White House

There's deep concern for what will happen tonight and beyond in the streets of America, regardless of who wins the Presidential election, and we've learned the feds have spent millions to protect the candidates and the building they want to live in.

According to federal docs obtained by TMZ, the Secret Service has dished out $2.6 million in security expenses to protect Donald Trump and Joe Biden tonight -- money earmarked for contractors who specialize in setting up secure perimeters at political events.

One company, Arcus Group LLC, is raking in $988,788 to secure the perimeter of the White House on Election Night. Another company, Showcall Security Services will collect $1.6 mil to keep Joe Biden safe in Delaware Tuesday night.

Each company will construct barriers and walls to keep people out. As you've seen by now, the perimeter of The White House has already been fortified.

Cities across the U.S. are also preparing for the worst ... businesses from Washington D.C. to Beverly Hills have been boarded up out of fear of potential unrest. Police forces have beefed up their operations as well, bringing in additional officers and reinforcements.

Nearly 900 companies are giving employees paid time off to vote this year, making it much easier for 1 million Americans to cast their ballots ... TMZ has learned.

If you haven't noticed, the push for voter turnout has been a big deal for the 2020 election, and ElectionDay.org is one of the groups at the forefront of that effort. Since 2018, its been hitting up companies, trying to get them to pledge paid voting time for workers.

The org says the goal is not making people choose between their Constitutional right (if not, duty) and their paycheck.

They accomplished that mission at 890 businesses and institutions, which signed up to make voter's leave part of their company policies. We're told that's a huge jump from 150 companies 2 years ago when the program launched.

Though the time off varies -- some companies give employees the whole day while others provide a 3 or 4-hour break -- the list includes names like Airbnb, T-Mobile, Shake Shack, Ford, Sony, Twitter, and Hollywood talent agencies CAA and UTA.

ElectionDay.org -- which is run by Vote.org -- says its efforts will help an estimated 1 million people vote this year.

President Trump has a thought or two about big-name music acts who perform for Joe Biden these days -- especially Jon Bon Jovi, whom he claims is a total brownnoser.

POTUS rallied Monday in Avoca, PA and talked about the fact Lady Gaga is set to perform for Joe Biden at a dueling rally in the Keystone State later today. He claimed to know "a lot of stories" about her, suggesting she's not so "good" -- whatever that means.

As you might've heard, Gaga's doing a show for the Democratic nominee on the eve of the election ... something she also did for Hillary Clinton, as well, back in 2016. Guess Biden's not superstitious.

Trump also went after Bon Jovi, who performed at a Biden drive-in rally last week, and claimed the dude kisses his ass in private. Yep, the President actually said that.

BTW, Jon also performed for Hillary in 2016 -- and in keeping with that theme ... Trump even took some shots at Jay-Z, another one of Hillary's marquee music acts that year. His performance was a little controversial at the time because he used explicit language.

He made sure to remind everyone about Jay dropping f-bombs ... which apparently has DT clutching his pearls.

President Trump is getting another wall erected, but it's nowhere near the southern border ... this one's at the White House.

Preparations are in full swing at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue for a doomsday scenario on Election Day -- fences and barriers are going up outside the President's residence, with dark days possibly around the corner.

As you can see, the White House is a total construction zone Monday -- on election eve -- as workers are busy putting up wooden and metal fences, and a big cement truck's there too.

It's another ominous sign as Election Day draws near ... things are already getting crazy across the country before votes are even counted.

As we reported ... police made a huge show of force over the weekend in Beverly Hills, where throngs of demonstrators gathered.

The boarded-up White House falls in line with what we've already seen in Washington D.C., where it seems the whole town is hunkering down and bracing for violence and unrest.

President Trump and Joe Biden are hoping to get the votes of millions of Americans, but some first names are better than others for each candidate -- and, naturally, Karens are right in the middle of the action.

According to a new NY Times study of 102 common first names ... women named Karen in 18 battleground states are 60 percent likely to vote for Biden, which was the highest among the top 10 most common female names.

On the Trump side of the coin ... Nancy is most likely to vote for him, at 57 percent.

When it comes to the men in these states, Trump is a favorite among the Richards -- y'know, tricky Dicks -- at 64 percent, with Thomas trailing closely behind at 61 percent.

In fact, most of the top 10 most common male names prefer Trump, but Christophers and Josephs are 50/50 on the candidates.

As for the names outside of the top 10, here's a fun one -- Donalds love Donald the most ... at 68 percent. Patricks, on the other hand, are the most pro-Biden at 65 percent.

