White House

What's more interesting than watching Tiger Woods lock up a historic win at The Masters??

GOLF WITH THE PRESIDENT ... at least, that was the case for Dallas Cowboys legends Emmitt Smith and Tony Romo, who bailed on watching Tiger to play 18 with Barack Obama!!

It all went down somewhere in Texas this weekend ... when Emmitt, Romo, Barack and former Dallas mayor Ron Kirk hit the links for a round of golf.

Unclear who in the foursome took the win ... but odds favor Tony -- who's so good, he's set to play in next month's AT&T Byron Nelson Tournament with PGA pros.

As for ditching El Tigre ... don't worry -- seems the guys made it back in time to catch his unbelievable Masters victory, with Obama personally congratulating the golf legend.

"To come back and win the Masters after all the highs and lows is a testament to excellence, grit, and determination."

Mayor Pete Buttigieg isn't fooling himself ... Donald Trump will target him with homophobic remarks as the 2020 Presidential campaign heats up.

The openly gay South Bend Mayor, who has soared in popularity, will appear on "TMZ Live" Monday ... the day after he formally announces his bid to make a move to 1600 Pennsylvania Ave.

Buttigieg has a plan if Trump goes low ... confront and disengage.

The Mayor will tackle a variety of issues on "TMZ Live", from courting voters who may have predisposed views of gays, to the consequences people should face if they cheat to get their kids into college.

And, hint ... he plays a respectable guitar!!!

Buttigieg is expected to make a formal announcement he's running on Sunday.

7:16 AM PT -- The U.S. Justice Department has accused Assange of conspiring with Chelsea Manning to hack a classified Pentagon computer.

Pam Anderson is enraged with Britain, The United States and President Trump after the arrest of her close friend Julian Assange.

Assange was arrested Thursday at the Ecuadorean Embassy in the UK after the country withdrew his asylum. Anderson went on a tear on Twitter Thursday morning, saying, "How could you Ecuador? (Because he exposed you). How could you UK.? Of course - you are America's bitch and you need a diversion from your idiotic Brexit bulls**t."

Pamela then turned her attention to The United States, tweeting, "And the USA? This toxic coward of a President. He needs to rally his base? You are selfish and cruel. You have taken the entire world backwards. You are devils and liars and thieves. And you will ROTT. And WE WILL RISE."

It was during an August interview with Harvey Levin on OBJECTified when Anderson revealed she and Assange had a very tight relationship.

The two have remained in constant contact while he remained in the Ecuadorean embassy.

Presidential hopeful Andrew Yang is standing by his plan to cut every citizen a monthly check -- just for being over 18 -- and says it's a necessity to help American workers who keep losing jobs to robots.

The NY entrepreneur broke down his "freedom dividend" plan Wednesday on "TMZ Live" ... telling us the $1,000 monthly stipend to all adults won't make people lazy -- in fact, he says it's the exact opposite.

Watch ... Andrew says there's cold hard proof his proposed plan will make people want to work, get an education and improve the economy -- and you don't have to look beyond our borders to find it.

The candidate also addressed any comparisons to Donald Trump -- a businessman with no previous political experience. His bottom line -- the current POTUS doesn't represent every entrepreneur, and Yang's sure he can do better.

If you think Congressman Sean Patrick Maloney is voting for Mayor Pete Buttigieg just because they're both gay, you're dead wrong -- instead, Maloney's sticking with Beto O'Rourke.

We got Rep. Maloney Tuesday afternoon on Capitol Hill, and got his take on the Democratic mayor outta South Bend, Indiana ... who is making waves even before officially announcing he's running for Prez in 2020.

SPM showers Mayor Pete with tons of props, but shuns the notion he, or anyone else, should vote for a candidate just because they have similar backgrounds. We also asked Maloney -- who became NY's first openly gay Congressman in 2012 -- if he thinks the country is ready for a gay president, and he has strong feelings about that.

But, mostly ... the Congressman hammered home why he's throwing his support behind Beto. Point being ... just because a candidate's gay doesn't mean he'll automatically get the gay community's vote.

OG 'Queer Eye' cast member Carson Kressley seconds that emotion.

President Trump tried turning D.C. into Gotham with a little help from the music featured in one of Christopher Nolan's Batman movies ... but the bat signal was cut off quick.

DT posted a well-produced dramatic video on his Twitter feed Tuesday afternoon that hyped up his MAGA slogan and was basically fodder for his base -- but it also used one of the orchestral tunes in "The Dark Knight Rises" ... ya know, one of the epic ones.

