Topline
President Joe Biden’s campaign held a press conference outside President Donald Trump’s Manhattan criminal court trial Tuesday, featuring actor Robert De Niro—marking a new concerted effort to highlight Trump’s legal woes after largely steering clear of mentioning the cases on the campaign trail.
Key Facts
De Niro, who narrated a Biden ad released last week that criticized Trump, predicted that if Trump is elected again “I can tell you right now he will never leave,” adding that he is teaming with the Biden campaign to “remind supporters of what a danger he is to our lives.”
De Niro appeared alongside former Capitol Police officer Harry Dunn and former D.C. Metropolitan Police officer Michael Fanone, who responded to the Jan. 6, 2021 Capitol riots, on behalf of the Biden campaign Tuesday.
Biden campaign spokesperson Michael Tyler told reporters after De Niro, Fanone and Dunn spoke that they were campaigning outside the courthouse not because of “what’s going on over there,” he said, referring to Trump’s trial, but “because you all are here.”
Biden and his campaign have said little about Trump’s legal woes—an apparent strategy to prevent any criticism from bolstering Trump’s unfounded claims that the cases were brought at Biden’s behest to hurt Trump’s chances of being elected again (allegations Biden has repeatedly denied).
Get Forbes Breaking News Text Alerts: We’re launching text message alerts so you'll always know the biggest stories shaping the day’s headlines. Text “Alerts” to (201) 335-0739 or sign up here.
Chief Critic
Spokespeople for Trump fired back at Biden’s campaign in a rebuttal press conference immediately after De Niro, Fanone and Dunn spoke Tuesday. “Why is Joe Biden now making this a campaign event after months of weaponizing the legal system against President Trump? Because Joe Biden’s numbers are in the tank,” Trump adviser Jason Miller said, referring to polls that show Trump beating Biden, and adding “the best they can do is roll out a washed up actor.”
Tangent
Biden has taken a few jabs at Trump since his hush money trial began in April. At the White House Correspondents’ Association dinner last month, Biden said Trump “has had a few tough days lately. You might call it Stormy weather,” referencing adult film star Stormy Daniels, who Trump is accused of directing his then-lawyer Michael Cohen to pay in exchange for her silence about an affair she said she had with Trump. Biden also joked “can we just acknowledge how refreshing it is to see a President of the United States at an event that doesn’t begin with a bailiff saying ‘All rise?’”
Key Background
Biden’s campaign surrogates spoke outside of the lower Manhattan courthouse as closing arguments began Tuesday in the case charging Trump with falsifying records of hush money payments made to cover up allegations of extramarital affairs in the lead-up to the 2016 election. Trump is charged with 34 felony counts in the case, which will be the first of his four criminal cases to have a trial conclude and likely the only one to wrap up before the November election. Trump has pleaded not guilty in the case and has repeatedly claimed the judge and prosecutors have treated him unfairly in what he’s described as a “rigged” legal process.
Further Reading
Here’s What Happens If Trump Is Convicted—As Trial Goes To Jury Next Week (Forbes)
Prosecutors Rest Their Case In Trump Trial—Here’s What Happens Next (Forbes)