Natalie Imbruglia and James Blunt.

Check it out ... Ellen and Portia were beaming while dressed in matching black turtlenecks, enjoying a night out at the Farmer’s Dog Pub --  which is owned by British TV personality Jeremy Clarkson.

10:05 AM PT -- Special Prosecutor Dan K. Webb has issued a statement, saying he's disappointed with the Illinois Supreme Court decision and respectfully disagrees with overturning Jussie Smollett's criminal conviction. Webb made it clear the court's decision has nothing to do with JS' guilt or innocence and he categorically believes Smollett is guilty of perpetrating a hate crime hoax against the city of Chicago.

He also pointed out the court's ruling had nothing to do with his 2 years of work on the case because he was appointed to his special prosecution role 5 months after Cook County D.A. Kim Foxx made a plea deal with Smollett. And Webb says it was that plea agreement that led to the "unprecedented" resolution initially in the case, which was the driving factor for the Supreme Court's decision today. In other words, Webb says he did nothing wrong.

9:10 AM PT -- Jussie's attorney, Nenye Uche, tells TMZ ... Jussie is "very pleasantly surprised," even "ecstatic." Uche emphasizes the court decision was unanimous.

He points out in the age of social media, courts need to push back and defend the rule of law and due process -- watch the video, he has some suggestions about how to address that.

A deal's a deal, and that means Jussie Smollett's conviction in the hate crime hoax case is now reversed, and he cannot be tried again ... according to the Illinois Supreme Court.

Illinois' high court ruled Thursday that Jussie's deal with Cook County prosecutors -- when they originally dropped the case against him -- had to be honored. State's Attorney Kim Foxx struck a plea deal with the actor, requiring him to forfeit his $10,000 bond, and do 15 hours of volunteer community service.

The court's ruling says because Jussie held up his end of the deal -- he actually did 18 hours of service -- he should not have been subject to a second prosecution. That's when he was convicted of felony disorderly conduct and sent to jail, briefly, until he appealed the decision.

Rep. Nicole Malliotakis is standing by Holtermann’s Bakery a week after Whoopi Goldberg accused the Staten Island institution of snubbing her order based on her politics.

The Republican congressman made a show of support for the 146-year-old bakery in the wake of the controversy, bringing HB's famed Charlotte Russe cakes to Capitol Hill Wednesday ... where she publicly called out Whoopi's remarks as "simply not true."

The NY rep is seeking justice for the bakery, too ... demanding "The View" host apologize to Holtermann’s -- all while encouraging her peers in D.C. to enjoy a treat.

7:50 AM PT -- Thursday morning, about 9 hours after Elon Musk's post, Jeff Bezos responded underneath with his own tweet ... "Nope. 100% not true."

Elon Musk took a shot at Jeff Bezos, calling him out for supposedly predicting -- wrongly, we may add -- that Donald Trump would lose the presidential election to Kamala Harris.

On Wednesday night, Musk hopped on his social media platform, X, writing, “Just learned tonight at Mar-a-Lago that Jeff Bezos was telling everyone that @realDonaldTrump would lose for sure, so they should sell all their Tesla and SpaceX stock.”

Clearly, Musk was referring to the stock value of his companies, Tesla and SpaceX, plunging if Trump had lost to Harris, but, of course, that didn't happen. Trump walloped Harris in the election and now he's about to take the reins again at the White House for his second term.

Ellen DeGeneres and Portia de Rossi have bid adieu to the United States ... and Donald Trump's election win was the driving force ... TMZ has learned.

Sources with direct knowledge tell TMZ ... Ellen and Portia have settled in a new home in the Cotswolds -- a region in South West England, about 2 hours from London.

We're told the couple scooped up the place before the election ... but were "very disillusioned" with Trump's victory ... and, as one source put it, they immediately decided "to get the hell out."

It's happening -- just like we predicted -- Donald Trump's "Presidential" motorcade now includes a Cybertruck!!!

As Trump made his way to watch the launch of Elon Musk's Starship rocket, the fleet of Chevys had a disruptor smack in the middle -- courtesy of The First Buddy.

Now it's true ... this is not an official Presidential motorcade, since Trump is the Prez-elect, but it sure feels like an omen.

