Richard Johnson: Trump giddy over romance between Don Jr.'s ex and Tiger Woods
NEW YORK — Love is in the air at Mar-a-Lago, Donald Trump's winter White House.
The president is said to be pleased as punch about both his ex-daughter-in-law Vanessa Trump's relationship with golf legend Tiger Woods and his son Don Jr.'s new girlfriend, Palm Beach socialite Bettina Anderson.
Tiger, who plays golf with the president at his Florida clubs, gave Trump a heads-up about his budding romance with Vanessa, and the president gave them both his blessing.
Don Jr. and Anderson are going strong, and insiders predict that they may well be engaged by the end of the summer, once his ex-fiancé Kimberly Guilfoyle has been confirmed as U.S. ambassador to Greece and heads to Athens.
****
Brooklyn rapper Sheff G, born Michael Williams, 26, is heading back to prison in August, having pleaded guilty to attempted murder.
But his lawyer, Arthur Aidala, told me, 'Sheff is a really good kid. He doesn't drink. He doesn't do drugs. His mother and sister came to court every day.'
Brooklyn DA Eric Gonzalez wanted a sentence of 20 years. Sheff G will get five, and get out in three years with time already served.
More than 30 members of the 8 Trey Crips and the street gang's affiliate, the 9 Ways gang, have been indicted.
'Notoriety could not shield this defendant from justice,' Gonzalez said in a statement. 'He used his fame to fund and direct violence, terrorizing our streets.'
Prosecutors said Sheff G showered jewelry and cash on gang members as they battled rivals.
Aidala said Sheff G is 'a smart, sweet kid who is not happy going to prison and probably shielding some friends who faced jail.'
Helping him prepare for life behind bars is prison consultant Craig Rothfeld, who coached Harvey Weinstein and Luigi Mangione.
Until August, Sheff G will be making appearances and hanging with fans, Aidala said. 'He's more popular than ever.'
****
Cal Hoffman is becoming the pied piper of authors on the national tour for his debut novel, 'Easy to Slip.'
'Proof' playwright David Auburn describes the 1970s coming-of-age story as 'intricate, hallucinatory, funny and harrowing.'
At the tour's kick-off at Politics and Prose in Washington, D.C., investigative journalist Mike Isikoff was cheering along with ABC's Jon Garcia and CBS's Fin Gomez.
The next stop at the Palm Beach Book Store saw bestselling author Laurence Leamer ('Capote's Women' and the upcoming 'Warhol's Muses') introduce Hoffman and told the standing-room crowd to 'pay attention' to this author.
The next night at Books & Books in Miami, audience members were quoting his novel back to him.
But the New York City Barnes & Noble blowout broke the Upper West Side store's all-time attendance record and was overflowing with authors including Hoffman's in-conversation partner John Burnham Schwartz, Thomas Beller, James Sanders, Joanna Hershon, Molly Ringwald, Elspeth Leacock, MM De Voe, David Wallis, Tom Rowan and Cornelia Read Riegert.
Not to mention actors Josh Hamilton, Peter Riegert, Amy Stiller and documentary filmmaker Barbara Kopple.
Hoffman's wife, theater producer Victoria Leacock Hoffman (who produced Jonathan Larson's 'tick, tick… BOOM!'), is pacing herself for next week's Los Angeles events at Diesel Bookstore in Brentwood (with actor Arye Gross) and Book Soup in West Hollywood (with actor Richard Cox), where she expects the movie rights to come into play.
'Cal's written a once-in-a-generation book that is profound while you laugh out loud and sob,' Victoria said. 'I can't wait to see who directs the film!'
****
Life was different 38 years ago, when Off-Broadway's 'Perfect Crime' debuted.
The comedy murder mystery is still going strong at the Anne L. Bernstein Theater at The Theater Center, 210 W. 50th St.
But when it opened, you hailed a yellow cab with your arm, not an app; Times Square was considered dangerous, not Disneyfied; buying marijuana was illegal and involved pagers, code words and park benches; going out meant calling someone's landline and hoping they were home; the Brooklyn Nets didn't exist, and neither did Citi Field; you could see a Broadway show for under $30; and you brought a boombox to the park, not Bluetooth earbuds.
