Robert De Niro insisted Donald Trump “should not be allowed” to be US president again after appearing outside his criminal hush money trial in New York.
The Oscar-winning actor called the former president a “monster” while speaking to reporters in Lower Manhattan, accusing Trump of wanting to destroy the city and the country.
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He was accompanied by two former police officers who were in the Capitol riots on January 6, 2021 while appearing in court on behalf of President Joe Biden’s campaign team, which has largely ignored Trump’s legal battles so far.
A senior campaign adviser to President Biden said they were not there to talk about the trial, and De Niro and the officials made no direct reference to the criminal case.
“We’re not here today because of what’s happening there,” Biden campaign communications director Michael Tyler told reporters, pointing toward the courthouse.
“We are here today because you are all here.”
The court is hearing closing arguments in the case in which the former president is accused of falsifying business records to cover up money payments to adult actress Stormy Daniels.
Photo: Reuters
‘Trump is a monster’ – De Niro
Speaking to Sky News, De Niro said: “You know my opinion about Donald Trump: he’s a monster.
“He shouldn’t be allowed…listen, he can’t be president of the United States again, ever again.
“People know it, and a lot of people know it and are afraid to say anything, but people have to speak up now and say and acknowledge that he is a monster, and they may be afraid, but they have to speak up.” .
“This is the moment of truth for this country. Period.”
When asked what his fear was about the upcoming verdict in the hush money trial, he added: “If there’s a hung jury or whatever, he’s going to use his big mouth. He’s going to use it and say a lot of things.” as always, and people like those behind us screaming [pro-Trump protesters]They will say ‘yes, yes, yes’.
“But the fact is that if he is acquitted, if there is a hung jury, whatever, he is guilty and we all know it.
“I’ve never seen a man get out of so many legal situations, and we all know this: getting out when he shouldn’t have.”
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Leaving the scene, the 80-year-old, famous for his roles in Goodfellas and The Godfather, accused a crowd of Trump supporters who had gathered of being “gangsters” before getting into a car.
However, Trump’s team argued at a news conference that the Taxi Driver star’s presence validated the Republican’s claim that his prosecutions are political.
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Trump’s top campaign adviser, Jason Miller, called De Niro, who won Oscars for his roles in The Godfather: Part II and Raging Bull, “a failed actor” and said the pro-Biden news conference showed Trump’s arguments that the trial, like the others that the former president facesHe was motivated by politics.
“After months of saying politics had nothing to do with this trial, they showed up and did a trial-day campaign event in Lower Manhattan for President Trump,” Miller said.
Trump campaign press secretary Karoline Leavitt called Biden’s campaign “desperate and failed” and “pathetic” and said his event outside the trial was “a complete concession that this trial is a witch hunt that It comes from above.”
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