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Rick Harrison got a call from 2 of Donald Trump's sons after his own son, Adam Harrison, died from a fentanyl overdose.

A rep for the "Pawn Stars" patriarch tells TMZ ... Donald Jr. and Eric Trump reached out to Rick after learning of Adam's death. We're told the Trumps spoke to Rick on the phone to offer their condolences.

The Trump and Harrison families have a long relationship. Rick's been a vocal supporter of the former president for years -- at one point referring to himself as a "Trump guy."

When DT was in the White House, he and Rick met in September 2018 ... snapping a photo together with Rick's youngest son, Jake.

Even before the phone call, Don. Jr commented on Rick's tribute post to Adam, "I'm so sorry man."

TMZ broke the story ... Adam died last week from a drug overdose.

Rick told us fentanyl killed his 39-year-old son and added, "The fentanyl crisis in this country must be taken more seriously. It seems it is just flowing over the borders and nothing is being done about it. We must do better."

Tucker Carlson's said he wouldn't be interested in running for office -- including as Donald Trump's Vice Prez -- but the thing is, we're hearing he could be persuaded to change that stance.

Here's the deal ... with Republican primary season underway, and Trump leading the ever-shrinking pack ... there's been a lot of speculation over who's going to be his #2.

While Tucker's name has been tossed around, he's always rebuffed the idea.

As recently as a month ago, in fact, he told Megyn Kelly politics aren't for him ... not as a career, anyway.

Now, sources with direct knowledge tell us Tucker hasn't explicitly changed that tune around those in his inner circle -- but we're also told there is a feeling from several in his orbit that he could actually be convinced to dive in with Trump, if push came to shove.

Here's what we're hearing from people in his world -- TC, of late, has been expressing to some in his orbit that Trump selecting a Republican along the lines of Nikki Haley (who's the only real challenger at this point), Tim Scott or even Mike Pompeo would be a "disaster" for the country.

We're told if Tucker feels Trump's making a bad choice for the country, he might be willing to throw his hat in the ring as another -- and, in his eyes, better -- option for Trump.

Our sources say people in Trump's world have been kicking around Tucker's name internally -- and we're even told there are a few Trump surrogates quietly pushing for him behind the scenes. In fact, our sources say Donald himself has spoken glowingly about TC.

Plus, take into consideration that Don Jr. himself has also name-dropped Tucker in the VP conversation -- so yes, there's definitely a little momentum. Although we're told Tucker himself has not expressed direct interest in the appointment. At least not yet, anyway.

So, where does that leave us? Well, on its face ... it sounds like many people would love to see Tucker run as Trump's Veep, and it also appears there are people in Tucker's world who actually think he might take the leap as time goes on.

Tucker has been very outspoken on a lot of issues heading into the 2024 election -- but, to be fair, that is what he does for a living.

The question now is ... is he willing to do anything more than simply talk about the issues Time will tell!

Pro-Palestine protesters shut down a street near the Sundance Film Festival on Sunday afternoon ... and a couple famous faces joined their numbers.

About 100 protesters reportedly showed up on Park City's Main Street for a protest organized by "Let Gaza Live" ... with police in the small Utah town shutting down the block to traffic.

Among those protesting ... former 'Scream' star Melissa Barrera -- who was fired for her comments on the war between Israel and Hamas -- and model/actor Indya Moore.

MB kept a low profile with her hood on and sunglasses covering her eyes while IM was more front and center ... at one point using a megaphone at the rally.

BTW, Barrera's been talking a lot about her firing recently ... telling the Associated Press Friday night that getting laid off from the popular franchise was a "big awakening" for her adding she's "grateful" for everything that's happened.

The protest was pretty peaceful all morning ... with videos populating social media of passionate protesters -- though their chants stirred up some controversy.