'Perfect Crime' stars Catherine Russell, who has never taken a day off in those 38 years. It's a feat that has landed her in the Guinness Book of World Records. People magazine dubbed her 'The Cal Ripken of Broadway.'
****
Movie writer and director James Toback won't be paying the $1.68 billion in damages awarded to 40 women who accused him of sexual abuse. He's not that rich.
When the verdict was reached, high-stakes gambler R.J. Cipriani wrote Toback, 'Checking on you. Hope you're hanging in, all things considered.'
Toback replied, 'Thanks. No evidence. No truth. No proof. Ludicrous lies. I hope you're well. I'm not! 80 years old with multiple conditions.'
As Mickey Mantle said: 'If I had known I was going to live this long, I would have taken better care of myself.'
The victims' lawyer, Brad Beckworth, said, 'This verdict is about justice. But more importantly, it's about taking power back from the abusers — and their enablers — and returning it to those he tried to control and silence.'
****
Kamala Harris will speak at a real estate conference in Australia next month, but she won't answer any questions.
The former vice president, who lost to Donald Trump, will participate in a moderated conversation at the Australasian Real Estate Conference, but unlike the other 32 speakers, 'no interviews' was listed next to her biography.
Among the speakers who will answer questions are real estate broker and reality TV star Mauricio Umansky, gold medal-winning Olympians Emma McKeon and Ariarne Titmus, and British entrepreneur Steven Bartlett.
****
April 18 marks the 250th anniversary of Paul Revere's midnight ride from Boston to Lexington in 1775 to alert the Minutemen that the British Army was coming.
Revere lit his lantern and made the ride to warn John Hancock and Samuel Adams of their impending arrests and to help defend the American colonies.
While the Sons of Liberty member is renowned as a patriot, he was also the preeminent silversmith in America.
In celebration of this historic ride, M.S. Rau in New Orleans is offering three silver pieces handcrafted by the American revolutionary, including a coffee pot, for $1,285,000.
****
Ellen Hart, the former Miss Subway, wowed the crowd at her Ellen's Stardust Diner on Tuesday by handing over the mic to autistic subway busker Shane Dan Taylor, a current 'American Idol' contestant, who sang the Bob Dylan hit 'Girl from the North Country.'
Ellen presented Shane a Mr. Subway poster of his own, and will honor Autism Acceptance Month with a special Empowerment Shake with proceeds supporting Luv Michael, a SoHo-based granola company that hires neurodivergent employees.
****
The new trend in plastic surgery has women as young as 35 going under the knife.
Plastic surgeon Dr. Bianca Molina, who just opened an office on lower Fifth Avenue, says that professional women who work downtown are coming to her asking for facelifts as part of their 'Mommy Makeovers' in their mid-30s and early 40s.
Dr. Molina says that she's getting calls for tummy tucks and breast augmentations, as well as fillers and Botox, as patients get ready to don their bikinis for the summer.
_______
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Yahoo
14-05-2025
- Yahoo
Donald Trump Jr slams report comparing him to Hunter Biden over business dealings
Amid accusations over the nature of theTrump family's business connections in the Middle East and the apparent gift of a jumbo jet to the U.S. by Qatar, Donald Trump Jr. has reacted furiously to a report that accuses him of cashing in on his father's presidency through the dealings of a small venture capital firm. The report by Business Insider makes a stark comparison between the president's eldest son and the son of his predecessor, Hunter Biden, which Trump Jr. takes particular exception to. Republicans relentlessly hounded President Joe Biden's son for allegedly using his famous last name in his own dealings in Ukraine and China. With a possible prison sentence hanging over him for gun and tax convictions, his father issued a presidential pardon before leaving office. The Insider article alleges that Don Jr stands to profit handsomely from federal contracts awarded by his father's administration to companies in which the venture capital firm has invested. It also claims that a private club being set up in Washington, D.C., is effectively 'selling access to the president via the back door.' Reposting a tweet linking to a Breitbart News response to the article, Don Jr said on X: 'The difference between me and Hunter Biden? I've been a businessman and serial investor my entire adult life. He became a 'businessman' after his dad got elected.' He continued: 'I joined a Venture Capital Firm that invests in private American companies — Nothing to do with the government. He sat on foreign boards and was peddling influence to the highest