White House

Who needs Tom Brady ... when you got Justin Verlander!!

Donald Trump just gushed about his friendship with a World Series champ during the Houston Astros visit to the White House ... while also dropping some humble brags about himself (duh).

"So, I know Justin. Justin's a friend of mine," Trump said while noting they play golf together.

"I'm a pretty long hitter," Trump bragged ... "[but] this guy, he is a monster!"

"And he said he's a -2 or a -3 handicap, but believe me, he's much better than that. He's about a +2 or +3. but we love playing and it was really great."

Trump also had some words for Jose Altuve ("you're taller than I thought!") and World Series MVP George Springer before reminding everyone he also played in high school!

He also assured the team the country's doing "fantastically well" under his leadership.

Billionaire dude Alec Gores says Barack Obama's "NBA Junior" idea ain't gonna work ... and if the NBA and NCAA want to fix college basketball there's only one way -- PAY THE PLAYERS!!

Gores is worth a cool $2 bil so, when we got him out on the town in L.A., we wanted to know if he thought it was time for another billion dollar entity -- the NCAA -- to break bread with their players.

"Absolutely they should pay," Gores said ... "It will reduce corruption, they should get paid. Period, end of the story."

Obama has floated the idea the NBA should create a junior league for younger players -- and when we asked Gores about that he showed the ex-Prez absolutely ZERO love.

"No. I don't like that."

Barack and Michelle Obama are reportedly saying screw politics and are joining an increasingly popular trend -- getting their own show on Netflix!

The 44th President and former First Lady are in talks with the streaming service to "produce a series of high-profile shows" and provide exclusive content on a global level ... according to the NY Times.

The focus of the shows will apparently be on highlighting inspirational stories, but there are other ideas as well. One is having Barack moderate conversations about topics that dominated his time in the White House ... like health care and climate change.

The terms of the deal are reportedly in advanced stages, but one thing seems clear -- the Obamas' content will not be used to bash President Trump or their critics.

Akon can see himself in the White House ... and he wants Mark Zuckerberg to help him beat President Trump in 2020.

We got the singer at LAX Thursday and wanted to know how he would defeat Trump, hypothetically speaking. Our guy barely finished asking the question when Akon pounced at the opportunity to debate 45, and obviously thinks he could take him down on several topics.

You can tell he's been thinking about how to make improvements, and even explained to us why he'd go with Zuckerberg as veep.

You'll recall ... Akon recently told us about his beef with the feds -- for rejecting his proposal to get electricity up and running in Puerto Rico following Hurricane Maria, and also with Trump's "s**thole" comment.

Still, he thinks Trump has what it takes to be a great prez. Or, at least, he did.

Stormy Daniels is suing President Trump over a "hush" pact she says they drew up days before he was elected -- but he refused to sign.

In the lawsuit, Stormy claims Trump did her dirty by not signing the agreement, which intended to keep her from talking about their alleged 2006 affair, and hurting his presidential campaign. The ex-porn star says she signed on the dotted line, as did Trump's attorney, Michael Cohen.

She says they used aliases -- Trump was David Dennison and she was Peggy Peterson -- in the contract to maintain confidentiality, but he still never signed it.

According to docs, obtained by TMZ, Cohen contacted the ex-porn star shortly after the Access Hollywood tape came out. Stormy says Trump and Cohen caught wind she might go public, and "aggressively sought to silence" her with the "hush agreement."

As for her signing bonus, the now infamous $130k -- Stormy says it was routed through an entity called Essential Consultants LLC. She says the company was created right before the election purely to hide the source of the payment. Cohen has claimed he used his own personal funds to pay her.

She's suing to get a judge to rule the agreement is invalid ... which, presumably, would clear the path for her to tell all about her alleged relationship with Trump.

Congresswomen Nancy Pelosi and Barbara Lee crashed the Warriors vs. Wizards game Wednesday in D.C. -- and if ya couldn't tell, they LOVE their hometown Dubs ... unlike Donald Trump.

Pelosi and Lee hit up Steph Curry and the gang outside the Warriors' locker room after they got the W ... thanking the NBA champs for their trip to the nation's capitol, where they snubbed Trump in favor of hangin' with local youth.

But before the meet-and-greet, the SF and Oakland democratic reps got their fangirl on in the stands!! (Dope scarf, Nancy ... but Barb wins with her custom "The Town" jersey.)

“They make us proud ... they are civic leaders. We are huge fans,” Lee told the Washington Post.

FYI, Pelosi invited the Dubs to hang with her in D.C. after POTUS pulled their White House invite ... but the fact that she sought THEM out says a lot.

Guessing they'll hook her up with better seats at Oracle ...

John Kelly says he's being punished by God ... and that's why he's working as Donald Trump's Chief of Staff.

Gen. Kelly made the joke Thursday at a Homeland Security event, where he was addressing his former colleagues at the department -- which he used to run. He says he must've done something wrong ... and the man upstairs took notice.