Some of the protesters used the phrase "From the river to the sea" which is a point of contention between Israel supporters and Palestine supporters ... they're also going right after President Biden calling him "Genocide Joe" and repurposing an old condemnation of Lyndon B. Johnson -- asking him how many kids he's "killed today."

Protesters in support of Israel were also on the streets in Park City ... seemingly mounting a counter-protest and chanting "Bring them home" in reference to hostages taken by Hamas during the tragic October 7 attack.

It should be noted that the protest was not affiliated with Sundance, instead just running near it ... a move other political protesters have used in the past to capitalize on media attention. Thousands of protesters gathered back in 2017 to protest then-newly inaugurated President Trump.

Ron DeSantis is officially out of the presidential race ... and he's not exactly going out on a limb with his endorsement.

The Florida governor posted a four-minute vid to X telling his supporters he's suspending his campaign -- this, just two days before the New Hampshire primary -- and ultimately he's putting his support behind former President Donald Trump.

RD started his clip by repeating many conservative stances on issues -- more border security, social decay in cities, indoctrination of children by woke ideology ... basically the boilerplate message.

DeSantis said his team prayed after the loss in Iowa -- where Trump crushed him at the voting booths, with more than double Ron's vote count -- and his team ultimately realized there's nothing that'll swing the race in their favor.

As for the endorsement ... the 45-year-old acknowledged he's disagreed with DT on policy in the past, but he's putting that aside for the good of the party -- basically saying four more years of Joe Biden in the White House isn't acceptable.

Hitching your wagon to the frontrunner ain't anything new in politics -- it's all part of the game. And RD's stayed away from roasting Trump during the run-up to the primaries ... unlike Nikki Haley, the last major opposition to the Donald.

Speaking of NH, it's not surprising she's not getting Ron's support ... not only did she finish third in Iowa and fall way behind Trump in the polls, but they faced off at the last Republican debate -- and it got a little nasty.

Ron said Nikki's only in it for what her financial backers want ... Nikki straight up called Ron a liar -- yeah, it got pretty intense.

Bill Maher is back for a new season, and he came out swinging against both the left and right extremes, saying both sides are so crazy they meet the standard for involuntary commitment.

The "Real Time" host bore down on both extremes Friday night, proclaiming 2024 as the year of sanity. He says enough of the extremes getting all the attention. And then, he gave them some attention, but clearly not the kind they want.

Bill went in hard on the right, noting the leading Republican candidate is kind of dictator. On the left, he noted 3 university presidents could not bring themselves to squarely condemn calls for the genocide of Jews. As BM says, "Can't anyone say f**k no?!?"

He scoffs at folks who are supporting Hamas, especially those Hamas would kill because of their views, race, sexual orientation, etc. Bill says people who are supporting causes that would ultimately kill them meet the standard for involuntary commitment ... i.e. a danger to themselves.

And speaking of extremes ... a Lululemon employee was fired for getting a shoplifter arrested, and Trump wants to shoot shoplifters. As Bill says, why can't we just find a middle ground?

A photo of Donald Trump's hand sparked a ton of speculation about his health on the internet ... but now, TMZ has some clarity -- at least from Trump World's POV.

Here's the deal ... DT was leaving the E. Jean Carroll defamation trial on Wednesday in NYC when he raised a hand to wave to his loyal followers who were stationed outside the courthouse ... and something bright red caught the attention of photogs.

It's hard to make out exactly what it is -- but some thought it looked like blisters or sores of some sort ... and of course, the internet went crazy with theories when they saw it, with many attempting to diagnose the former Prez with just about every ailment under the sun.

Interestingly, he surfaced from court later the same day on Wednesday ... and the so-called red hand was a little more normal-looking that time around. It was very, very weird.

Anyway, we talked to some folks and sources tied to the Trump campaign are telling us a different story than what people think they saw in the OG pic. We're told the only thing that was afflicting Trump that day was a simple paper cut, and he accidentally spread the blood around his hand. Yep, that's what the Trump camp is saying here ... just a little nick.