bidder to change government policy.' Finally he wrotes: 'Oh, and he's also a felon crackhead and I'm not. Thanks for playing, guys!' Don Jr joined 1789 Capital, which invests in American companies with conservative values, shortly after President Donald Trump was re-elected. Based in Palm Beach, Florida, near Trump's Mar-a-Lago club, 1789 was a smaller firm having raised less than $200 million at that point. Its largest investment was leading a group to put $15 million into Tucker Carlson's media company. The firm has since blossomed, the Insider report states, having raised $500 million in the first three months of the Trump presidency, with plans to collect $1 billion for its first fund by the middle of the year. Another fund valued between $3 billion and $5 billion is in the works for next year. Early investments reportedly included share offerings in Elon Musk's SpaceX and an investment in his artificial intelligence company xAI, to the tune of $50 million. There were also investments in startups that have received or are in play for Defense Department contracts, the report says. The nature of the investments has raised alarms about the potential for conflicts of interest, given the work of Musk and the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE). 'This certainly raises serious concerns about the appearance of corruption, because Trump's family is benefiting,' Laura Dickinson, a law professor at George Washington University who has served as special counsel for the Defense Department, told Insider. 'And when you look at this in the context of arbitrary cuts to other programs, it raises questions about whether preferential treatment is being given to family and others who curry favor with Trump.' SpaceX is benefiting from both government contracts to launch critical national security payloads for the U.S. Space Force and the use of its Starlink satellite system, the report says. Smaller firms that 1789 has invested in have also been awarded contracts linked to military and space projects. Further, Don Jr and two of his fellow partners at the firm have launched the Georgetown-based, invite-only club, the Executive Branch, which will cost more than half a million dollars to join. This is raising red flags, apparently even for some Trump insiders. Someone who Insider claims knows the family well said: 'What they're doing is selling access to the president via the back door.' They added: 'Imagine for one second if Hunter Biden had opened this club while Joe Biden was president. The Republicans would be screaming not just for his head, but for a complete and total dismemberment of his body. It's beyond hypocritical.' Don Jr, who, along with his brother Eric Trump, runs the family business, the Trump Organization, has never shied away from the family name but insisted in 2020 that he hasn't 'benefited from my father's taxpayer-funded office,' in a direct attack on Hunter Biden. A spokesperson for Don Jr told Breitbart: 'Comparing a lifelong businessman like Don Jr. joining a venture capital firm that invests in minority positions in American companies to Hunter Biden deciding to become a businessman upon his father's election, sitting on foreign boards and selling access to his dad's office is utterly laughable.' The reporting by Insider comes amid the furor over Qatar possibly giving the U.S. a $400 million Boeing 747-8 jet for the president to use as a replacement for Air Force One, highlighting a thicket of concerning business connections to the country. Last month, the Trump Organization announced a deal with Qatari developers to build a Trump International Golf Club and branded luxury villas within a larger government development. Elsewhere, state-backed funds from Qatar were part of a $6 billion funding round for Trump adviser Elon Musk's artificial intelligence company xAI, and a fund from Qatar is also invested in the private equity firm of Trump's son-in-law, Jared Kushner. Attorney General Pam Bondi worked as a lobbyist for Qatar, but has denied reports that she earned up to $115,000, saying that was the value of the contract. The Trump family and the White House have defended the administration from criticisms that they are improperly mixing business and politics. White House spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt told The Wall Street Journal that it was 'ridiculous' to claim 'President Trump is doing anything for his own benefit.' Don Jr also pushed back in a statement to The New York Times: 'It's laughable that the left-wing media thinks that I should lock myself in a padded room while my father is president and cease doing what I've been doing for over 25 years to earn a living and provide for my five children.' Nevertheless, it is highly unlikely that Trump family business dealings, including those of Don Jr, will ever go unscrutinized.
