White House

Donald Trump had tested positive for COVID-19 just days before meeting up with Joe Biden for their first presidential debate -- this according to his ex-Chief of Staff.

Mark Meadows makes the claim in a new book, 'The Chief's Chief,' describing how DT allegedly received a positive result on Sep. 26 ... 3 days before the Ohio debate. Meadows does say Trump took a second test which turned up negative, but that reportedly was an antigen test, which is not as reliable as the PCR test. The PCR test can detect COVID levels the antigen test can't.

Nonetheless ... Meadows says Trump was hell-bent on debating Biden, saying, "Nothing was going to stop [Trump] from going out there."

It's a shocking revelation. Apparently, Trump was symptomatic with a positive PCR test, which means he should have quarantined for 10 days, but he did the opposite.

He held a Rose Garden ceremony to introduce his last Supreme Court nominee -- Amy Coney Barrett -- to the public. Meadows says Trump was already showing symptoms but the president went to the event maskless. Not surprisingly, it turned out to be a super spreader event.

He also had a ceremony for Gold Star families at The White House ... again, he did not wear a mask even though he had COVID, at least according to Meadows.

The way Meadows describes it ... Trump was about to head to a rally in PA, when Meadows received a call from his doc, telling them to halt everything since POTUS had just tested positive. Meadows says he informed Trump, and the guy apparently had a colorful response.

MM writes Trump's answer "rhyme[d] with ‘Oh spit, you’ve gotta be trucking lidding me."

As if it weren't bad enough, Trump arrived at the debate late ... too late to be tested, and moderator Chris Wallace said at the time they were trusting Trump was negative based on the honor system.

Trump calls Meadows' description of events "fake news." He says he did not have COVID prior to or during the first debate. He cites a test proving he did not have COVID prior to the debate. That's not necessarily inconsistent with Meadows' account ... because even if he had a negative antigen test he still had a positive PCR test, according to MM.

If Meadows' account is true, there's no other way to cut it ... it's shockingly reckless, uncaring for others and, frankly, disgusting.

Pete Buttigieg insists he's not sure about getting back on the campaign trail -- possibly running for POTUS again in 2024 -- but he's not completely shutting the door either.

The former presidential hopeful, and current Sec. of Transportation, joined us Monday on "TMZ Live" and we asked him about the buzz around the Beltway about him making a second run for the White House.

Right now, Buttigieg says he's not feeling like there's anything inspiring him to run, because he's plenty busy trying to make an impact in his current job -- which includes allocating a good chunk of the $1 trillion infrastructure deal.

Pete made a push for the White House in 2020 before Joe Biden won the Democratic nomination and eventually the general election. While some people seem to think Mr. Secretary's gearing up for a second bite of the campaign trail, PB says he doesn't see any need for it. Not now, at least.

Aside from his political plate, Pete's also got his hands full being a parent with husband Chasten, and you can tell he loves being a dad to twins ... a boy and a girl.

The White House is fully decked out for Christmas ... and it goes way beyond the official tree.

The East and West Wings were adorned with Xmas trees, ornaments and various other holiday decorations.

Now, check this out ... there's a photo attached to one of the trees just like an ornament, featuring President Joe and Jill Biden. AND ... there's another pic of Biden's predecessor -- yes, Donald Trump -- on another tree.

The theme -- "Gifts from the heart" ... although the overriding theme seems to be "kindness" ... there are ribbons displaying that message in both Wings.

There was a gingerbread White House front and center in the State Dining Room ... kinda awesome.

As you may know ... The National Xmas Tree was lit last week ... a tree costing $139,000.

President Biden's first National Christmas Tree Lighting is going to be more lively than Donald Trump's last one ... but bringing back a live audience is gonna cost taxpayers a bundle.

According to federal docs, obtained by TMZ, the National Park Service shelled out $139,000 to a company in Ohio to locate, transport and transplant this year's National Christmas Tree just outside the White House.

The feds got a jump on their holiday shopping, signing the tree contract back in September. BTW, the last pre-pandemic National Tree, in 2019, set us back just over $160k -- so, the government actually can spend less!!! Talk about Christmas miracles.

After a virtual tree lighting ceremony in 2020 during the height of the pandemic, it looks like things are getting back to normal with a live audience this year ... and that means another big bill.

