NEW YORK — Actor Robert De Niro and two Jan. 6 police officers showed up Tuesday on behalf of the Biden campaign outside the courthouse where former President Donald Trump’s hush money trial is taking place.
President Joe Biden’s campaign held a surprise press conference in lower Manhattan in which the actor and officers Henry Dunn and Michael Fanone spoke of the possible dangers of a second Trump presidency.
When asked why they were holding a political event outside a criminal trial – in particular after Trump has complained that the Biden administration was responsible for his indictment despite it being a state case – Biden’s communication director Michael Tyler said “you all are here,” referring to the trials’ massive media presence.
“It’s easy to talk about the choice in this election when the entire news media is here day in and day out,” Tyler said.
De Niro, who filmed a Biden campaign ad last week, argued against another Trump presidency to start off the press conference, bashing the former president while Trump supporters shouted and heckled him in the background in lower Manhattan.
“It’s kind of crazy, it’s really crazy. this thing. Donald Trump has created this. He should be telling them not to do this… he wants to sow total chaos, which he’s succeeding in some areas and places to do,” De Niro said.
“I don’t mean to scare you. No no, wait, maybe I do mean to scare you. If Trump returns to the White House, you can kiss away these freedoms that we take for granted and elections, forget about it… he will never leave,” he added.
Tyler also said that the campaign wanted to warn against Trump ahead of the first presidential debate, which is set for June.
“We want to remind the American people ahead… of the first debate on June 27 of the unique, persistent, growing threat Donald Trump poses to the American people and towards democracy,” Tyler said.
Police officers who defended the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, Dunn and Fanone, stood behind De Niro as he criticized Trump over actions both before and after his career in politics.
“I love this city, I don’t want to destroy it. Donald Trump wants to destroy not only this city but the country and eventually he will destroy the world,” De Niro said.
“We vowed that we would not allow terrorists—” he said, stopping himself.
He said in New York, locals used to “tolerate him” when Trump was a real estate mogul, arguing that no one took him seriously at the time.
The actor then focused on Jan. 6, calling out Trump to further warn against another presidency. He said that Trump rallied “an angry mob” on Jan. 6, saying that he “ran and hid in the White House” during it.
“He doesn’t get blood on his hands… he directs the angry mob to do his dirty work for him,” he said.
Fanone spoke after De Niro, describing in detail the brutality that happened to him during the Jan. 6 riots at the Capitol. Dunn then spoke, arguing that Trump “encourages” political violence.
Senior adviser Jason Miller, after the Biden team press conference, called De Niro a “washed up” actor and cited a report from Politico that Democrats are in a “full blown ‘freakout’” over Biden this election cycle.
This story was updated at 11:20 a.m.