And, of course, Trump slugged his tweet, "MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!"

The problem ... Trump stole Hans Zimmer's music, "Why Do We Fall?" The tune belongs to the movie studio behind "The Dark Knight Rises" ... Warner Bros.

At some point early Wednesday morning, Twitter removed the video ... citing a complaint from the copyright holder, WB. A WB honcho publicly said shortly afterward the studio hadn't authorized the White House to use its Bat tune.

Carson Kressley seems to be ecstatic an openly gay man will likely run for POTUS -- but don't get it twisted ... that ain't gonna be the deciding factor for him in the voting booth.

We got the OG 'Queer Eye' cast member leaving LAX Tuesday and asked him about Mayor Pete Buttigieg, who's been leading South Bend, IN since 2012 and who's picking up major momentum in the quest to take on Trump.

Our question ... will gay people vote for the guy just because he's gay?

Carson says he certainly hopes not. He says Pete checks all the boxes for him on his merit and experience, and that should be the standard for supporting any candidate.

That said ... Carson says he gets why some gay people might automatically be Team Pete. It's a huge deal to have someone repping the LGBTQ community at this level.

Rep. Ilhan Omar isn't retreating after receiving a death threat from a Donald Trump supporter or even continued attacks from the Prez himself ... who, by the way, she's praying for.

We got the Minnesota congresswoman at Reagan National Airport Monday after a tumultuous weekend, during which a man was criminally charged for threatening to kill her, and the President himself put her on blast again at an event in front of Jewish Americans.

Our photog asked how she's holding up, and Rep. Omar seems to be keeping it together ... telling us she sees more importance in showing up to work than ever.

She also drops an interesting tidbit about how she's dealing with Trump's renewed accusations of anti-Semitism. Rep. Omar's appealing to a higher power -- something she alluded to on Twitter ... but hits home here with us.

As we reported ... Rep. Omar has come under fire these past few months for comments that many people labeled as anti-Semitic. The increased scrutiny has required extra security at events she's attended lately.

Democratic Presidential hopeful Andrew Yang wants to soften the perception he's taking a hard stance against circumcisions, and as we learned ... it's no laughing matter to him.

We got the NY entrepreneur Wednesday afternoon in Times Square and asked him to clear up his position on circumcision. If you haven't heard ... Yang made headlines last month when he said he opposed the practice.

Andrew says everyone who is on his jock needs to cut him a break. The candidate told us people have twisted his words, because his official position simply isn't that cut and dry. He cleared things up with our photog, and made it known ... he meant no offense to his Jewish homies.

One last tip: Watch all the way to the end, you'll get a glimpse of the candidate's sense of humor. Then again, maybe our guy's just not that funny.

Joe Biden is promising to change his ways in the wake of allegations he's gotten way too close for the comfort of at least 2 women.

The former Veep -- and expected Presidential candidate for 2020 -- is addressing the handsy allegations head-on ... saying it's just who he is, or at least who he HAS been. Biden added, in a video posted Wednesday, he'll get himself in check going forward and be mindful of people's personal space.

Joe says he's always thought of politics as a way to connect to people ... and that he took that to heart quite literally, with handshakes, hugs, shoulder squeezes and other forms of embrace.

He doesn't mention kissing women's heads, though, as Lucy Flores claims he did to her back in 2014. Another woman accused him of pulling her in by the neck to rub noses at a fundraiser in 2009.

In his kinda-mea culpa vid, Biden acknowledges the boundaries of personal bubbles have been reset, and says he'll change too.

His video response couldn't have been better timed, as President Trump and the GOP lean into lampooning Biden for his touchy-feely tendencies.

Sen. Marco Rubio says the allegations against Joe Biden -- ahead of his anticipated presidential run -- are nothing new in D.C., and he's suggesting the whole thing is Dirty Politics 101.

We got the Florida senator at Reagan National Airport and got his take on the 2 women who've claimed Biden inappropriately touched them years ago. Rubio says he's not surprised at all it's coming out now because it's perfect timing.

Rubio feels someone's been sitting on this information for a while, and it's only being weaponized now to hurt the former Veep, ahead of his expected 2020 run for Prez.

Watch the clip ... it's going too far to say Republican Rubio is defending Democrat Biden -- but, at the very least, he empathizes with him. Remember, Rubio's been down the Presidential campaign trial, and he thinks anyone running for office should expect the same kinda treatment Biden's getting.

