Robert Davis

A TMZ host revealed on Thursday that the person who abducted Nancy Guthrie, the 84-year-old mother of "Today" show co-host Savannah Guthrie, likely lives in Guthrie's hometown of Tucson, Arizona.

Nancy Guthrie likely disappeared on Saturday morning sometime between 1:45 a.m. and 2 a.m., according to evidence released by investigators. She was last seen at her home in Tucson, where she was dropped off after dinner with friends.

A ransom note was delivered to TMZ and investigators this week. TMZ founder Harvey Levin said on CNN's "Erin Burnett OutFront" that after reviewing the letter, he got the sense that it was written by a local.

"I just want to make this really clear that this is just my opinion, just based on analyzing it, that my sense and ... we've talked about this at length today, my sense is that whoever sent this letter is based in the Tucson area," Levin said. "And I say that because of a reference made in the letter, a sentence in the letter, it feels to me, reading it, that this is Tucson-based."

Levin said the ransom letter makes mention of a local television station that people who are unfamiliar with the city wouldn't necessarily know about.

"It doesn't seem like someone out of state or out of the country hatched this plan," Levin said.

Bombshell new details emerged on Thursday about the disappearance of Nancy Guthrie, the mother of "Today" show co-host Savannah Guthrie.

Nancy Guthrie, 84, disappeared from her home in the early morning hours of Feb. 1, authorities said. Officials received a ransom letter from the alleged abductor that included a demand for millions in Bitcoin as a ransom payment. The ransom note included a Thursday at 5 p.m. deadline.

TMZ founder Harvey Levin revealed during an interview on CNN's "Erin Burnett OutFront" that missing the first deadline caused the abductor to change their ransom demands.

The new deadline for a ransom payment is Monday, and Levin said it is "far more consequential."

"It felt like somebody meant business," Levin said. "I mean, when you read it, it's very detailed ... If it's legit, this person thought through the markers of showing that it's real. The bitcoin address. We checked immediately, and it's a real address. The FBI mentioned at the news conference today something that we had seen, where they mentioned the Apple Watch and the floodlight. And that was what really put my antenna up."

Disgraced financier and convicted sex criminal Jeffrey Epstein once considered launching his own "sex offender" lingerie line while he was angling for a pardon in Florida, according to new records.

Buried in the more than 3 million Epstein files that President Donald Trump's Department of Justice recently released is an undated transcript of a conversation between Epstein and two unnamed people, "Richard" and "Jessica." NBC News was first to report on the transcript.

During the conversation, Epstein discussed talking with former Florida Gov. Charlie Crist, a Republican, about a state pardon, which left him with the impression that the pardon would not come through. Crist has denied that the conversation took place.

Epstein seemed distraught by the news, according to the transcript, but not for a reason one might expect.

"I said I would talk to him later. I wanted to have a thoughtful response. My knee-jerk response was, 'Don't p---- out on me. Just do it,'" Epstein said about the pardon, according to the transcript.

"Richard: My gut reaction, given the way it has quieted -- much to my pleasure, and yours - is how meaningful is a pardon to you?"

"Jessica: That's what I was wondering, in my ignorance of the whole situation, why a pardon now?"

Epstein said the pardon would remove his sex offender status, but that could cause problems with his personal life. He said women had told him that being with a sex offender was "exciting." That's when he came up with his idea.

"Do you think sex offender lingerie would sell? If I had a new line and it came out..." Epstein said.

Read the entire transcript by clicking here.

A former GOP campaign spokesman was taken aback by President Donald Trump's treatment of a CNN reporter at the White House.

During a press gaggle, CNN reporter Kaitlan Collins asked Trump about the victims of disgraced financier and convicted sex criminal Jeffrey Epstein. The question seemed to trigger Trump, who lashed out at Collins by calling her "the worst" and telling her that she never smiles.

Tim Miller, host of "The Bulwark Podcast," said on Thursday during an interview on former Obama White House staffer Jon Lovett's podcast, "Lovett or Leave It," that Trump's comments toward Collins appeared to be an "implicit admission" about what he thinks of the Epstein victims.

"It is a bit on the nose to, um, you know, be asked about ill treatment and abuse of young women and girls, and then to lash out at that question by attacking someone and by calling them a young woman and making sexist attacks on them," Miller said. "There's like an implicit admission at some level of what he thinks about the victims of Jeffrey Epstein in the way that he handled that question."

