White House

Cardi B's idea of turning to politics shouldn't be written off as a pipe dream, 'cause the girl's got what it takes to connect with the people ... so says Omarosa.

We talked to O about Cardi's recent musings about jumping into the public service arena, and she actually told us CB's got all the right ingredients to become a successful politician -- namely, she brings authenticity, passion, energy and real-life struggles to the table.

Omarosa says that's what voters look for in their leaders, and she thinks Cardi's perfectly suited to give 'em what they want. And, besides that, O says the public is screaming for a shakeup these days in their politics -- just take a look at who they voted for as POTUS.

Joe Burrow and Co. will be takin' their championship celebration to the nation's capital ... 'cause the LSU Tigers are scheduled to visit President Donald Trump at the White House!!

The Tigers handled Clemson in a 42-25 win in the natty on Monday ... which POTUS attended and received a massive ovation prior to kickoff.

Now, Ed Orgeron's team will be returning the favor by hitting up 1600 Penn on Friday to be recognized by the prez.

It's been one helluva season for the Tigers -- they went 15-0 and some are considering it one of the most dominant seasons in college football history.

Burrow -- who won the Heisman Trophy -- has previously talked about Trump hitting up their games earlier this season (for the big matchup against Alabama) ... saying it's "pretty cool" regardless of political views.

Of course, college champs -- unlike some pro teams -- have jumped on the opportunity to visit the White House in recent years ... including last year's Clemson team, who got hooked up with junk food due to the government shutdown.

No word on if Trump will improve the menu this time around ... but Burrow passionately hates Skyline Chili, so maybe don't serve that.

President Trump signed and delivered the 2 articles of impeachment against him ... to a guy who duped 45 into a very valuable autograph, which he's trying to hawk for big cash.

The Prez held a rally last month up in Battle Creek, MI and at one point, he apparently signed a paper handed to him by someone in the crowd. That signature, as it turns out, was scrawled on a copy of the House of Representatives' impeachment document.

We're told the guy who snagged the autograph printed out the report the day before the House formally voted to accuse POTUS of high crimes.

Now, this fella's partnered up with Goldin Auctions ... which we're told is expecting to get anywhere from $50k to $100k, with an opening bid of $4k. It's up for grabs on their site from Jan. 20 through Feb. 22.

It's funny ... a similar item featuring Trump's John Hancock made its way to the auction block last month -- an unwittingly signed copy of Trump's Oath of Office from a Pennsylvania rally.

D.L. Hughley is throwing his hands up in disgust at the American electorate, because he begrudgingly admits Cardi B could win office if she's serious about politics.

It's no secret the comedian isn't a fan of President Trump and told us the fact America elected a "game show host for a president" is proof knowledge and experience in politics no longer matter at all to the public. Translation: the door's wide open for Cardi.

Just because he believes it, doesn't mean he's happy about it -- D.L. points out several other professions where you'd NEVER hire someone with zero experience ... yet, voters seem willing to put anyone in high public office.

Cardi's been touting Sen. Bernie Sanders in the Democratic race, and he's surged ahead in the Iowa polls -- so, we asked Hughley if a Sanders-Almanzar ticket would be out of the question.

Cardi B could be headed to the White House one day -- but first, she might try her hand at local government ... or perhaps, something in the middle.

The rapper tweeted Sunday what seemed to be a pretty serious idea of hers ... "I think I want to be a politician. I really love government even tho I don't agree with Goverment [sic]."

She followed up with an explainer, saying ... "No matter how many weapons a country have you need people! How are you trying to go against a country and possibly start a war when this country lacks patriotism? I barely see people claiming they LOVE being American."

Seems Cardi's talking about the U.S.-Iran conflict here. She finished by saying there's more she has to say on the subject and acknowledged she would have to do it later in a video. Unclear if that means Iran specifically, or politics in general. Stay tuned ...

President Trump just did something you might never have expected him to do -- tweet in another language ... and that language happens to be aimed at the people of Iran.

DT took to Twitter Saturday with a message to the folks protesting in Tehran right now, decrying their government recently shooting down a Ukraine International Airlines plane by mistake ... and killing over 150 passengers, many of whom were Canadian citizens.

The Prez wrote, "به مردم شجاع و رنج کشیده ایران: من از ابتدای دوره ریاست جمهوریم با شما ایستاده‌ام و دولت من همچنان با شما خواهد ایستاد. ما اعتراضات شما را از نزدیک دنبال می کنیم. شجاعت شما الهام بخش است."

We know what you might be thinking if you're a native English speaker ... THE HELL DOES THAT MEAN?!? Not to worry, 'cause 45 sent out an accompanying translation. En ingles, it means ... "To the brave, long-suffering people of Iran: I've stood with you since the beginning of my Presidency, and my Administration will continue to stand with you." He adds, "We are following your protests closely, and are inspired by your courage."