The docs show the National Park Service dropped an additional $171,000 on "event support" for the 2021 National Christmas Tree Lighting Festivities.

The official ceremony and lighting is set for Dec. 2 ... and LL Cool J is hosting, with holiday music from Billy Porter, Chris Stapleton, H.E.R., Juanes, Keb' Mo', Kristin Chenoweth, Maren Morris, and Patti LaBelle.

On a smaller scale, the White House also spent $41k on holiday decorations for the Eisenhower building and Jackson Place.

President Joe Biden says the United States is "considering" a diplomatic boycott of the 2022 Beijing Olympics ... as a result of China's human rights abuse issues.

It's tradition for the U.S. and other nations to send high-profile delegates to represent their respective countries at the Games -- Biden's wife, Jill Biden, participated in this past summer's Olympics in Tokyo.

But, as concerns continue to grow over China's human rights issues ... many across both sides of the political aisle have petitioned the Biden administration to boycott the upcoming Olympic Games in Beijing.

Sen. Tom Cotton of Arkansas addressed the situation on Wednesday ... saying, "I call on the Biden Administration to mount a complete and total boycott of the Beijing Winter Olympics -- no athletes, no administration officials, no corporate sponsors."

Even the Celtics' Enes Kanter -- an outspoken critic of #46 -- challenged Biden to maintain his campaign promise and "prioritize human rights" before he met with Chinese leader Xi Jinping.

While hosting Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau at the Oval Office on Thursday, POTUS wouldn't go as far as to say a total boycott was something the U.S. was considering ... but a diplomatic boycott is on the table.

If Biden and the White House were to engage in a diplomatic boycott, it would mean the U.S. would not send an official government delegation to the Games ... but athletes would still be able to participate.

Giannis Antetokounmpo and the Milwaukee Bucks are in the nation's capital to visit with President Joe Biden at the White House on Monday ... and naturally, the MVP's got his championship ring with him!!

The 2021 champs will become the first NBA team to visit 1600 Penn since Barack Obama hosted the Cleveland Cavaliers in 2016 ... with the Golden State Warriors, Toronto Raptors and Los Angeles Lakers passing on the opportunity.

Of course, the Warriors and Raps both publicly shut down visiting Donald Trump, while the Lakers didn't visit due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Giannis and Co. look ready for a day of fun with Biden ... with the team smiling and enjoying themselves before making their way to the White House in a matter of minutes.

Giannis even showed off his big ring to our camera guy ... and you can tell he's still loving the new bling.

Biden hosted the Tampa Bay Buccaneers earlier this year ... and it was Tom Brady who ran away with the silly jokes that time around.

The Bucks' ceremony is set to go down at 11:50 AM PT ... and we'll be streaming the whole thing.

Colin Powell is getting a poignant sendoff at Washington's National Cathedral ... with former Presidents and other political power players coming through to pay their respects.

So far we've seen President Biden and former Presidents Barack Obama and George W. Bush at the memorial service ... plus a pair of former Secretaries of State in Hillary Clinton and Condoleezza Rice, and former Vice President Dick Cheney.

Powell had a decorated military career before becoming Secretary of State in 2001 under Prez Bush.

As you can see, everyone in attendance is wearing a face mask, and not only, we're sure, because Dr. Anthony Fauci is there.

Even folks from outside the politics and the military are there honoring Powell -- baseball Hall of Famer Cal Ripken Jr. is there.

Interestingly, former President Bill Clinton is not at the service. Most likely because he was recently hospitalized for a UTI that spread to his bloodstream.

President Biden's press secretary, Jen Psaki, says she's come down with COVID-19 ... but is away from POTUS and has been for several days now.

Psaki revealed Sunday that she'd tested positive for the virus -- this after multiple days of testing negative upon learning people in her household had caught it. She was supposed to hit Europe with JB, but scrapped those plans after learning her family members were sick.

The Press Secretary also notes she was last in contact with Biden on Tuesday ... just before he flew to Rome, where he's currently at for the G20 summit. She notes they were standing at least six feet apart then, and were also wearing masks.

Psaki says, "I am disclosing today's positive test out of an abundance of transparency," adding ... "Thanks to the vaccine, I have only experienced mild symptoms which has enabled me to continue working from home."

She goes on to explain she'll return to the WH after a full 10-day quarantine period, and obviously after a negative test is once again registered.

