White House

Kim Kardashian West took David Letterman's best shot, but even he couldn't get her to say anything bad about President Trump ... her ally in prison reform.

Kim's the premiere guest on the third season of Dave's "My Next Guest Needs No Introduction" on Netflix, and their one-on-one interview hits on some really personal topics ... especially when he grills her about working with Trump.

After the talk show host lauds her many accomplishments in business and entertainment, the topic moved to Kim working with The White House on clemencies -- most notably, Alice Marie Johnson's.

Kim says she hopes to continue to work with future administrations on prison sentencing reform, and that's when Letterman presses ... telling her he's grateful for her work but adding, "It doesn’t make me feel any better about the current administration."

Kim says she understands but refuses to criticize POTUS about anything while also refusing to answer Dave on who she's voting for this election. Instead, she pivots to her controversial White House visit in 2018 that preceded Johnson's prison release.

She tells Letterman, "Trust me, everyone called me and said, ‘Don’t you dare step foot in that White House or your reputation is done.'"

Kim says it was worth it, and in the end, even Letterman concedes that her work is a "positive force that diminishes what I consider to be unacceptable behavior by the President."

Once again, Kardashian doesn't touch on the "unacceptable behavior" and sticks with simply being grateful for the Trump administration partnering with her on criminal justice reform.

The interview was filmed in early 2020, before coronavirus and before Kim's husband, Kanye West, was in the presidential race ... but there was still plenty more to talk about.

President Trump is in sunny California to raise some much-needed cash as he falls behind in the polls and in the money dept ... thus the trek to raise cash.

DT made his way to a private fundraiser in Newport Beach Sunday, rolling up to tech billionaire Palmer Luckey's home in his motorcade to bank on some generous donations ... with tickets for the event reportedly running between $2,800 to $150k.

The Beach Boys are providing entertainment for the shindig -- but not the OG band, it's just Mike Love and the touring group ... Brian Wilson and Al Jardine have disavowed the event. They say they hadn't even heard Mike was planning the gig until reading about it in the paper.

Sure enough, ML was spotted out there out as well ... looking groovy and ready to rock, sans his bandmates' approval.

Even crazier ... the sheer amount of fanboying Trump and co. spurred when they arrived. Check out how the guy who filmed this reacted when he spots POTUS in the backseat, if only for a second -- a complete starstruck freak-out. He claims DT waived at him.

Francia Raisa -- the woman who donated a kidney to Selena Gomez -- had a horrible experience on the 405 freeway in Southern California Sunday ... all because of Trump supporters.

The actress posted a tearful video on her Instagram story recounting the terror she encountered while driving ... saying a "rally" of Trumpers almost made her crash as they tried to box her in while she was driving. It sounds pretty intense, and Francia's quite emotional.

She likens the humiliation and mind games she endured to her being Mexican-American ... Francia claims people on the road were pointing at her, honking their horns and laughing the whole time. She goes off on people who support Trump for promoting that type of mentality.

Francia appears to be referring to a massive caravan of cars that are flooding the 405 right now ... apparently going south to Orange County, where Trump is hosting a fundraiser event in Newport Beach later today. To celebrate, it seems like a parade of Trump flag-waving drivers are clogging the lanes and cruising incredibly slow to take their sweet time.

While Francia doesn't appear to have captured the incident in question herself, several other clips of the caravan making its way along the 405 were posted online, including one from Republican congressional candidate Errol Webber ... who was thrilled to capture the scene.

The line of cars seems to go for miles and miles -- the distance from central L.A. to Newport is about 44 miles give or take -- and lots of people are posting shots of the traffic jam, either in the thick of it, or passing ... so it's clear Francia dealt with something wild out there.

President Trump became part of the church-going crowd this weekend -- and his presence moved a pastor to predict he'd get a 2nd win ... and Trump returned the favor by telling the pastors they were rough around the edges.

DT attended a service Sunday at the International Church of Las Vegas ... with Pastors Paul and Denise Goulet officiated. It was quite the sight -- Trump stood there awkwardly with his palms out, flanked by Hope Hicks and Kayleigh McEnany ... nobody wearing masks.

Right up Donald's alley, no doubt, but it's what Pastor Denise ranted and raved about that actually stole the show ... she says she got a sign from God at 4:30 this morning ... that Trump's getting another 4 years, but she had a funny and confusing way of explaining it.

First, she said his "second win" would come in the form of a victory at the polls; next, she said he'd get another "second win" with a fresh shot of energy ... like a runner near the finish line and who's out of breath, but still manages to power through to the end.