Janets are most likely to be Trump supporters at 64 percent, and Sarahs go with Joe 68 percent of the time.

Of course, what's really in a name? It's kinda ridiculous to draw a correlation between your political stance and the name your parents randomly gave you decades ago. Anyway, it's at least entertaining.

Forget absentee ballots, some wealthy folks will hop on private jets this Election Day to make sure their voices are heard in the battleground states they call home.

Here's the deal ... honchos at evoJets, an aviation company specializing in private charters, tells us they've got several clients booking flights to their primary residences on Election Day, specifically to vote.

We're told these affluent voters have been living in their second homes during the pandemic -- oh, the horror -- and they're booking same-day round-trip flights ferrying them to key battleground states.

Among the itineraries -- private travel from California to Florida, Colorado to Pennsylvania and Wyoming to Ohio. The folks on those flights told evoJets they're going home just to cast ballots. Then they're getting the hell outta Dodge.

Company big wigs say they don't recall this happening during the 2016 election, and the common denominator here, at least to them, seems to be wealthy clients transplanted due to the pandemic.

Meanwhile, Paramount Business Jets CEO Richard Zaher tells us his company, a brokerage with access to over 15,000 private planes, says private air travel is up 100% for flights between Nov. 1-3, compared to last year.

It's interesting ... Zaher says a third of those flights are bound for international destinations. Leaving the U.S. might be smart, people here are getting ready for s*** to hit the fan come Election Night and an asteroid is hurtling towards the country.

Selena Gomez fans can breathe a sigh of relief ... that IV in her arm last week is no cause for fretting about her health.

Many Selenators grew concerned after the singer did an Instagram Live chat with Timothee Chalamet on Oct. 24 ... and viewers noticed a tube coming out of her arm.

As you know, Selena's dealt with major medical issues over the past 5 years -- including a lupus diagnosis and a kidney transplant -- but sources close to her tell us the IV was simply a vitamin drip.

We're told Gomez gets the IV drips regularly and they have nothing to do with her lupus or other health issues. As for why she chose to have it administered while she was live streaming ... our sources say it was just a timing thing, and Selena didn't care to hide it.

It's not like she's the only celeb known for drippin' ... Justin Bieber's got no qualms about it either.

More importantly, we're told Selena is fine and healthy, and has been staying very busy during the pandemic. Along with focusing on her career, she's also been working hard to encourage folks to vote in the election and advocating with other powerful women ... including Kamala Harris, Michelle Obama and Stacey Abrams.

President Trump is reportedly gearing up to prematurely declare himself the winner of Tuesday night's election if he gets an early lead ... but Kamala Harris has other plans.

Axios published a story Sunday, claiming sources in Trump's inner circle have heard he's actively making plans to call himself the definitive winner if it looks like he's ahead of Joe Biden in a handful of key states -- namely, Ohio, Florida, Texas, Arizona and other key holdings.

The report says Trump has spoken to people in his camp and ran the scenario of him walking up to the podium and claiming victory ... even if all the votes aren't counted yet.

Well, to that Kamala basically says ... PSSSHHH, PLEASE! Reporters asked the Democratic VP-hopeful about the story Sunday, and she told them Trump wouldn't even have the opportunity to do that, because she and Joe Biden plan on cleaning up nationwide.

She says, "Well, first of all, we plan to decisively win this election. So, I don't, I don't think we're going to need to get to that point." Well said ... sounds like she's confident.

Still, if the Axios report is true and Trump follows through ... it sounds like this election is going to be hotly contested, and a winner will likely not be announced Tuesday -- assuming it's close. Remember, the 2016 election wasn't called until very late in the night.

As election night draws near, banks and apartment complexes from coast-to-coast are gearing up for unrest -- cautioning folks to be ready for the worst.

TMZ has learned one bank in Washington D.C. sent a letter to its customers saying it would remain open, but with boarded-up windows "due to concerns of potential unrest" before and after the election.

It also shut down its ATM for the time being, and says it will close if it feels employees are in danger.

As we've already told you ... businesses and shops in D.C. have been boarding up in anticipation of election violence, and police across the country are bracing for protests that could get out of hand.

Likewise, an apartment complex in L.A. -- with 5 separate buildings -- sent a notice to its hundreds of residents, saying there would be an increase in security "in an abundance of caution" over potential election chaos.

The complex says it will also be cracking down to make sure only residents and their guests are able to get onto the grounds. It's warning everyone to be on alert for strangers.