For the record, no one's accusing Biden of sexual misconduct ... it's more about invading personal space and inappropriate touching.

He's been very touchy-feely with lots of folks over the course of his career -- and a lot of it's been caught on camera. He's said his public displays of affection never carried any intent to harm, and he never thought he'd acted inappropriately.

Linda McMahon is stepping down from her position in President Trump's cabinet ... but she won't be far from POTUS for long.

Trump announced the former WWE CEO is resigning as the head of the Small Business Administration at Mar-a-Lago on Friday .... saying "She has been one of our all-time favorites."

"I knew she was good, but I didn't know she was that good."

Although McMahon is stepping down, she's not leavin' Trump -- she's putting her focus on his reelection.

"She'll be leaving, she's going to go and help us with a very, very important year-and-a-half that we have coming up," Trump told reporters.

McMahon is an original member of Trump's cabinet -- she was confirmed back in February 2017.

We spoke with WWE legend Kurt Angle prior to McMahon taking the job ... and he said she's a "genius," adding, "If you doubt Linda McMahon, you'd have to be literally crazy."

No word on who will be Linda's replacement ... but Trump says she'll be part of the process.

President Trump heard the outrage loud and clear, 'cause he just announced that he will NOT seek to cut nearly $18 MILLION in funding from the Special Olympics.

Trump's Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos proposed cutting nearly every cent of funding to the organization earlier this week ... and people were PISSED.

TMZ Sports even spoke to WWE legend and Special Olympics ambassador -- Big Show -- who called the idea "bulls**t."

Now, Trump is putting an end to all that talk ... telling reporters at the White House that he's given the order to fund the organization -- like was originally planned.

“The Special Olympics will be funded," Trump said ... "I just authorized the funding of the Special Olympics. I have overridden my people.”

No "hamberders" or chicken sandwiches were served on silver platters ... but Washington Capitals star Nicklas Backstrom says the team's visit to Trump's White House was still awesome!

Backstrom -- along with several Caps teammates -- hit up 1600 Penn on Monday to celebrate their 2018 Stanley Cup victory. We spotted the guys out near the team practice facility after the visit.

And, since Trump has made it a "thing" to serve his championship guests smorgasbords of fast food ... we asked Backstrom if POTUS rolled out the silver platters for the Caps ... the same way Trump did for the football players at Clemson and North Dakota State.

Remember, the college guys LOVED the food -- with Tigers star QB Trevor Lawrence telling TMZ Sports the meal was a huge hit!

Unfortunately for the hockey players, Trump's tradition ended on Monday -- no chicken, no pizza, no berders -- but Backstrom says it didn't stop the visit from being great!!

"It was nice of him to invite us," the center tells us ... adding "It was just nice to be there. We were happy about it."

We also asked Nik if there was any drama in the locker room with Braden Holtby and other players who decided to skip the trip altogether ... but Backstrom says "everything's good."

Rep. Rashida Tlaib says President Trump is NOT off the hook in Robert Mueller's Russian collusion investigation ... because she clearly doesn't trust the man who summarized it.

We got the Democrat Congresswoman at Reagan National and raised the issue ... isn't it a good thing for the country if the Prez didn't collude with Putin and Co.? The Congresswoman recoiled and made it clear ... she's not convinced Trump's clean, given all we know is what his hired gun, Attorney General William Barr, said in his letter.

Barr did quote Mueller's conclusion on the issue of collusion ... "[T]he investigation did not establish that members of the Trump Campaign conspired or coordinated with the Russian government in its election interference activities."

The unconvinced Tlaib says the only way this "dark cloud" can be lifted is for the report to be released in full, without a cushion from a Trump ally.

Cory Booker says the future is very, VERY bright for him and Rosario Dawson ... and it'll be downright blinding if she joins him in The White House.

We got the Jersey Senator and presidential hopeful leaving NBC in NYC Friday, and when we ask him if his girlfriend will join him at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave in D.C. if he's elected Prez -- even if they're unmarried -- Cory goes into all-out dote mode.

It's hard to keep up with all the adjectives Booker drops to lovingly describe Dawson, but the bottom line -- he believes she'd be an amazing First Lady ... and the first of her kind.

We broke the story ... Rosario confirmed last week she and Cory are dating and in love, gushing about her man just as much as he does her. She didn't say much about becoming First Lady, but clearly ... the Senator can talk enough for the both of them about that.