Finally, Pastor Denise said he'd get a second "wind," which she likened to the Holy Spirit. We believe she has a few of those "second win(d)s" mixed up, but whatever ... Trump was loving it all the same. Ironically, Trump has proven of late that he can, indeed, get pretty winded.

Anyway, the couple eventually invited to him to the stage to bless him -- which was just as awkward as their sermon from afar -- and eventually handed him the mic to share some words, and that's when he told the pastoral duo they were rough around the edges.

The super-prepared Texas voter who came equipped with her chair, her snacks and her "grown folks hair" to wait out a long poll line says her popular TikTok was actually an important PSA.

Belinda Varnado tells TMZ ... the purpose of her instantly viral clip was to make sure seniors, like herself, come prepared to make sure they don't miss out on their opportunity to vote.

She's seen all the news about ridiculously long lines for early voting -- where people have to wait for up to 15 hours -- and she knows all that standing doesn't work for folks up in age.

So, Belinda's encouraging her peers to pack the right gear, be prepared to hunker down ... but stay determined to cast their ballots.

She and her daughter, Chevelle Brooks, are also stressing the importance of voting early -- especially this year -- and Belinda's not shy about her ultimate goal either.

It's officially going down ... Joe Rogan is hosting Kanye West on his uber-popular podcast -- and it sounds like Ye's been given license to get creative with the look.

Kanye tweeted out the news Saturday -- wishing his public request from last week into existence. He writes, "Joe Rogan said it’s cool for me to design the set for our podcast this Friday ⛷." KW also attached a couple screengrabs from a FaceTime convo they had.

The summit of personalities, if you will, comes just a few days after Kanye expressed interest in sitting down and chatting on the 'JRE' -- which has millions of followers ... and which now lives exclusively on Spotify after years on YouTube. Talk about a big get for them, huh?

Now, Joe hasn't confirmed the chat himself just yet, but something tells us it's happening. While JR didn't directly respond to Kanye's plea this past week ... we know he's been wanting to book Ye for a while to pick his brain. He's praised Kanye as a genius of sorts in the past ... likening him to someone who operates on a different plane with higher voltage.

Of course, this also allows Joe to get in on the presidential race ... sorta. Remember, he recently floated the idea of moderating a multi-hour podcast-style debate between Trump and Biden -- something Trump was actually down for ... the implication being, we think, that JB wouldn't be able to hang for that long. Joe's podcasts often run three to four hours-plus.

A milestone day on QAnon's absurd conspiracy theory-filled calendar is about to be washed away like the BS it is -- because, no ... JFK Jr. is NOT coming back to rally with President Trump.

John F. Kennedy's deceased son -- John F. Kennedy Jr. -- is trending this weekend ... all to point out just how kooky the QAnon crowd is and what they believe. One of their biggest prophecies ... that John Jr. is actually alive, and on Oct. 17, 2020 (to the day) -- he'd be announced as DT's running mate at a rally in Dallas ... replacing Mike Pence.

Two major issues with that ... sadly, JFK Jr. hasn't been with us for years -- if you're unaware, he (along with his wife, Carolyn, and her sister) died in a plane crash in 1999 while he was piloting a private aircraft from New Jersey to Massachusetts, on their way to a Kennedy wedding.

QAnon followers think John faked his death and has been in hiding this whole time. Unclear how or why folks think he'd all of a sudden resurrect now and join, of all people, Donald Trump. Remember, his father was a Democrat ... and so was his son. The guy even gave a keynote speech at the 1988 Democratic National Convention.

Aside from perhaps a few photo-ops the Donald and John posed for together back in the day while living/working in NYC -- there's virtually no connection or affiliation between the two.

More importantly ... there's no Dallas rally planned for Saturday. Trump's actually heading to Janesville, WI -- but he'll be nowhere near the Lone Star State. There appears to have been a Dallas rally around this time last year -- but whoever predicted a repeat screwed up.

President Trump and Tommy Lee now have something in common ... they've both said goodbye to America if their candidate loses the presidential election.

Trump told the crowd in Macon, Georgia Friday ... he's running against the man he calls the worst candidate in the history of politics.

As the President mocked Joe Biden's penchant for requiring social distancing and masks at his campaign event, Trump seemed to be saying he couldn't bear the humiliation of losing to Biden ... and then he suggested he might just bail on the U.S.A. if he loses the election.