While that might sound hard to believe, it might actually be the truth -- again, DT came out with his hand seemingly cleared up and free of any abrasions ... so maybe it was just blood.

BTW, he was out again in public Thursday ... and there was no sign of any redness on his right hand from what we could see. As we reported, he attended his mother-in-law's funeral with Melania and his son Barron Thursday morning.

We're in the home stretch of the Republican campaign now ... every little detail's gonna drive the public freakin' crazy -- especially for a guy who loves talking about his hands like ex-POTUS.

Donald Trump's taking a break from his legal issues to support Melania as she lays her mother to rest in Florida.

The former prez stood somber Friday morning next to his wife and their son Barron -- the whole family was dressed in Black as they attended the funeral for Amalija Knavs in Palm Beach.

Melania's dad Viktor remained glued to her side as they followed the casket out of the Episcopal Church of Bethesda-by-the-Sea, ready to lay Amalija in her final resting place.

As we previously reported ... the former First Lady announced her mother passed away last Tuesday It's not clear exactly how she died, but Trump told a crowd on New Year's Eve his mother-in-law had recently fallen "very ill."

Trump also called the night Amalija passed a very sad one for the family, while adding she "has just gone to a beautiful place in the sky. She was an incredible woman, and will be missed far beyond words!”

The leading Republican presidential candidate is clearly prioritizing his family's mourning -- he's off the campaign trail after dominating the Iowa Caucus, and also skipped the E. Jean Carroll defamation trial in NYC to be at the funeral.

One other takeaway from Thursday's service ... Barron's really grown up in recent years and is the spitting image of his father, when he was young. Check out the pics, especially the one where he's extending a hand to support Dad.

Nikki Haley said America has never been a racist country -- but Whoopi Goldberg would beg to differ ... and she's ready to list the ugly receipts that prove the exact opposite.

The talk show host tackled this topic on "The View" Wednesday -- this a day after the Republican presidential candidate went on FOX News to rebuke the notion that America is a racist nation ... but in the same breath, denied the U.S. has ever that problem.

Of course, that's a ridiculous statement ... and just factually wrong. Not only did we have slaves in this country for a good long while -- but America was a segregated nation through much of the 20th century as well. Basic history ... but NH seems to be trying to blur it.

Welp, Whoopi wasn't having any of Haley's obfuscation ... and she unloaded on her in no uncertain terms in an impassioned speech as she was intro'ing this topic at the table.

Check out what she has to say for yourself -- she says all the lynching of Black people over the years wasn't carried out by them ... but by racist Americans, and you can tell she's outraged by Haley's attempt to downplay this country's past.

The reason this latest slip-up from her stands out is the fact that just recently suggested the Civil War was not really about slavery -- something she tried to clarify after the fact ... but raised a lot of eyebrows when she said it.

Things didn't get better when she further tried distancing herself from those remarks at a Republican town hall ... using the old "I have Black friends" line to defend herself.

Somebody swatted the White House this week, if you can believe that -- and, apparently, the prankster actually got first responders to rush over to POTUS' crib.

According to the Associated Press, a fake 911 call was placed Monday morning in the D.C. area just after 7 AM ... and the person who phoned in filed a BS report of a fire breaking out at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave., while going on to claim someone was trapped inside.

President Joe Biden and his family were not at the WH this morning, BTW ... they were over at Camp David, and not long after -- he touched down in Philly for an MLK event later today.

It's unclear if JB was immediately aware of the swatting attempt -- but in any case, it sounds like it worked ... 'cause AP reports that the local fire department rushed over to the White House, where they met with Secret Staffers to figure out what the hell was going on.

Of course, none of it was true ... something official realized quite quickly. AP says that when the authorities tried calling the number that first called in -- the person on the other end denied placing any such call ... so the whole thing was just an elaborate practical joke.

Martin Luther King Jr. was planning a trip to the Soviet Union after surviving an assassination attempt, and his letter explaining his reasons for the visit is up for grabs.