The Epstein files have been a sore spot for Trump during his second term. The Department of Justice's handling of the files has embarrassed the administration and caused harm to victims of Epstein's crimes. Recently, the DOJ released the personal information of some victims, which caused an outcry from advocates and lawmakers alike.

Trump has also lashed out at Republicans who have shown support for Epstein's victims. Last year, Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY) and former Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) held a press conference with several of Epstein's victims only to face a barrage of attacks from the president and his allies in the months following.

President Donald Trump trashed the U.S. election system on Thursday in a social media post.

Trump has consistently claimed that elections in the U.S. are rigged against him despite being unable to provide evidence supporting that claim in over 60 lawsuits. Republicans in Congress have introduced a bill called the SAVE Act that would implement significant changes, such as requiring voter ID nationwide and requiring proof of citizenship to vote.

Trump called on Republicans to "fight" to pass the legislation on Thursday, while taking a swipe at the system that brought him and his allies into power

"America’s Elections are Rigged, Stolen, and a Laughingstock all over the World," Trump wrote on Truth Social. "We are either going to fix them, or we won’t have a Country any longer."

A legal expert floated a disturbing new theory on Thursday about President Donald Trump's efforts to end elections in the United States.

So far, most media coverage of Trump's plans to meddle with the 2026 midterm election results has focused on states changing election maps, and most recently, Trump's call for Republicans to "nationalize" parts of the elections. However, part of Trump's foreign policy may intersect with his goal of ending America's free and fair election system.

Legal expert Allison Gill, host of the "Mueller, She Wrote" podcast, speculated in a new Substack essay on Thursday that Trump's ploy to capture Venezuelan dictator Nicolás Maduro and extradite him to the U.S. may also be part of Trump's election gambit.

She pointed to recent reporting that Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard's team took voting machines from Puerto Rico to see if Venezuela had been able to access them during the last election. She argued that Trump might use a similar pretext to interfere with the U.S. elections.

"Will Trump use Maduro to fabricate false claims of foreign election interference so he can try to seize voting machines, end vote-by-mail, and nationalize elections? I think so," Gill wrote. "And it will all come down to whether the Supreme Court believes he has the authority."

Read the entire essay by clicking here.

Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. was brutally fact-checked on Thursday after he made a wild claim about the benefits of the keto diet.

Kennedy was speaking to a crowd in Tennessee as part of a nationwide tour to get Americans to eat healthier foods when he claimed that scientists at Harvard University had cured schizophrenia in a patient using the keto diet, The New York Times reported. He also claimed that the food Americans eat is "driving mental illness in this country," a claim that experts have said ignores environmental and social factors.

The Times spoke to multiple experts about Kennedy's claim, one of whom described it as "simply misleading."

"Some small short-term studies, including one at Stanford University, 'offer very preliminary evidence' that the diet 'might be helpful' in patients with schizophrenia, said Dr. Paul S. Appelbaum, a professor of psychiatry at Columbia University and past president of the American Psychiatric Association," the Times reported. "But it is 'simply misleading to suggest that we know that ketogenic diets can improve schizophrenia symptoms, much less that they can ‘cure’ the condition,' he said.'"

Columbia psychiatry professor Dr. Mark Olfson was more direct with The Times.

“There is currently no credible evidence that ketogenic diets cure schizophrenia,” he said.

Read the entire report by clicking here.

President Donald Trump has been widely described by historians and political analysts as America's biggest threat, but there may be an even larger one lurking in the shadows of the White House.

Trump's second administration has been marked by a rapid about-face from democratic norms and practices. His administration has openly flouted myriad court orders, attacked the integrity of the nation's election infrastructure, and Trump himself has called on his party to "nationalize" part of the election system to eradicate the election "fraud" that Trump has complained about since he lost the general election of 2020.

Josh G., co-host of the "Ring of Fire" podcast, said on Thursday that there is an even bigger threat to America's democracy than Trump — Vice President JD Vance.

He pointed to Vance's recent Wednesday interview with right-wing pundit Megyn Kelly on her self-titled show as evidence of just how dangerous he is. During the interview, Vance showed he can sell Trump's most odious positions as reasonable policy, he said, and at times appears to be "the adult in the room."