A Southwest Airlines pilot allegedly parroted what has become a rallying cry on the far-right -- an insult to President Biden that's been coded as a cheer to somebody named Brandon.

The incident reportedly happened Friday on a Southwest flight from Houston to Albuquerque, where AP journo Colleen Long claims that upon touch-down -- the pilot hopped on the speaker for the plane and said "Let's go Brandon" just as he was signing off.

Long reports that some passengers were noticeably shocked, and even gasped when they heard it. She apparently tried confronting the pilot himself for what he said ... but alleges she was almost tossed the aircraft for doing so.

A Southwest spokesperson told AP that their airline "takes pride in providing a welcoming, comfortable, and respectful environment" and that "behavior from any individual that is divisive or offensive is not condoned." It's unclear if any further action will be taken.

Folks online are furious over the alleged utterance ... demanding Southwest find the pilot and can him for hurling politically motivated rhetoric -- and what some are even calling a slur.

If you're unfamiliar with how this originated, it all started a couple months ago when racecar driver Brandon Brown won a NASCAR event. During his post-race interview with NBC -- you could hear people in the crowd chanting "F*** Joe Biden," which the reporter tried brushing off as "Let's go Brandon" ... even though what they were saying was obvious and clear.

President Biden is dead wrong about the effectiveness of community policing and the need to bolster police numbers and budgets ... at least according to author Derecka Purnell.

Derecka, who has a new book on abolishing the police, joined us Friday on "TMZ Live" and laid into the Prez over his pro-police rhetoric during Thursday's Biden Town Hall.

She says Biden's trying to distance himself from the 1994 crime bill, but is regurgitating some of what she sees as the same failed policies this time around ... and she's not buying what Biden's selling in terms of community policing.

The way Derecka sees it ... community policing doesn't work like most folks might think, and she says the fatal interaction between Derek Chauvin and George Floyd is a perfect example of why it doesn't make much difference if cops know those in the community they're policing.

Derecka is a bit of an expert on the topic ... she's got a new book out called "Becoming Abolitionists: Police, Protests, and The Pursuit of Freedom."

The Chicago Sky got a presidential surprise after celebrating their WNBA Finals win -- getting a phone call from Barack Obama!!

#44 -- who's a HUGE hoops fan -- hit up the Sky right after the festivities in downtown Chicago on Tuesday via speakerphone ... and naturally, they were stoked!!

"I just want to let you know that Michelle, Malia, Sasha and Barack are all proud, as Chicagoans, to have world champs in our neighborhood," Obama said.

"I saw you guys ball out! I saw Parker doin' Candace Parker things. I saw those hot-shooting point guards and I saw [Kahleah] Copper going to the basket."

BO ain't lying. In fact, Copper -- who was named WNBA Finals MVP -- averaged 17.7 points per game during the playoffs along with Parker's 13.8 points and 8.4 rebounds.

And, this W hits different for Parker ... it's her second title, but the first for her hometown of Chicago.

"I know it's special for you, Candace, bringing the trophy back home," Obama said. "So, thank you for bringing some joy to the city."

"What an amazing team effort and I could not be prouder of you guys!"

President Joe Biden has taken heat for his comments this weekend that he wants to spend MORE on policing -- not defunding the police as some have advocated -- and one of his top advisors says if Biden had his way several years ago, Alton Sterling would be alive today.

Cedric Richmond was on TMZ Live Thursday to outline the Prez's agenda when it comes to improvements he wants to make in training American police forces. Biden recently raised eyebrows among supporters when he said he did not want to defund the police, but instead, build them up.

Richmond says Biden wants to put more money behind cops, but spend it on things like body cams, better training and even mental health experts within departments.

Richmond tells us community policing -- where officers take the time to meet and learn about members of a community -- can potentially be life-saving ... using the killing of Alton Sterling as an example of a life that could have been spared with better policing.

An alleged tape showing Donald Trump watching Russian prostitutes urinate on a hotel bed quite likely exists -- so claims the British spy who put the story on paper to begin with.

Christopher Steele -- who was hired to dig up dirt on the Trump campaign in the run-up to the 2016 election -- has emerged from the shadows for an ABC documentary, with anchor George Stephanopoulos at the helm with the interviewing and grilling.