The famed civil rights leader was only 2 months removed from being stabbed at a book signing in Harlem when he wrote to the National Council of Churches, explaining his motivations behind a visit to the USSR.

MLK's 1958 letter outlines 6 reasons for the stopover, on his way back from India, including a desire to investigate why Soviet citizens were still religious despite state-sponsored atheism.

Dr. King also told the National Council of Churches he wanted to meet with Baptists in the communist nation to figure out how Soviet policies affected minorities.

One really eye-opening part of the letter is the price ... MLK estimated the trip would cost a whopping $35 per day for his hotels, trains, planes, interpreters, cars and chauffeurs. Yeah, different time -- today that would be about $370 per day.

The rare piece of MLK history is going up for sale through Moments In Time for $54,000 ... after being stored for years by a private collector.

Donald Trump just got a cosign on his upstanding character -- but he received it from none other than a notorious mobster in Sammy the Bull ... and yet, he's still pretty thankful.

The ex-Prez sent a shoutout to the former Gambino crime family underboss on Truth Social -- reacting to a clip of an interview Sammy recently did on VladTV where he discussed once trying to "get to" DT back in the day ... when he was just a big-time developer in NYC.

As Sammy explains, he was able to press a lot of real estate dudes in the game during that time and have his way with them ... but, apparently, Donny himself wasn't having it.

STB goes so far as to say that despite repeated attempts to get into business with Trump -- and getting rebuffed at each stop -- he decided Don was "legitimate" and moved on. It's certainly an interesting anecdote, but Trump loved the "praise" ... and made it known online.

Trump wrote in response, "Thank you to Sammy the Bull. I hope Judges Engoron & Kaplan see this. We need fairness, strength and honesty in our New York Courts. We don’t have it now!" The robes he's referring to here are the ones overseeing a couple of his cases at the moment, BTW ... he seems to think they need to take a cue from Sam on morality.

1. Of course, the backdrop to this is Trump being in court on a number of different fronts as we head toward the '24 election. He's being prosecuted criminally, and being sued civilly too.

NY's Attorney General, Letitia James, for example claims DT is totally corrupt and a very shady business guy ... something she and her team have been trying to prove in court.

Hunter Biden has pled not guilty to all charges in the DOJ's case accusing the President's son of tax evasion.

As we reported, President Joe Biden's son was indicted last month on 9 charges, including failure to pay taxes, evasion of assessment, filing false or fraudulent tax returns ... and more.

Hunter made his first appearance in the case Thursday ... appearing before Judge Mark C. Scarsi, an appointee of former President Donald Trump, at the federal courthouse in downtown L.A.

He faces up to 17 years behind bars if convicted.

Special counsel David Weiss brought the case after an investigation involving Hunter's business dealings overseas.

Prosecutors claim Hunter spent millions on an extravagant lifestyle instead of paying his taxes.

As we reported, Hunter was indicted on separate gun charges back in Sept ... originally getting a plea deal for both the federal tax case and the gun situation.

Jelly Roll says he was part of the drug problem in America -- but is hoping to be a part of the solution now ... taking a powerful stance against fentanyl in front of Congress.

The country singer/rapper was on Capitol Hill Thursday -- where he gave testimony about his own experience in this department ... going over his history as a drug dealer, and detailing how he came out the other side.

Jelly says his troubled past actually makes him the perfect person to throw his support behind the anti-fentanyl legislation that was being discussed here ... listing heartbreaking examples of how his life's been personally affected by the spiraling problem.

JR explains that he's attended more funerals for his loved ones than he cares to share ... fearing one day, he'll have to tell his teen daughter her drug addict mom has become a national statistic -- which sits at 190 people dying from an overdose daily.