"I understand why it sells. I do. I understand why JD Vance is getting paraded out there," he said. "Trump's poll numbers are sliding. Every press conference is absolute chaos. JD Vance makes that chaos feel more manageable. It's a lot less Truth Social rants from 3 a.m. and a lot more press releases, a lot more presidential."

Questions have swirled about who will take over Trump's MAGA movement once the president leaves politics. Speculation is growing that Republicans will coalesce around Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio in 2028, although other MAGA heavyweights like Trump whisperer Steve Bannon could make a play for the crown.

President Donald Trump's "wild admission" during his speech at the National Prayer Breakfast on Thursday was swiftly mocked by political analysts and observers.

Trump gave one of his signature "weaving" speeches during the event, which was attended by lawmakers, political advocates, and religious organizations alike. The speech included a digression about how a prominent Southern Baptist preacher named Robert Jeffress was one of Trump's biggest supporters, during which Trump seemed to admit he may have never read the Bible, despite drawing significant support from the Evangelical Christian community.

"Is he here?" Trump asked the crowd about Jeffress. "Robert Jeffress was on television in 2016 when I had just announced I was running, and he said, 'I know every candidate very well, and I know Trump a little bit. He may not be as good with the Bible as some of them, and he may not have read the Bible as much as some of them. In fact, he may not have ever read the Bible. But he will be a much stronger messenger for us.'"

Trump's comments attracted mockery online.

"Wild admission from someone who literally sells Bibles and once called it his 'favorite book of all time,'" Hemant Mehta, a "Jeopardy!" champion and podcaster, posted on X.

"As a Christian, I've gotta say these clips coming out of the National Prayer Breakfast just cut deeper each year," Kate deGruyter, former staffer for Rep. Luis Gutiérrez (D-IL), posted on X. "The religious right has made such a bad bet by going full MAGA."

"He's been pretending to be a Christian for decades and he still can't even pretend to have read the Bible," John Iadarola, host of "The Damage Report" podcast, posted on X.

"Trump merely sells Bibles," the political commentary account PatriotTakes posted on X. "He ignores the parts about helping the poor and loving migrants."

President Donald Trump made a "telling" claim about an ongoing GOP investigation during an exclusive interview with NBC News on Wednesday night, which drew mockery from analysts and observers.

Trump was interviewed on Wednesday by "NBC Nightly News" anchor Tom Llamas on topics ranging from the actions of Trump's immigration officers in Minneapolis to the Jeffrey Epstein files. On Wednesday, Democrats threatened to subpoena Trump to testify about his relationship with Epstein in response to the House GOP successfully forcing Bill and Hillary Clinton to testify about the disgraced financier and convicted sex criminal.

"It bothers me that somebody is going after Bill Clinton," Trump said. "I like Bill Clinton. I still like Bill Clinton."

"What do you like about him?" Llamas asked.

" I liked his behavior toward me. I thought he got me, he understood me," Trump said.

Trump made the comments just days after some House Democrats voted with Republicans on a measure to force the Clintons to testify publicly about Epstein. The vote ended a months-long stalemate between the parties, during which time a lawyer for the Clintons accused Rep. James Comer (R-KY), who leads the House Oversight Committee, of acting in bad faith to secure their testimony.

Trump's comments attracted mockery online.

"It's telling that I hold Bill Clinton in far lower esteem than Donald Trump does," journalist Christopher Orr posted on X.

"Translation = Trump wants the Epstein investigation to end," writer Wajahat Ali posted on X.

"Well well well. Someone tell Comer that Donald Trump is upset he’s going after Bill Clinton," Democratic strategist Adam Parkhomenko posted on X.

"Translation: 'If Bill Clinton goes down, he’s taking me with him,'" Mike Figueredom host of "The Humanist Report," posted on X.

There's one influential "movement leader" who appears ready to usurp President Donald Trump's MAGA crown, an author revealed on Wednesday.

Political analysts and observers have wondered for months who will become the next MAGA leader when Trump leaves office. Some have speculated that Vice President JD Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio are the top candidates, while Trump whisperer Steve Bannon has also positioned himself to take over the movement.

Jason Zengerle, author of "Hated By All the Right People," revealed during an interview with Joanna Coles on "The Daily Beast Podcast" that Tucker Carlson, the subject of his book, is in the best position to take over the MAGA movement. Zengerle said Carlson is already playing the part of a "movement leader" with his media company.