The crowd -- most of whom did not wear masks and forget social distancing -- loved it.

It's a beautiful day to be Joe Biden, because he's being compared to Fred Rogers ... even by the son of the legendary children's TV show host.

It's pretty ironic, but the Democratic presidential nominee has senior Trump campaign advisor Mercedes Schlapp to thank for this positive pub, after she compared Biden's Thursday town hall to watching "Mister Rogers' Neighborhood." Of course, she meant it as a bad thing.

The intended jab was a major fail -- including misspelling Fred's last name -- as Twitter folks immediately reminded her that Mister Rogers is admired and beloved by almost everyone.

His own son, John Rogers, tells TMZ ... comparing anyone to his father is a major compliment, not an insult, and Biden's worthy of the praise. He says he especially sees a similarity in the demeanor of the 2 men, telling us Biden seems gentle like his father ... and speaks like him too.

John says his dad had a lot of kindness and feelings for other people, and his iconic show was so special because he was incredible with kids, great to those who worked for him, and spread a wonderful message across the globe.

John's not the only Rogers family member to give props to Joe either. Fred's widow, Joanne, described herself as a "very big Biden fan" last month and said ... "I think we all need somebody like Biden who can give us little pats on the back."

The former VP called Joanne a little while later to thank her.

On the flip side, she blasted President Trump for constantly lying and called him a "horrible person."

Joaquin Buckley's incredible spinning back kick KO has made it to the White House -- President Trump was so impressed, he called Dana White to rave about it!

Buckley's insane takedown of Impa Kasanganay at UFC Fight Night 179 has exploded after being hailed by many as the greatest knockout in MMA history.

In fact, Kanye West used the KO footage as the backdrop for his new song, "NAH NAH NAH" ... which has already been viewed by millions of people.

When we spoke with Buckley, he was STOKED to get love from Yeezus -- suggesting they could collaborate on a project together down the line ... even though Joaquin doesn't rap!

"Hey, I can learn how [to rap] though! I can write it down real quick. I can come up with a couple of things!!"

As for President Trump, Joaquin says he got a call from UFC president Dana White after the KO telling him his good friend POTUS personally called him up to tell him how impressed he was with the epic finish.

And yeah, Joaquin says he's flattered by the compliment from the Commander In Chief.

"He's the world leader at the end of the day. If anything, that's good to have a person like that on your side."

And get this, 26-year-old Buckley is still NOT a full-time MMA fighter -- he has a job at Walgreen's ... though he admits he might have to cut back his hours to focus on fighting now!

"I'm still employed by Walgreens. I gotta talk to my boss right now because I was supposed to head back on Monday!"

Buckley says he loves the Walgreen's job, but his fighting career is exploding right now and he knows he'll have to commit full-time in order to compete at the highest level.

The good news ... Buckley says his boss and co-workers are 100% supportive.

"They're just happy for me. I told 'em where I come from, they know my background, they know my story -- and just to see where I'm at now, everybody's proud of me."

Buckley is 11-3 as a pro and is now scheduled to take on Jordan Wright at UFC 255 next month!

President Trump's predicting a red wave on Election Day, but one of his rallies looked like a potential wave of COVID cases when a Georgia politician treated it more like a mosh pit.

Georgia state Rep. Vernon Jones crowd-surfed Friday during Trump's rally at Middle Georgia Regional Airport in Macon. Pre-pandemic we'd say this looks like big fun, especially for a political event -- but that just ain't the reality.

Jones, or anyone else in the crowd for that matter, didn't seem too concerned about potential COVID-19 spread ... lots of folks put their hands on him and no one, in photos at least, was wearing a face covering.

Jones, a Democrat who's endorsed Trump, gave a pep talk to the crowd before diving into it. The President, who won't say when he tested negative for the virus, did not follow suit.

John Carlos -- the Olympian who famously raised his fist at the '68 Games -- is speaking out strongly against President Trump ... saying he's bad for America and needs to go.

"You've created nothing but divide and dissent and anger and hatred toward the American citizen," Carlos said on "TMZ Live" Friday -- which happens to be the 52nd anniversary of the famous Olympic moment.

The former track star says he's disgusted with Trump's personal attacks against Kamala Harris and other women ... and is asking voters to rise up and do something about it!

"I would just applaud anyone and everyone who has the right to vote to get out and vote."

"Get the vote in because it's the most critical time in world history."

The 75-year-old has also come out with a series of COVID masks that feature his iconic clenched fist and the words, "We Are One" over the American flag.