New York Post
10-05-2025
- New York Post
Behind the glamorous — and often tragic — lives of Andy Warhol's muses
Earlier this year, Anthology Film Archives in the Lower East Side hosted a screening devoted to Naomi Levine. Touted by some as Andy Warhol's 'first female superstar,' Levine performed in many of the pop artist's early underground movies, like 1963's 'Tarzan and Jane Regained… Sort Of' and 1964's pornographic 'Couch.' Like many of Warhol's actors, she took off her clothes for his camera. Levine didn't care about fame, and never became famous, which is maybe why she doesn't even get a mention in Laurence Leamer's new book, 'Warhol's Muses: The Artists, Misfits, and Superstars Destroyed by the Factory Fame Machine' (G.P. Putnam's Sons, out May 6). She doesn't fit with its thesis. 'Warhol's Muses' is the latest entry in a long line of books and movies about the artist and his band of misfits. Like many, it portrays Warhol as a leech who used and manipulated others for the sake of his art and celebrity. 9 Andy Warhol with members of the Velvet Underground, including one of his most iconic female muses, Nico (to his left). Gerard Malanga But here, Leamer focuses on Warhol's women: the ever-evolving coterie of glamazons who accompanied him to parties, appeared in his films, and 'helped turn the Pittsburgh-born son of Eastern European immigrants into international artist Andy Warhol.' 'They would raise his social cachet dramatically and bring him the publicity and public adulation he so desired,' Leamer writes. Warhol called these women his 'superstars.' They included rebellious heiresses like Edie Sedgwick, bohemian artists like Christa Päffgen, a.k.a . Nico, and gorgeous outsiders like the trans icon Candy Darling. They helped the shy, awkward, gay Warhol meet rich buyers and gave him a sheen of glamour. And then, per Leamer, he cast them aside when they proved no longer useful. In 1964, Warhol was a successful commercial artist. But his 'fine art' — the paintings of Campbell's soup cans and Brillo boxes — wasn't selling, and his movies had barely made a blip. 9 Candy Darling, Andy Warhol, and Sylvia Miles at a premiere at the Rivoli Theater in 1971. Bettmann Archive Then he met Jane Holzer, a 23-year-old socialite living in an Upper East Side mansion with her young real-estate mogul husband, bored out of her mind. Holzer grew up in privilege in Palm Beach, Fla., yet had a defiant streak. When Warhol asked if she would be in one of his movies, she said: 'Sure, anything's better than [being] a Park Avenue housewife.' She made out with two men for 'Kiss.' She brushed her teeth and chewed gum for various 'screen tests.' Fully clothed, she suggestively peeled and ate a banana in 'Couch,' stealing the film from the naked people around her. 9 Andy Warhol with Edie Sedgwick, lighting a cigarette on one of his film sets. Getty Images In the evenings, she accompanied Warhol to party after party. By that fall, she was a bona fide celebrity, her every move documented by the press, who named her 'Baby Jane.' Her fame boosted Warhol's own star power. His art started selling, and he was appearing on the gossip pages, too. After Holzer was deemed passé, Warhol found other 'muses.' Brigid Berlin, the 'rotund and always foulmouthed' daughter of the chairman of Hearst Corporation, who went by the name Brigid Polk, entertained Warhol with anecdotes about her dysfunctional childhood. 9 Noami Levine was one of Warhol's earliest muses, according to sources. Anthology Film Archives 9 Andy Warhol and superstars Candy Darling (left) and Ultra Violet are shown at a press conference n 1971. Bettmann Archive Susan Mary Hoffman, a k a Viva, 'the Lucille Ball of the underground,' injected 'wicked wit and savage intelligence' into his porniest flicks. Isabelle Collin Dufresne, an erudite French girl known by the moniker Ultra Violet, had previously bedded Salvador Dalí, Warhol's idol. Many of these 'superstars,' however, crashed and burned. Warhol's silver studio, dubbed The Factory, attracted all manner of druggies, misfits and hangers-on. They shot up amphetamines so they could stay up all night. They worked for little to no pay, screen-printing designs or debasing themselves as Warhol coolly captured them on film. 9 Edie Sedgwick frolics in the bath in one of Warhol's 'underground' movies. Bettmann Archive 9 Victor Hugo (left), Jane Holzer (rear), and Andy Warhol attended the Metropolitan Museum of Art's Costume Institute Gala, New York, New York, December 6, 1982. Getty Images Ingrid von Scheven, or Ingrid Superstar — a New Jersey secretary who sometimes turned tricks for money — ended up addicted to heroin after her stint at The Factory. In 1986, at the age of 42, she went out to buy a newspaper and vanished. Most notorious was Edie Sedgwick, the incandescent, damaged heiress who electrified 1960s New York with her silver hair, gamine beauty, and reckless extravagance. Warhol captured her haunting vulnerability on camera, filming her putting on makeup and smoking a cigarette. Leamer doesn't seem to think much of these movies, but they are mesmerizing and moving. She broke Warhol's heart when she went off with Bob Dylan. (She died of a drug overdose in 1971.) 