He wasn't done with the Farsi ... Trump followed up by tweeting the above message, which translates, "The government of Iran must allow human rights groups to monitor and report facts from the ground on the ongoing protests by the Iranian people. There can not be another massacre of peaceful protesters, nor an internet shutdown. The world is watching."

Don't worry ... we Google Translated it ourselves, and it looks like Donnie got it right here.

If you haven't seen the protests on the ground in Tehran yet, they're pretty crazy -- with thousands taking to the streets and demanding the Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei resign after Iranian officials admitted they shot the Flight 752 in error ... mistaking it for a threat, this amid rising tensions between the U.S. and Iran after Soleimani's death.

Some folks were even reportedly chanting "Death to liars" during the demonstrations, in their own language of course.

The United States conflict with Iran has had Americans freaked the f**k out lately -- and, accordingly, they've been looking far and wide to burrow themselves underground.

TMZ spoke with some of the best bunker retailers in the biz, and wouldn't you know it ... they say their sales and window shoppers have gone through the roof over the past week or so as missiles and nuke threats have been flying back and forth in the Middle East.

Let's start with Rising S -- which hawks pretty pricey shelters, ranging from $45k to a whopping $1 million. They tell us bunkers have been selling like hotcakes since Trump took out Gen. Soleimani. RS says they've sold 17 bomb shelters since then. A recent uptick of 150%.

Iran has already given a taste of its promised retaliation against the U.S. for killing one of its top military generals -- and it seems more and more threats are pouring in by the day.

For starters, a U.S. government website for the Federal Depository Library Program appeared to have been hacked Saturday by folks claiming to be working on behalf of Iran. They posted a photo-shopped pic of Trump getting punched by an Iranian fist, leaving him bloodied.

The hackers also left an ominous message on the page ... "Hacked By Iran Cyber Security Group HackerS ... This is only a small part of Iran's cyber ability! We're always ready."

Colin Kaepernick has some thoughts on the United States taking out a top Iranian officer with a drone strike ... calling it classic American imperialism via our military.

The ex-NFL quarterback posted some scathing remarks Saturday about the international move that's got everyone here at home worried about a so-called World War III -- and he didn't hold back in criticizing it to the max, likening it to an attack on people of color.

Colin wrote on Twitter, "There is nothing new about American terrorist attacks against Black and Brown people for the expansion of American imperialism." He didn't stop there.

CK adds the perceived escalation of tensions has been resorted to in the U.S.A.'s playbook time and again. He says, "America has always sanctioned and besieged Black and Brown bodies both at home and abroad. America militarism is the weapon wielded by American imperialism, to enforce its policing and plundering of the non white world."

Trump's order to kill Qasem Soleimani has gotten mixed reactions -- with some calling it necessary and imminent, as the guy is said to have been responsible for taking American lives while waging destructive and deadly tactics there in the Middle East and elsewhere.

Others say Donald Trump's administration acted in haste by signing off on the strike, not considering the ramifications and the possibility of war. Congress hasn't even been formally briefed yet.

#45 just can't get enough of Joe Burrow and Trevor Lawrence ... 'cause President Donald Trump will be checking out the big College Football Playoff championship game!!!

POTUS -- who witnessed Burrow's Heisman campaign firsthand during the LSU and Alabama game this season -- is expected to hit up the huge match-up between the 2 undefeated teams, according to The New Orleans Advocate.

We know what you're thinking ... and yeah, we're assuming security will be SUPER TIGHT considering the recent developments with Iran. Hell, it better be.

As for the game, it's gonna be AWESOME -- with both #1 LSU and #3 Clemson entering the Jan 13th game undefeated.

Trump has kept a close eye on LSU so far in the CFP ... with Tigers head coach Ed Orgeron saying he got a personal call from the president after trampling all over Oklahoma in the Peach Bowl.

"I was very honored to get a call from President Trump," Coach O told reporters.

"He was very pleasant to talk to. Very complimentary of our football team, our coaching staff. Complimentary of the way the state of Louisiana has rallied around us. Was complimentary of the way we played all year and wished us good luck in the game."

Burrow also previously talked about what it's like to play in front of the Prez ... saying, "Doesn't matter if you're a Democrat or a Republican, President at the game is pretty cool."

The U.S. drone strike ordered by President Trump in Baghdad -- which killed top Iranian military commander, Qasem Soleimani -- is captured in new footage from an independent Iraqi television network.

According to Al-Ahed channel ... the blast captured on video is the one that killed General Soleimani along with Iraqi militia commander Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, though it's yet to be verified by other major news outlets.

A photo of the aftermath shows a burning vehicle near Baghdad International Airport shortly after the strike, which reportedly included 3 rockets hitting the site. The White House announced the strike had killed Soleimani Thursday night ... 6 people were reportedly killed in total.