There are plans to board up businesses across the country, including on Bev Hills' famed Rodeo Drive.

Barack Obama was on fire this weekend stumping for his former VP in Michigan -- and that's no coincidence seeing how he was in the GROOVE after sinking a trey beforehand.

Prior to Joe Biden's Detroit rally, Barack was putting up shots in the Northwestern High School gym -- and right before showtime ... he threw up a beauty from the far right corner, and watched it fall cleanly. Quite the impressive feat, and BO was clearly feeling himself.

The crowd cheers and someone in the distance says "Walk off!" As Barack casually saunters away, he looks back and says, "That's what I do!" Just to make sure everyone heard him, he removed his mask and said it again loud and clear. Yes, 44 owns the 3 -- take notice, y'all.

Barack must've been on one after his stirring speech earlier in the day at a previous rally in Flint -- where he blasted President Trump and his recent comments (not to mention behavior) regarding COVID. Namely, Barack couldn't believe Trump said doctors were juking up the stats in hospitals so they could get paid out for patients deemed to have died from the virus.

That actually marked the first time Barack shared the stage with Joe at an in-person rally -- before that, Barack was already on the campaign trail on his behalf, but Joe hadn't appeared alongside him until this weekend. No better time to join forces ... Election Day's Tuesday.

To celebrate the occasion, Barack and Joe shared an almost-elbow bump -- both jokingly trying not to touch to be distance-safe. It was a little awkward, but charming nonetheless.

Beverly Hills may be an omen of what's coming next week, because things got crazy on the streets and cops started swinging their billy clubs at both Anti-Fascist and Pro-Trump demonstrators.

SWAT teams, local police officers and private security were deployed all throughout Bev Hills Saturday in anticipation of major unrest over the next few days. City officials had already announced they'd be doing this -- along with shutting down ritzy Rodeo Drive -- but it appears they wanted to get the muscle out well ahead of time to set a tone.

Check out these shots we got of armored trucks lining the streets, with officers in full tactical gear ... ready to rock and roll if s*** hits the fan. Not only that, but several different shops, storefronts and boutiques along Rodeo were doing a full board-up blitz as well.

Might've been a good move to get the ball rolling on this, because as it turns out ... there are dueling protests happening nearby right now, and violence appears to already be breaking out between anti-fascists and Trump supporters. The former were seen marching toward the latter near the famous Beverly Hills Sign in Beverly Gardens Park. Apparently, these clashing demonstrations have become a regular thing around there, especially lately.

We've got eyes on the ground ... and we're told cops are already breaking up some of the fights, which is leading to more aggressive behavior and violence by default. One of our brave photogs, Melanie, even got shoved to the ground by a cop -- which you see in our clip -- this just seconds after they declared the protests unlawful assemblies and started dispersing the crowds.

A group of Trump supporters on the outskirts of Austin reportedly ran a Biden campaign bus out of town after trying to hold an event there ... and, apparently, it got pretty scary.

A few Democratic lawmakers -- who were riding in the Biden bus and hoping to stump for JB and Kamala Harris in Pflugerville, TX on Friday -- tweeted out the frightening encounter as it was unfolding ... claiming they had to abandon their plans for security reasons.

Those reasons, according to them, amounted to a small caravan of Trump supporters who'd been following them along their stops in Texas, and who allegedly harassed the bus when it made a stop near the Austin area. One local politician, Rafael Anchia, even claimed some of the Trumpers were armed, and appeared to be threatening the group inside if they stayed.

Some have claimed the President's own sons were somehow responsible for inciting the crowd to do this, but it's unclear where those accusations stem from. In any case, the trouble didn't stop after the bus decided to get outta Dodge ... because the same group that was protesting them on the ground reportedly hopped in their own pickups ... and gave chase!

There's a bunch of different videos that show at least three to four Trump-flag bearing vehicles tailing the Biden bus along I-35 for a good while, and getting awfully close. A Biden campaign spokesperson even reportedly said the convoy attempted to run the bus "off the road," and was creating a dangerous situation on the freeway for surrounding cars.

In one of the videos, you see a few trucks surround the bus and attempt to slow it down. It's pretty freaky -- but luckily, it doesn't sound like anyone was harmed ... and the Biden campaign was eventually able to get law enforcement to step in and escort them to safety.

Trump campaign rallies have become major super spreader events, resulting in tens of thousands of COVID cases and hundreds of deaths ... this according to Stanford Univ.