9 'Warhol's Muses: The Artists, Misfits, and Superstars Destroyed by the Factory Fame Machine' is written by Laurence Leamer. By the time the radical feminist Valerie Solanas tried to assassinate Warhol in 1968, Leamer would have us believe that the artist had it coming. And yet, not all of Warhol's 'muses' were victims. Nico — the German model and actress — had tried to launch a singing career for years before Warhol installed her as the frontwoman for noisy art-rockers The Velvet Underground. Her association with the band lasted only one album, but she went on to have an iconic solo career. 9 Author Laurence Leamer focuses on Warhol's women: the ever-evolving coterie of glamazons who accompanied him to parties, appeared in his films. Jacek Gancarz Mary Woronov — an art student when she fell in with the Factory crowd — kicked her drug habit and continued acting in indie films through the 1970s, '80s, and '90s; she's still a painter in Los Angeles. Ultra Violet credited both Dalí and Warhol for her subsequent art career, and exhibited work till her death in 2014. As for Baby Jane, she survived her 15 minutes of fame. She now lives in Palm Beach, surrounded by her collection of Basquiats, Harings, and, yes, Warhols.
Yahoo
14-04-2025
- Yahoo
Richard Johnson: Trump giddy over romance between Don Jr.'s ex and Tiger Woods
NEW YORK — Love is in the air at Mar-a-Lago, Donald Trump's winter White House. The president is said to be pleased as punch about both his ex-daughter-in-law Vanessa Trump's relationship with golf legend Tiger Woods and his son Don Jr.'s new girlfriend, Palm Beach socialite Bettina Anderson. Tiger, who plays golf with the president at his Florida clubs, gave Trump a heads-up about his budding romance with Vanessa, and the president gave them both his blessing. Don Jr. and Anderson are going strong, and insiders predict that they may well be engaged by the end of the summer, once his ex-fiancé Kimberly Guilfoyle has been confirmed as U.S. ambassador to Greece and heads to Athens. **** Brooklyn rapper Sheff G, born Michael Williams, 26, is heading back to prison in August, having pleaded guilty to attempted murder. But his lawyer, Arthur Aidala, told me, 'Sheff is a really good kid. He doesn't drink. He doesn't do drugs. His mother and sister came to court every day.' Brooklyn DA Eric Gonzalez wanted a sentence of 20 years. Sheff G will get five, and get out in three years with time already served. More than 30 members of the 8 Trey Crips and the street gang's affiliate, the 9 Ways gang, have been indicted. 'Notoriety could not shield this defendant from justice,' Gonzalez said in a statement. 'He used his fame to fund and direct violence, terrorizing our streets.' Prosecutors said Sheff G showered jewelry and cash on gang members as they battled rivals. Aidala said Sheff G is 'a smart, sweet kid who is not happy going to prison and probably shielding some friends who faced jail.' Helping him prepare for life behind bars is prison consultant Craig Rothfeld, who coached Harvey Weinstein and Luigi Mangione. Until August, Sheff G will be making appearances and hanging with fans, Aidala said. 'He's more popular than ever.' **** Cal Hoffman is becoming the pied piper of authors on the national tour for his debut novel, 'Easy to Slip.' 'Proof' playwright David Auburn describes the 1970s coming-of-age story as 'intricate, hallucinatory, funny and harrowing.' At the tour's kick-off at Politics and Prose in Washington, D.C., investigative journalist Mike Isikoff was cheering along with ABC's Jon Garcia and CBS's Fin Gomez. The next stop at the Palm Beach Book Store saw bestselling author Laurence Leamer ('Capote's Women' and the upcoming 'Warhol's Muses') introduce Hoffman and told the standing-room crowd to 'pay attention' to this author. The next night at Books & Books in Miami, audience members were quoting his novel back to him. But the New York City Barnes & Noble blowout broke the Upper West Side store's all-time attendance record and was overflowing with authors including Hoffman's in-conversation partner John Burnham Schwartz, Thomas Beller, James Sanders, Joanna Hershon, Molly Ringwald, Elspeth Leacock, MM De Voe, David Wallis, Tom Rowan and Cornelia Read Riegert. Not to mention actors Josh Hamilton, Peter Riegert, Amy Stiller and documentary filmmaker Barbara Kopple. Hoffman's wife, theater producer Victoria Leacock Hoffman (who produced Jonathan Larson's 'tick, tick… BOOM!'), is pacing herself for next week's Los Angeles events at Diesel Bookstore in Brentwood (with actor Arye Gross) and Book Soup in West Hollywood (with actor Richard Cox), where she expects the movie rights to come into play. 