The Trump administration viewed the Iranian commander as a ruthless killer, and the President tweeted that Soleimani was responsible for the deaths of millions of people and was plotting to kill more ... but he got caught.

Trump added the general should have been "taken out many years ago."

You'd think Rudy Giuliani would wanna be as far away from anything Ukrainian right now, but even amid Trump's impeachment ... he's coyzing up with one and talking business.

The President's personal lawyer was spotted Sunday at the Breakers Hotel in Palm Beach, where eyewitnesses saw him chatting it up with a couple dudes in suits who appeared to be pitching him on something, seemingly related to shipping, transportation and logistics.

Rudy and a woman he was with were flipping through literature pertaining to CDL 1000 -- a Chicago-based company that specializes in freight transport and tracking technology.

No biggie, right? Of course not, except for the fact that at one point in the presentation, Rudy was shown a slide that clearly read "Disrupt Global Trading." Nothing fishy about that!

What makes the meeting all the more intriguing is that the guy showing him this stuff comes from Ukrainian heritage himself. His name's Andrew Sobko, and he's the CEO of CDL 1000 -- he's also the son of a former Ukrainian boxing champ ... per past interviews he's done.

We called up Andrew and he said he was simply seeking Mr. Giuliani's legal advice on a business matter. However, it's also no secret Rudy's been traveling to Kyiv recently to drum up intel he hopes will clear his boss's name ahead of a looming impeachment trial.

Barack Obama just announced his favorite movies of the year, and it looks like he's a mild fan of the studio he and his wife have partnered with to make cinematic magic.

The former Prez released a list of his top movies of 2019, and they include a ton of indie flicks ... most of which were not produced or distributed by Netflix. That's not to say the company was excluded completely -- four of their movies made it in, including his own.

Of the Netflix titles that were mentioned ... "Marriage Story," "The Irishman," "Atlantics" and the mister and missus's High Ground Productions documentary, "American Factory."

It's one of the first projects Barack and Michelle have produced under their recently announced multi-year deal with Netflix, and it's already gotten tons of praise. The doc's about a shuttered GM plant in Ohio that gets resurrected by a Chinese company, which integrates their own factory workers with Americans in what proves to be a culture clash.

Interestingly, there's more independent movies released under different studios Obama seems to have liked more this year ... like "The Farewell," "The Souvenir," "Ford v Ferrari," "Just Mercy," "'Little Women," "The Last Black Man in San Francisco," "Birds of Passage" and others.

He also released some TV shows he was into, and Netflix made the cut there as well with "Unbelievable." From a bird's-eye view, it looks like 44's got pretty sophisticated taste.

Pete Buttigieg was able to get at least one new Hollywood A-lister to endorse his bid for the presidency -- but his opponent, Bernie Sanders, has him beat in that department.

Kevin Costner showed up to a modest-sized town hall Sunday in Indianola, Iowa and publicly backed the Southbend mayor for Prez ... reportedly telling the crowd of about 1,200 that he didn't wanna tell them who to vote for, but was simply sharing who he supported.

Of course, that's PB. Kevin went on to tout Pete's steady hand among the Democratic contenders, calling him a man of "this moment" and someone who could right the ship.

Kevin then introduced Pete and embraced him in a hug. Pretty cool moment ... but it kinda pales in comparison to the VIP treatment Bernie was met with in L.A. the day before.

Andrew Yang's done his research, and knows there's no way to completely stop foreign interference in elections, but says there's still a right way to respond ... and President Trump ain't cutting it.

In the wake of a strong showing in the latest Democratic Presidential debate ... Yang joined us Friday on "TMZ Live" to tell voters why he'll get tough with Vladimir Putin and any other foreign leader who tries to screw with our elections.

Yang said he views Russia's meddling in the 2016 election as an act of hostility and aggression, one he wouldn't take lightly if he's in the Oval.

He's already thinking about who he'll need by his side to get to 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. -- as in, who's gonna be his running mate. It's clear Yang's working on a short list, and gave us the criteria for his Veep.

Best of all, Andrew gave us his best Rocky impression.

Something happened during Thursday night's debate that had him feeling very Stallone-esque.

Rep. Tulsi Gabbard is doubling down on her defiant decision to merely vote "present" to impeach President Trump ... because she firmly believes it was the right call for America.

The Congresswoman from Hawaii tells us she was making a stand by not voting yes or no ... in order to appeal to folks in the center. She says her goal is to bring unity to the country.

Gabbard elaborated though, saying she DOES want Trump out of office and, in her mind, there's a better step Congress can take to rebuke his conduct. As for getting him out of office ... she believes it should be done more conventionally ... by voting him out in 2020.

Keep in mind, Tulsi's still one of the Democratic candidates gunning for the nomination to run against Trump ... so she's taking a big gamble that her stand will pay off.