Carlos says he made the masks for 2 reasons -- 1, to keep people safe. And 2, to send a strong message about the role of Black people in America.

Tyler Perry's part of a massive campaign targeting 25 counties and 250k Black residents in Florida ... in a push to get them to the polls.

The entertainment mogul's teamed up with a Black-led nonpartisan group called Equal Ground Education Fund on its half a million-dollar "Park & Praise" initiative. The campaign includes a series of events where voters can drop off mail-in ballots while hearing from church leaders, musical acts and gospel choirs.

Perry's helping fund the effort -- dubbed as bringing "Souls to the Polls" -- to increase Black voter engagement and turnout in the state. Equal Ground adds that its mission is to combat Florida’s long history of voter disenfranchisement and help build Black political power.

Of course for this election, the organization says it must adapt to the pandemic ... so it's retooling the popular voter tradition by taking proper precautions to "meet the moment of social-distancing."

The non-profit's founder, Jasmine Burney-Clark, says ... "Our work to provide robust voter education and ensure that accurate information reaches our communities is the highest priority and is exactly what this partnership with Tyler Perry is going to do."

Donald Trump says he's always denounced white supremacy despite his stumbling block on the debate stage, but he won't denounce the QAnon conspiracy theory.

Trump refused to condemn the bizarre QAnon theory during Thursday's town hall on NBC with Savannah Guthrie ... and his reasoning -- he doesn't know anything about it.

Quick refresher ... QAnon claims, among other things, the world is being run by a cabal of Satan-worshiping pedophiles who are moving against Trump at the same time they operate a global child sex-trafficking ring.

Trump says he can't denounce it, or tell the American people it's all bogus, because he's not up to speed on the theory ... other than knowing QAnon is against pedophilia just like he is.

POTUS brushed off several points Guthrie made ... like the fact GOP Sen. Ben Sasse has already ripped the theory as "nuts" and said real leaders call out conspiracy theories.

Guthrie also pressed Trump on his hesitation to denounce white supremacy at the debate, and he claimed he's always denounced white supremacists ... despite the fact he told the Proud Boys to "stand back and stand by."

Trump got super defensive, then attacked Guthrie and the media.

President Trump is giving it up to Jesus Christ ... acknowledging the Christian messiah is more famous than he is. Wow, quite a concession!

The President's campaigning in Greenville, North Carolina, and while addressing supporters he brought up the topic of his fame and where he ranks. He claimed someone told him he's the most famous person in the world "by far."

Trump -- ever the humble servant -- says he insisted he's not ... because that title belongs to J.C. The pandering worked, as the crowd ate up Trump's remark and POTUS reveled in it.

His Christian anecdote is reminiscent of John Lennon saying, in 1966, the Beatles were "more popular than Jesus." It was intended as a shot at the obsession fans and the media had with the group, but religious groups blasted him for it.

Trump didn't wanna go down that road, and quipped he can't argue with Christ being #1 because he's "not gonna take any chances."

Trump's claimed many times to be a devout Christian and that his favorite book of all time is the Bible ... so it shouldn't come as a surprise that he holds Jesus in such high regard.

Of course, if someone were to ask the President what his favorite story about Jesus is -- or even which testament of the Bible is his fave -- there's a good chance he'd punt on the question.

Forget the Secret Service, the "Baddest MF" on the planet has Donald Trump's back in Miami ... Jorge Masvidal.

The UFC superstar (and reigning "BMF" titleholder) was waiting for POTUS at Miami International Airport on Thursday to personally greet Trump as he arrived for his NBC Town Hall event at the Perez Art Museum.

Masvidal was wearing a mask. Trump -- who recently tested positive for COVID-19 -- was not. But, Jorge didn't seem too concerned.

While at the airport, Trump told reporters, "Don't ever fight him!"

Trump and Masvidal have become close over the past few weeks -- with Jorge even campaigning for Donald at a recent "Fighters Against Socialism" rally.

Earlier this week, Trump tweeted at Masvidal, "Jorge, you’re really tough and really smart. My Great Honor to have your support!"

Masvidal -- whose father was born in Cuba -- responded, "My honor and duty to the country my father risked his life escaping to from the hands of communists. Said it before and I’ll say it again, you a bmf sir."

Earlier this week, Masvidal had a fast-food lunch with Donald Jr. -- and said they had a lot in common ... including "good hair."

Trump has won over several UFC fighters over the past few months -- including Justin Gaethje and Henry Cejudo.