Trump met with TMZ's Harvey Levin to discuss 'future opportunities'

(Image credit: Frederic M. Brown/Getty Images)

last updated 8 March 2017

The day after his first address to Congress, President Trump held a one-hour meeting in the Oval Office with an unlikely guest — Harvey Levin, the founder of Hollywood gossip site TMZ.

News of the meeting was first reported at Entity magazine by Taryn Hillin, a former TMZ producer. It wasn't the first time Trump and Levin spent time together; last fall, Levin interviewed the president for a Fox News special, Objectified: Donald Trump. The meeting last Wednesday was not on Trump's public schedule, and White House spokeswoman Hope Hicks told The New York Times that after the "huge success" of Objectified, the two men were "discussing future opportunities."

Levin will host an entire Objectified series later this year, featuring interviews with celebrities talking about their most prized possessions. The show is expected to start airing in September, and people with knowledge of Levin's visit told the Times there were a few reasons why he met with Trump — Levin wants him to appear on the show, and he'd also like Trump to pressure his friend Tom Brady, the New England Patriots quarterback, into being interviewed. It wasn't all business; people close to Levin said he was also given a tour of the White House, with a stop in the Lincoln Bedroom.

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Catherine Garcia has worked as a senior writer at The Week since 2014. Her writing and reporting have appeared in Entertainment Weekly, The New York Times, Wirecutter, NBC News and "The Book of Jezebel," among others. She's a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.

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