He's asked whether all the intel he collected and reported in the dossier is true -- this after the feds here in the U.S. and other investigative bodies debunked a lot of it -- and Steele's response is ... it may not all be 100% accurate, but he has opinions on which parts are ... including the claim that Michael Cohen met with Russians in 2016 in Prague.

Of course ... the other part he thinks is "probably" true is that the Russians might have blackmail over Trump in the form of a tape showing him taking in a "golden showers" show ... in none other than a bed the Obamas are believed to have once slept in while visiting.

Trump has adamantly denied any such occurrence -- even as recently as last week, per reports -- saying he's a germaphobe ... and that he's had no shady dealings with Russians.

So, naturally, GS asked why Steele believes the tape hasn't leaked yet if it does, indeed, exist. Steele's answer -- it hasn't needed to be released ... because the Russians feel they got good value out of Trump during his time as President.

President Biden dished a vote of confidence to our men and women in black and blue -- acknowledging the tall order of enforcing the law, while rejecting defunding the police.

JB and the First Lady, Dr. Jill Biden, attended 40th Annual National Peace Officers' Memorial Service Saturday at the U.S. Capitol ... where they paid tribute to the fallen police officers who'd been killed in the line of duty over the past couple years -- upwards of 491.

The First couple laid flowers at memorial wreath for fallen officers from right there in D.C. -- including those who served in the Capitol Police, the Metropolitan Police Department and other local law enforcement agencies.

Of those officers from the D.C. area, he thanked them for their service -- especially those who laid their bodies on the line to defend the Capitol on Jan. 6 ... for which Biden says the nation is grateful.

He eventually pivoted to policing in the modern era ... confessing that, yes, it's a difficult job to do in 2021 -- and one that seems to be less and less sought after ... which the Prez says is a shame, as he said our cities, neighborhood and citizens need police to stay safe.

And then ... he talked about defunding the police, without using those exact words, per se. Joe says policing does need to change -- but he simply doesn't think stripping resources is the way to do it. If anything, he said the opposite ... that cops need more resources, and education on how to best implement them, referencing community policing and other tools.

It's an interesting stance ... and appears to differ with what some in his party have called for in the wake of George Floyd and other high profile police cases over the past year or so.

Former President Bill Clinton has been hospitalized with what his doctor says is an infection that spread into his bloodstream.

Clinton's docs say 42 was admitted to UC Irvine Medical Center Tuesday and is being closely monitored. The infection reportedly first started as a UTI, but became much more serious once it got into his bloodstream ... he's currently in the intensive care unit.

Dr. Alpesh Amin, from UC Irvine and Clinton's personal doctor, Dr. Lisa Bardack, say the former Prez is currently receiving antibiotics and fluids through an IV.

Reports say the 75-year-old is in good spirits while being cared for, and he's expected to be just fine.

His doctors told CNN, "After two days of treatment, his white blood cell count is trending down and he is responding to antibiotics well. We hope to have him go home soon."

Clinton was in California for a fundraiser before falling ill and being hospitalized.

Of course, Clinton has had his share of serious medical issues, he had a quadruple bypass heart surgery in 2004 and in 2010 he had two stents inserted to open an artery.

His doctors insist his most recent hospitalization has nothing to do with COVID or with his heart.

Bill Maher ended his show Friday night with a message ... "I hope I scared the s*** out of you," and he delivered ... by laying out a believable scenario of how the 2024 Presidential election will go down.

Maher believes we are in the grips of what he calls a "slow-moving coup" at the hands of Donald Trump, and his evidence is really hard to rebut. As he says, Trump learned from 2020 that you can't overturn an election with the current players in place, so he's been spending most of his time trying to change all that.

The evidence is out there ... we've seen Trump trying to purge the GOP of RINOs and endorsing secretaries of state all over the country -- these are the folks who manage elections. Trump's also been active in trying to change state legislatures so his people are in place who can grab more power over election tabulations. And, of course, he'll be the beneficiary of the 2022 midterms, when Republicans are expected to regain control of the House.

As you know ... the House certifies the election and although Trump couldn't get the results overturned in 2020, the landscape will shift in such a way that it could happen the next time around.

And, here's the craziest part ... Maher says it doesn't matter who Trump is running against. Even if it looks like the Democrat won, the day after the election Trump will declare victory and the pieces will be in place to affirm it -- whether he really wins or loses.

And, wait till you hear him lay out what might happen on January 20, 2025. It's a set up for civil war.