50 Cent won't have to pack up his G-Unit studios from Shreveport after all -- the Louisiana Senate voted to keep the state's alluring film tax credit -- albeit, trimming the fat by several million!!!

Things were looking bleak last week when the state House of Representatives eliminated the $150 million incentive for the 2025 fiscal year ... but Variety reports the state Senate Revenue and Fiscal Affairs Committee agreed to secure the state's film jobs with a newly approved budget of $125 million.

50 admitted the abrupt announcements had him a little restless, but he promised to rev the studio back up with renewed energy.

Elon Musk treated Donald Trump to quite the show Tuesday ... as SpaceX's Starship megarocket blasted off into space in an attempt to make a perfect landing back on the launchpad ... though they both had to settle for saltwater splash-downs.

The biggest rocket ever made launched from the company's Starbase launchpad in Boca Chica, Texas for Starship Flight 6 ... in a test to see if both stages of the spacecraft -- the Super Heavy booster and the Starship capsule -- would return safely back to Earth ... and Trump had a front-row seat.

After blasting off and travelling into space, the Super Heavy booster essentially flew in reverse back to Earth -- it was supposed to be "grabbed" by the launch and catch tower's "chopstick" arms, but it instead landed in the Gulf of Mexico. A couple minutes into the mission, SpaceX had announced a "no go" for the attempted booster catch. The booster was meant to be reusable, but won't be since it landed in saltwater, which it's not designed to withstand.

Joe Exotic isn't offended one bit by Bowen Yang's impersonation of him on "Saturday Night Live" ... in fact, he's hoping to use the exposure to his advantage.

The "Tiger King" star tells TMZ ... he's given Bowen's impression his stamp of approval, praising the comedian for his accurate take. Not only does Joe think 'SNL' nailed his look -- applauding the mullet and the mustache -- he feels Bowen came very close to matching his voice.

He notes Bowen did a much better job at impersonating him than John Cameron Mitchell did in Peacock's "Joe vs Carole."

Senator Ted Cruz is taking shots at Hollywood ... calling the industry's brightest stars "out of touch" with what America actually wants.

Photogs caught up with the Texas politician outside the Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport in Washington, D.C. -- where he encouraged Tinseltown's biggest names, many of whom are Democrats, to take a closer look at the Republican party ... claiming they actually represent what people want.

As Senator Cruz put it ... the Democratic party saw a big loss on election night as they don't "actually understand what working people are like."

Donald Trump's win on Election Day is postponing the conclusion of his historic legal loss -- Manhattan D.A. Alvin Bragg wants a judge to put the president-elect's sentencing on a back burner ... until 2029.

Bragg announced Tuesday he's recommending Trump's 34 felony count conviction -- related to the hush money payments to Stormy Daniels -- be put off until Trump is out of office.

In a letter to the judge, Bragg says, "The People deeply respect the Office of the President, are mindful of the demands and obligations of the presidency, and acknowledge that Defendant's inauguration will raise unprecedented legal questions."

Tina Knowles is coming out swinging in defense of her daughter Beyoncé ... who has been inaccurately accused of being paid millions to campaign for Vice President Kamala Harris.

The Knowles matriarch shut down the rumor as a bunch of hogwash with a pointed Instagram post Saturday, where she made it clear the singer attended the VP's Houston rally on her own accord.

She wrote ... "So this has been flagged on Instagram as fake news and taken down. It’s called False Information."

Former U.S. Representative of Florida Matt Gaetz, Donald Trump's nominee for U.S. Attorney General, is continuing to combat sexual misconduct allegations ... including claims he flew 2 women to NYC to have a real-life "Pretty Woman" experience.

Florida attorney Joel Leppard, who represents the women involved, sat down with ABC News' Juju Chang ... and he revealed his clients spoke with Congressional Ethics Committee investigators about their interactions with Gaetz -- which they say included repeated paid sexual encounters.

As we told you yesterday, Leppard detailed in the interview one of his clients testified in July 2017 seeing Gaetz having sex with her friend -- when the latter was only 17 and the former Congressman was 35. Leppard also said the 2 women testified they were paid for sex by Gaetz via Venmo.