'Cal's written a once-in-a-generation book that is profound while you laugh out loud and sob,' Victoria said. 'I can't wait to see who directs the film!' **** Life was different 38 years ago, when Off-Broadway's 'Perfect Crime' debuted. The comedy murder mystery is still going strong at the Anne L. Bernstein Theater at The Theater Center, 210 W. 50th St. But when it opened, you hailed a yellow cab with your arm, not an app; Times Square was considered dangerous, not Disneyfied; buying marijuana was illegal and involved pagers, code words and park benches; going out meant calling someone's landline and hoping they were home; the Brooklyn Nets didn't exist, and neither did Citi Field; you could see a Broadway show for under $30; and you brought a boombox to the park, not Bluetooth earbuds. 'Perfect Crime' stars Catherine Russell, who has never taken a day off in those 38 years. It's a feat that has landed her in the Guinness Book of World Records. People magazine dubbed her 'The Cal Ripken of Broadway.' **** Movie writer and director James Toback won't be paying the $1.68 billion in damages awarded to 40 women who accused him of sexual abuse. He's not that rich. When the verdict was reached, high-stakes gambler R.J. Cipriani wrote Toback, 'Checking on you. Hope you're hanging in, all things considered.' Toback replied, 'Thanks. No evidence. No truth. No proof. Ludicrous lies. I hope you're well. I'm not! 80 years old with multiple conditions.' As Mickey Mantle said: 'If I had known I was going to live this long, I would have taken better care of myself.' The victims' lawyer, Brad Beckworth, said, 'This verdict is about justice. But more importantly, it's about taking power back from the abusers — and their enablers — and returning it to those he tried to control and silence.' **** Kamala Harris will speak at a real estate conference in Australia next month, but she won't answer any questions. The former vice president, who lost to Donald Trump, will participate in a moderated conversation at the Australasian Real Estate Conference, but unlike the other 32 speakers, 'no interviews' was listed next to her biography. Among the speakers who will answer questions are real estate broker and reality TV star Mauricio Umansky, gold medal-winning Olympians Emma McKeon and Ariarne Titmus, and British entrepreneur Steven Bartlett. **** April 18 marks the 250th anniversary of Paul Revere's midnight ride from Boston to Lexington in 1775 to alert the Minutemen that the British Army was coming. Revere lit his lantern and made the ride to warn John Hancock and Samuel Adams of their impending arrests and to help defend the American colonies. While the Sons of Liberty member is renowned as a patriot, he was also the preeminent silversmith in America. In celebration of this historic ride, M.S. Rau in New Orleans is offering three silver pieces handcrafted by the American revolutionary, including a coffee pot, for $1,285,000. **** Ellen Hart, the former Miss Subway, wowed the crowd at her Ellen's Stardust Diner on Tuesday by handing over the mic to autistic subway busker Shane Dan Taylor, a current 'American Idol' contestant, who sang the Bob Dylan hit 'Girl from the North Country.' Ellen presented Shane a Mr. Subway poster of his own, and will honor Autism Acceptance Month with a special Empowerment Shake with proceeds supporting Luv Michael, a SoHo-based granola company that hires neurodivergent employees. **** The new trend in plastic surgery has women as young as 35 going under the knife. Plastic surgeon Dr. Bianca Molina, who just opened an office on lower Fifth Avenue, says that professional women who work downtown are coming to her asking for facelifts as part of their 'Mommy Makeovers' in their mid-30s and early 40s. Dr. Molina says that she's getting calls for tummy tucks and breast augmentations, as well as fillers and Botox, as patients get ready to don their bikinis for the summer. _______