JR -- who had 40 prison stints before the age of 22 -- says he thought selling drugs was a victimless crime ... and never thought America's drug epidemic would spiral from crack cocaine to opioids/OxyContin, and now fentanyl. Now, he's acknowledging how deadly fentanyl is ... and vowing to do everything he can to eradicate it, hence his words today.

Ron DeSantis and Nikki Haley came out swinging during Wednesday's fifth 2024 Republican Primary Debate with each trading barbs as the two emerged as Donald Trump's biggest challengers in the upcoming Iowa Caucus.

With just 3 days to go before the polls open in Iowa, DeSantis duked it out with Haley onstage at Drake University in Des Moines, while the former President stayed on the sidelines as he did for the other four debates.

DeSantis got things rolling as he stood at a lectern next to Haley, slamming her and Trump in response to questions by CNN moderators Dana Bash and Jake Tapper.

The Florida governor said, “Donald Trump’s running to pursue his issues. Nikki Haley’s running to pursue her donors’ issues. I’m running to pursue your issues and your family’s issues.”

DeSantis then isolated his attack to Haley, saying, “We don’t need another mealy-mouthed politician who just tells you what she thinks you want to hear.”

The ex-South Carolina governor landed some jabs of her own, calling DeSantis a liar at one point and needling him for losing his donors to her.

“He’s only mad about the donors because the donors used to be with him, but they’re no longer with him,” Haley said, adding, “His campaign is exploding.”

The insults didn't stop there. DeSantis mocked Haley for having a "problem with ballistic podiatry, shooting herself in the foot every other day."

Haley, as you know, stumbled over her Civil War comments, failing to name slavery as the trigger for the conflict and was roasted by the media as she had to clarify what she meant.

When they weren't at each other's throats, the two candidates discussed a range of issues, such as abortion, immigration, foreign affairs and the January 6th Capitol riots.

Sen. Chuck Schumer is one of a handful of lawmakers signaling a major shift in the U.S. government's approach to UFO reports -- further evidence people in power believe the truth needs to be uncovered.

The third part of the docuseries event, "TMZ Presents: UFO Revolution" examines who's leading the charge in Washington, DC, why they're doing it ... and what it means to the public.

Schumer and Sen. Mike Rounds introduced bipartisan legislation last year -- the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) -- to increase the government's transparency on reports of UAP activity, and it was passed last month.

Another critical voice in the fight for disclosure is Stanford Professor Dr. Garry Nolan, and he says the very public involvement of prominent lawmakers, particularly Schumer, proves UAP (or UFOs) are no longer a fringe issue.

As Garry puts it in episode 3, available now on Tubi, Schumer wouldn't sponsor the NDAA and risk reputation -- especially in a presidential election year -- if he didn't believe there's something behind it.

Schumer was also a close friend of the late Sen. Harry Reid -- one of the trailblazers of the UFO movement -- and that's another reason he's pushing for transparency.

Filmmaker and journalist Jeremy Corbell, who's been leading our investigation, says getting DC "pit bulls" on board could potentially take this search for answers to places he never before thought possible.

Chris Christie has officially bowed out of the race for President ... but just before he did, he was caught talking trash about Nikki Haley.

The former New Jersey Governor was picked up on a hot mic Wednesday ahead of announcing he's pulling out of the presidential race ... talking to someone about who can potentially hold their own in the primaries.

You can hear him say, "She's gonna get smoked" and "She's not up to this," referring to Haley.

This was Christie's 2nd attempt at the White House. BTW -- he went up against Donald Trump in 2016, but pulled out after his approval rating was simply anemic.

This time around, he went up against Trump, Haley, Ron DeSantis and Vivek Ramaswamy -- and things got heated between the candidates on the debate floor.

Vivek fat-shamed CC in December, shutting him down on the topic of foreign policy by saying, "Just walk yourself off that stage, enjoy a nice meal, and get the hell out of this race."

While Trump was absent from all debates, Christie let him have it nonetheless -- calling him Donald Duck, citing how often the former President was "ducking" the debates.