Stanford scientists conducted a study of 18 Trump rallies all over the country. The conclusion ... 30,000 confirmed coronavirus cases that resulted in more than 700 deaths.

The study offers a rough estimate because this type of tracking is imprecise, but the authors estimated by looking at the incremental COVID increases in the areas where the rallies were held.

The deaths are not necessarily limited to people who attended the rallies ... people who became COVID-positive could have spread the disease to friends and family who may have contracted coronavirus and then passed away from it.

As you know, Trump's been crowing that he's immune from COVID, at times even offering to kiss folks in the crowd. He infamously said, "I'll walk in there, I'll kiss everyone in that audience. I'll kiss the guys and the beautiful women ... I'll just give ya a big fat kiss."

Trump's campaign honchos reportedly told the staff at his Tulsa rally to 86 the social distancing signs before people piled in, many if not most not wearing masks.

The #FakeMelania conspiracy theory is having real-world effects on hard-working folks ... Melania Trump impersonators tell us their well's run dry.

Here's the deal ... lots of people book well-paying gigs dressing up like Melania, President Trump and other political figures at parties and events during elections, but First Lady impersonators tell us the conspiracy, political climate and COVID changed everything.

Michele Marzano, who charges $1,000 to show up looking like Melania, Madonna or Sarah Palin, tells TMZ ... she hasn't fielded a single request to be Melania during the 2020 election, a stark contrast from 2016, when she was hired to dress like Melania at least 10 times.

Michele says people seem to have lost their sense of humor ... which definitely checks out in 2020. She thinks COVID is part of it -- fewer events, in general --but also gets the feeling even Trump supporters don't think Melania's funny right now.

"Anonymously Famous" author and Melania look-alike Mira Tzur says lots of folks have been asking if she's Melania's alleged body double, her family included. She says she's not, and adds she's not getting asked to dress like the First Lady at all.

The way Mira sees it ... Melania didn't speak much during the 2016 election, which gave her more intrigue, but now there's not much curiosity because everyone's seen and heard her for 4 years. Or maybe just someone who looks like her.

Another Melania impersonator, Lauren LoGiudice, says she thought she would finally get hired after the #FakeMelania conspiracy ... but it hasn't happened.

Lauren says her Melania impersonation incorporates comedy, but notices no one thinks a Melania bit is funny anymore. She also thinks the secret recordings hurt her job prospects, because some people feel anger toward the First Lady.

Bottom line ... this is one industry where Trump is not creating jobs.

Walmart's anticipating civil unrest ahead of the presidential election ... and that's triggered the retail giant to stop pull guns and ammo from shelves.

The nation's biggest retailer has pulled the items from its stores in an effort to keep firearms and ammo from being stolen in the event there's civil unrest. A spokesperson for Walmart said, "We have seen some isolated civil unrest, and as we have done on several occasions over the last few years, we have moved our firearms and ammunition off the sales floor as a precaution for the safety of our associates and customers."

It's important to note ... customers can still buy guns and ammo in half of the 4,700 stores where they're available, they just have to request it. The firearms just aren't on display for now.

Walmart made a similar move back in June following George Floyd's death. It's unclear how long the store will keep guns and ammo out of store displays.

President Trump's putting a label on Lil Wayne that doesn't always come to mind ... calling the rapper an "activist" after their now infamous pow wow.

Trump's feeling really good about Weezy's endorsement ... outside the White House Friday morning he said Wayne's a "really nice guy" and "an activist in a very positive way."

Wayne's been called a lot of things due to his enormous success in the music biz, but activist is definitely not one of 'em.

As you know ... Tunechi met with POTUS Thursday, sharing a photo of them grinning together and giving a thumbs up. Weezy says he's endorsing Trump because of his track record on criminal justice reform, and says he's a fan of Trump's Platinum Plan.

Remember, Ice Cube worked with Trump's camp on the plan, which vows to pump $500 BILLION into Black communities while providing better access to jobs and education.

Trump says Wayne asked for the meeting and he obliged ... and he seems more than happy with Weezy's endorsement.

Wayne's already drawing criticism for the meeting, which came 5 days before Election Day. 50 Cent, who previously endorsed Trump because of taxes before changing course, ripped Weezy for the Trump photo op.

Lil Wayne, Weezy, Weezy F. Baby, Tunechi, Weezyana, Lil Tune, Birdman Jr., President Carter, Mr. Carter, Dr. Carter, BM Jr., Young Weezy -- all monikers we've heard, but Lil Wade???