"He's more than just a podcaster," Zengerle said. "He's more than a media figure. He's kind of a movement leader at this point, and one of the reasons I wanted to write the book was ... there's a tendency, especially among liberals, to just kind of dismiss him and ignore him and think that he's just a podcaster who has an audience. It's all about clicks and downloads, and he's just saying this stuff for money and ratings. And I actually don't think that's the case."

Carlson has become a mercurial figure to MAGA. Last year, he interviewed avowed antisemite and white nationalist Nick Fuentes on his popular podcast, a move that caused a schism in Trump's base.

The Heritage Foundation's leader, Kevin Roberts, defended Carlson's interview, which was met with swift backlash by his staff, many of whom resigned from their jobs over his comments.

A lawyer leading one of the country's largest law firms is leaving his job over his ties to the late disgraced financier and convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, according to a new report.

The Wall Street Journal reported on Wednesday that Brad Karp, the leader of Paul Weiss, resigned after the recently released Epstein files revealed that he had been negotiating with Epstein in 2016 to get his son a movie role.

“Leading Paul Weiss for the past 18 years has been the honor of my professional life," Karp said in a statement to the WSJ. "Recent reporting has created a distraction and has placed a focus on me that is not in the best interests of the firm.”

Karp had previously clashed with President Donald Trump after the president attempted to shake down the law firm that had brought cases against him during his first administration. Karp was one of the law firm leaders who "brokered a deal" with Trump at the time, the WSJ reported, and Karp was sharply criticized by his peers for the move.

Read the entire report by clicking here.

"Today" show co-host Savannah Guthrie shared a heart-wrenching plea to social media on Wednesday, addressed to whoever abducted her mother, Nancy, over the weekend.

Nancy Guthrie disappeared from her Tucson, Arizona, home on Saturday. She was reported missing after she didn't show up for church on Sunday morning. Police and investigators have not released any information about potential suspects or persons of interest in the case.

In a prepared statement shared on her Instagram page, Savannah Guthrie said her mother lives in constant pain and needs her medicine to survive. She also responded to reports of a possible ransom letter.

"We, too, have heard the reports of a potential ransom letter," Guthrie said. "As a family, we are doing everything we can. We are ready to talk."

"However, we live in a world where voices and images are easily manipulated," Guthrie said. "We need to know, without a doubt, that she is alive and that you have her. We want to hear from you, and we are ready to listen."

President Donald Trump's administration is about to face a "tsunami" from the federal court system, one former judge said on Wednesday.

Since Trump's second term began last January, officials and lawyers representing the administration have consistently ignored court orders that they found to be inconvenient and attacked the federal judiciary whenever judges ruled against them. Trump's days of bullying judges appear to be numbered, according to Michael Luttig, a conservative former federal judge.

Luttig said during an interview on the "Legal AF" podcast on Wednesday that federal judges are finally standing up to Trump, and that is likely to increase as the administration continues to flout their orders.

One reason he cited for the courts' change of heart is that public opinion of the Trump administration has shifted.

"Frankly, every American is against Donald Trump today except his die-in-the-wool MAGA, I believe, and of course, the Congress of the United States," Luttig said. "But that tsunami that didn't begin until a month ago was the saving grace for the lower federal courts."

"More appropriately, it gave them the needed courage from above them or outside them to do what they knew they had to do and wanted to do all along," he continued. "And that's why you've seen floodgates, every single thing leading up to most recently."

The eye-popping comments President Donald Trump made during an interview on Wednesday show that somebody inside the White House has gotten to him, according to a former Fox News anchor.

Trump gave an interview to NBC News on Wednesday, in which he acknowledged that his administration could have used a "softer touch" in its immigration enforcement in Minneapolis. His comments represent an abrupt about-face for a president who has consistently defended his deportation regime and claimed they were only going after the "worst of the worst" criminals.

Gretchen Carlson, a former Fox News host, said during an interview on CNN's "Erin Burnett OutFront" that she was surprised to hear the president's comments.

"Somebody got to him," Carlson said. "Presumably, the polls are the first thing that got to him because he's absolutely cratering in the polls on this issue."

Even though the words were nice to hear from the president, Carlson said she still had her reservations.

"But the thing that I worry about is, after he seemed to have a little empathy for the situation in Minnesota and two U.S. citizens were murdered, then, last Friday night, he was asked about it on the red carpet, and he completely flipped again," she said. "So I'm worried now that these comments were from the last person who spoke to him before he went out to do this interview."