He also told his old crew he missed them ... the implication ... working for 45 ain't no walk in the park.

Kathie Lee Gifford is all for divine intervention guiding Oprah's decision on whether she should run for President.

We got KLG leaving lunch Wednesday at Michael's, and our guy dropped the best question of the day: What signs should Oprah be looking for from her colleague, God?

Of course, Kathie had some answers -- while she prayed for the big guy to bring her car around.

Donald Trump Jr. is facing a Manhattan judge ... he showed up for jury duty Wednesday, and there's a chance -- slim, we think -- he could be selected to serve as a juror.

President Trump's oldest reported to the New York County Criminal Court building -- and it was pretty obvious someone in the First Family was there. Secret Service is swarming around the building, and there's a huge line to enter the courthouse ... most likely due to increased security with a Trump in the house.

We called his office, and we were told he's "happy to be there."

According to the NY Post ... Junior was selected for a jury panel, along with about 80 other potential jurors, in an attempted robbery case.

Donald Trump's s***hole comment could be coming back to haunt him in a big/little way ... toys!

A Florida-based graphic designer named Gaynor Evans-Wilson just filed a trademark application in hopes of locking down "S***hole President" with an eye for playthings and figurines. She's also got a specific image picked out for her mini Trump, pursed lips and all.

There's already a website featuring Evans-Wilson's Trump doll design, where it says you can purchase one now. It's weird though ... it doesn't seem like you actually get to a checkout page just yet. Maybe they're waiting for the trademark to fully go through.

Former RNC Chairman Michael Steele actually likes one of President Trump's ideas, but that doesn't mean they're on the same page ... at all.

We got the popular Republican pundit at the Gaylord National Resort & Convention Center near D.C. Thursday and asked him about Trump's pitch to pay teachers a bonus to carry guns in schools ... he likes exactly half of that plan.

Steele tells us there should be absolutely no guns in the classroom, and sounds pretty miffed it's even being considered. As he puts it ... it's bad policy and "opens up a Pandora's box of problems this country just does not need."

President Trump addressed the mass school shooting in Parkland, Florida, and vowed to make America's schools safer by tackling mental health issues.

Conspicuously, he did NOT mention gun control issues during his speech Thursday morning. The President called the shooting an act of hatred and evil. He promised the nation's young people and parents he would meet with officials to make school safety a top priority.

Trump had tweeted early this morning, "So many signs that the Florida shooter [Nikolas Cruz] was mentally disturbed" -- and he stuck to that Thursday, saying he was committed to improving mental health programs.

Worth nothing ... almost exactly a year ago, Trump signed a bill revoking gun checks for people with mental illness.

Trump's refusal to discuss gun control or gun safety reforms was glaring. Shortly after his speech, former President Obama tweeted about the need for "common-sense gun safety laws."

Omarosa spilling the beans on "Celebrity Big Brother" is not so much to clear her conscience or get back in favor with the African-American community ... it's her bottom line, says Congressman Cedric Richmond.

We got the Democratic Rep. at Reagan National Airport on Tuesday and wanted to get his take on Omarosa leaking the Trump administration's game plan ... particularly its aggressive deportation tactics.

Sure, Richmond says the former 'Apprentice'/White House staffer might be letting her conscience guide her post-firing, but more than that, she's dishing dirt cause she's looking out for Numero 1.

We also ask the Congressman if he's now more inclined to watch 'CBB' with Omarosa revealing deets, but as he put it ... he's too busy looking after children -- his 3-year-old and Prez Trump.

John Legend's always a gentleman, so ya gotta read between the lines of what he's saying to all the haters of Barack and Michelle Obama's freshly unveiled portraits -- essentially it's, go kick rocks.

We got the singer at LAX Monday night and wanted to get his thoughts on the official portraits of 44 and his First Lady for the Smithsonian. After all, John and Chrissy Teigen were among the donors who kicked in some dough to commission the art.

John loved the final product, but more importantly ... he says Michelle and Barack love 'em. As he points out ... the Obamas handpicked the artists, Amy Sherald and Kehinde Wiley.

The Omarosa post-White House leaks continue on "Celebrity Big Brother" ... now she's saying the country would be begging for Donald Trump back if Mike Pence got into office.

Omarosa was dishing some dirt about her former gig on Monday night's episode, and she took the opportunity to slam the Vice President by saying he'd be worse than Trump as POTUS.

She goes on to mock his religious beliefs, saying Pence allegedly thinks Jesus tells him to say certain things.

And there's also this ... she says Trump's crackdown on illegal immigration is real, and is being undertaken in aggressive deportations across the country.

Anthony Scaramucci thinks Trump's Chief of Staff John Kelly needs to leave The White House STAT if he lied to the Prez and the people about Rob Porter.

We got The Mooch Sunday at LAX and he couldn't have been clearer ... if the Axios report is accurate -- that Kelly covered up domestic abuse allegations against key aide Porter -- then he should throw in the towel.