As Judge Juan Merchan hears closing arguments in former President Donald Trump’s New York criminal trial, actor Robert De Niro and two former Jan. 6 police officers spoke on behalf of the Biden campaign outside the courtroom on May 28.
The press conference—hosted by President Joe Biden’s communication director, Michael Tyler—sought to refocus the election narrative on Jan. 6 and the speakers’ fears of another Trump presidency.
President Trump maintains that the Biden administration was responsible for his indictment in New York, even though it’s a state-level case. The press conference marked a key moment where President Biden’s campaign took a turn and waded into a trial they had avoided for the past six weeks.
Mr. Tyler told reporters the campaign visited the Manhattan courthouse on May 28 because “you all are here,” referring to members of the media.
“We want to remind the American people ahead of the next debate … of the unique, persistent, and growing threat that Donald Trump poses to the American people and to our democracy. So since you all are here, we are here communicating that message,” he said.
Mr. Tyler was asked if there was a political motivation for the Biden campaign’s visit to the courthouse, given President Trump’s accusations of politically motivated prosecutions in his multiple criminal indictments.
“Again. You all are already here,” Mr. Tyler replied. “It’s easy to talk about the choice in this election when the entire news media is camped out here day in and day out.”
However, questions about whether President Biden would comment on the case or whether the state-level trial is a “political weaponization of the Justice Department” went unanswered. Trump advisers hosted a separate press conference where they suggested that the presence of the Biden campaign outside the courthouse validated the political narrative of the prosecution.
Mr. Tyler said they were there not for the trial but to speak to the media about “the entirety of what voters are going to be taking to the ballot box” ahead of the first presidential debate in June.
Mr. De Niro and the two Jan. 6 police officers, Michael Fanone and Harry Dunn, did not discuss the trial in their speeches.
The actor, known for movies like “The Godfather Part 2,” “Taxi Driver,” and “Goodfellas,” was featured in a Biden campaign ad the previous week where he criticized President Trump and his reelection platform.
“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 these freedoms goodbye that we all take for granted,” Mr. De Niro said at the press conference.
“If he gets in, I can tell you right now, he will never leave.”
Mr. De Niro said that New Yorkers like himself “used to tolerate” President Trump, who is also a New Yorker, but alleges the former president wants to “destroy” the City of Dreams.
“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, he could destroy the world.”
As he spoke, the actor was heckled by several supporters of the former president and, at one point, stopped to argue with a man who accused Mr. Fanone and Mr. Dunn of lying about their experiences on Jan. 6.
“My friend, I don’t even know how to deal with you,” Mr. De Niro said to the heckler. “They stood there and fought for us, for you.”
Mr. Fanone, a former DC police officer, recounted the moment when Jan. 6 protesters tried to take his weapon as he was “beaten” by people in the crowd. He alleged that President Trump isn’t running to be a “public servant” but rather as an “authoritarian who answers to and serves only himself.”
Mr. Dunn, a former Capitol police officer, said Americans “need to wake up” and that “We can’t count on these institutions to stop Donald Trump.”
Jason Miller, President Trump’s senior campaign adviser, called Mr. De Niro a “washed-up actor” and argued the press conference proved the former president’s allegations about the trial’s political motivations.
Karoline Leavitt, the Trump campaign’s press secretary, echoed those comments and said the event was a “full-blown concession that this trial is a witch hunt that comes from the top.”
