Robert De Niro Makes Surprise Biden Campaign Appearance Outside New York Hush Money Trial To Warn Of “Tyrant” Donald Trump (Watch)
UPDATED, with Trump response: Robert De Niro was the surprise guest of Joe Biden’s presidential campaign for a press conference outside the Manhattan courthouse where closing arguments are taking place in Donald Trump’s hush money trial.
De Niro, who recently narrated a Biden campaign ad, warned of Trump’s potential return to the White House, calling him a “tyrant.”
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“Now he’s promising to use our own military to attack U.S. citizens,” De Niro said. “That’s the tyrant, that is the tyrant he is telling us he will be, and believe me, he means it.”
“When Trump ran in 2016 it was like a joke,” he added. “This buffoon running for president. No, never could happen. We have forgotten the lessons of history that showed us other clowns who weren’t taken seriously until they became vicious dictators. With Trump, we have a second chance, and no one is laughing now.”
The actor even got into some verbal jousting with someone in the crowd. De Niro was appearing with Michael Fanone and Harry Dunn, two police officers who fought the Trump supporting angry mob in their attack on the Capitol on January 6.
As De Niro called the officers the “true heroes” who “stood and put their lives on the line” against the “low lifes for Trump,” someone interjected, “They lied under oath.”
“Who lied under oath?” De Niro said, with the sound of a car alarm going off in the background.
When the person repeated it, De Niro said, “What are you saying? They are traitors? I don’t even know how to deal with you quite frankly.”
He added, “They stood there [at the Capitol] and didn’t have to.”
Later, as he was leaving, De Niro was surrounded by Trump supporters who shouted expletives and vulgar phrases at him. “We are trying to be gentlemen in this world, the Democrats,” De Niro shouted. “You are gangsters. You are gangsters. F— You.”
De Niro’s remarks were carried by Fox News but other cable networks stuck with ongoing commentary and a text scroll of the closing arguments. Trump was in the courtroom as his attorney, Todd Blanche, argued that the prosecution did not have a case.
Watching De Niro’s remarks was Jason Miller, a Trump adviser. He called De Niro a “washed up actor” and said that his own remarks would be “shorter than ‘The Irishman,'” a dig at De Niro’s lengthy talk.
“This is all politics,” he said. “If you don’t think this is politics, why do you think the Democrats roll out a retread like Robert De Niro to try and change the subject.”
Michael Tyler, the Biden campaign spokesman, said that they chose to do the press conference outside the trial because it made sense with “the entire news media camped out here day in and day out.”
In his remarks, De Niro drew on his roots in the city, telling the media gathered, “I love this city. I don’t want to destroy it. Donald Trump wants to destroy not only the city, but the country and eventually destroy the world.”
He added, “He doesn’t belong in my city. I don’t know where he belongs, but he certainly doesn’t belong here. We New Yorkers used to tolerate him when he was just another grubby real estate hustler masquerading as a big shot, a two-bit playboy lying his way into the tabloids, pretending to be a spokesperson for himself. He was calling it as himself for himself, to fool the press into inflating his net worth. A clown, but this city is pretty accommodating. We make room for clowns….We tolerate it, it’s part of the culture, but not a person like Trump who will eventually run the country.”
He said, “Around the country, people who didn’t know him, as we did, started to support him. They bought into his bulls—. Trump bought their votes with outrageous lies and empty promises.”
Trump has labeled De Niro a “total loser,” as the actor has repeatedly bashed the former president in public appearances and at award shows.
De Niro was no less outspoken today, using words that were not just a warning but likely to trigger Trump. He said that he chose to do the Biden-Harris ad because it “shows us the violence of Trump, and it reminds us that he used violence against anyone who stands in the way of his megalomania. … Well it is a coward’s violence. You think Trump ever threw a punch himself or took one? This guy ran in the White House bunker when there were protesters outside. No way. He doesn’t get blood on his hands. No way. He directs the mob to get his dirty work for him.”
Trump didn’t directly address many of De Niro’s criticisms but still reacted on Truth Social, writing, “I never knew how small, both mentally and physically, Wacko Former Actor Robert De Niro was. Today, De Niro, who suffers from an incurable case of TRUMP DERANGEMENT SYNDROME, commonly known in the medical community as TDS, was met, outside the Courthouse, with a force far greater than the Radical Left – MAGA. Robert, whose movies, artistry, and brand have gone WAY DOWN IN VALUE since he entered the political arena at the request of Crooked Joe Biden, looked so pathetic and sad out there. Where have you gone Joe DiMaggio!!!”
De Niro has been public in his politics for some time, having endorsed Barack Obama’s presidential campaign in 2008.
Video of De Niro’s remarks and Trump campaign response below:
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