Robert De Niro insisted Donald Trump “should not be allowed” to be president of the United States again after turning up outside his criminal hush money trial in New York.
The Oscar-winning actor branded the former president a “monster” as he spoke to reporters in Lower Manhattan, accusing Mr Trump of wanting to destroy the city and the country.
He was joined by two former police officers who were at the Capitol riots on January 6 2021 as he appeared outside the courthouse on behalf of President Joe Biden’s campaign team, which has largely ignored Mr Trump’s legal battles thus far.
A top President Biden campaign adviser said they were not there to talk about the trial – and De Niro and the officers did not reference the criminal case directly.
“We’re not here today because of what’s going on over there,” Biden campaign communications director Michael Tyler told reporters, gesturing towards the courthouse.
“We’re here today because you all are here.”
The court is hearing the closing arguments in the case where the former president is accused of falsifying business records to cover up hush money payments to the adult actress Stormy Daniels.
‘Trump’s a monster’ – De Niro
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Speaking to Sky News, De Niro said: “You know my view of Donald Trump, he’s a monster.
“He should not be allowed… listen – he cannot be president of the United States again, never, ever.
“People know that, and many people know that and are afraid to say something, but people have to speak up now and say, and acknowledge to themselves that he’s a monster, and they might be afraid, but they’ve got to speak up.
“This is the moment of truth for this country. Period.”
Asked what his fear was surrounding the upcoming verdict in the hush money trial, he added: “If it’s a hung jury or whatever it is, he’ll use it with his big mouth. He’ll use it and say a bunch of stuff as usual, and the people like the ones behind us yelling [pro-Trump protesters], they’ll go ‘yeah, yeah, yeah’.
“But the fact is whether he is acquitted, whether it’s a hung jury, whatever, he is guilty and we all know that.
“I have never seen a guy get out of so many legal situations, and we all know this, get out when he shouldn’t have.”
As he left the scene, the 80-year-old, famed 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, Mr Trump’s team argued in a duelling press conference that the presence of the Taxi Driver star validated the Republican’s claim that his prosecutions are political.
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Mr Trump’s senior campaign adviser, Jason Miller, called De Niro – who won Oscars for his roles in The Godfather: Part II and Raging Bull – “a washed-up actor” and said the pro-Biden news conference proved Trump’s arguments that the trial, like the others the former president is facing, was motivated by politics.
“After months of saying politics had nothing to do with this trial, they showed up and made a campaign event out of a Lower Manhattan trial day for President Trump,” Mr Miller said.
Karoline Leavitt, the Trump campaign’s press secretary, called the Biden campaign “desperate and failing” and “pathetic” and said its event outside the trial was “a full-blown concession that this trial is a witch hunt that comes from the top”.
FBI agents have boarded a boat managed by the same company whose cargo ship crashed into a Baltimore bridge and caused it to collapse.
The two companies in charge of the ship “recklessly cut corners” and ignored electrical problems on the vessel before the crash in March, alleged the US Justice Department on Wednesday.
Three days later, FBI agents boarded the Maersk Saltoro, a second ship managed by the same company, although authorities did not offer further details on the operation.
Six construction workers were killed when the Dali ship had a power outage and crashed into a support column on the Francis Scott Key Bridge.
The Justice Department alleged that mechanical and electrical systems on the massive ship had been improvised and improperly maintained which led to the power outage.
Authorities are seeking to recover more than $100 million the government spent to clear the underwater debris and reopen the city’s port, which was only fully reopened in June.
It could become the most expensive marine casualty case in history and the two Singapore-based companies, Synergy Marine Group and Grace Ocean, are trying to limit their legal liability.
The Justice Department said it will vigorously contest that limitation, arguing that vessel owners and operators need to be “deterred from engaging in such reckless and exceedingly harmful behaviour”.
Darrell Wilson, a Grace Ocean spokesperson, confirmed that the FBI and Coast Guard boarded the Maersk Saltoro in the Port of Baltimore on Saturday morning.
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Mr Wilson has previously said the owner and manager “look forward to our day in court to set the record straight” about the Justice Department’s lawsuit.
The Dali, which was stuck amid the wreckage of the collapse for months before it could be extricated, departed Virginia on Thursday afternoon en route to China on its first international voyage since the March 26 disaster.
The style choices of politicians have long been scrutinised by voters and the media.
Women have historically been subject to more inspection for their looks than men.
But all politicians are communicating through their style, according to two experts.
“We receive most of our information, many of us, through screens and through the visuals,” says Hazel Clark, professor of design and fashion at the Parsons School of Design in New York.
Democratic candidate Kamala Harris has been leaning into trouser suits.
“The well-fitted suit, the more masculine suit, is telling voters that she is not a politician’s wife, she is not the president’s wife, she is the president,” says Deirdre Clemente, professor of history at the University of Nevada in Las Vegas.
She wore a dark suit to make her acceptance speech at the Democratic National Convention.
The look “gives that sense of the legal profession, judges and authority. I think it was just saying ‘I’m here to be taken seriously, I can be your leader’,” says Ms Clark.
Many of the audience were wearing white, thought to be a reference to the suffragettes, who fought for women to have vote.
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“I think there’s a lot of weight in the choice of white in the audience of the DNC that night and her choice of a black suit was a power move,” Ms Clemente said.
Donald Trump has had a consistent style for many years – he’s known for his dark blue suit and silky red tie.
“He seems to have been wearing the same red tie since the 1970s. It seems to have gotten longer,” said Ms Clemente.
“It is his way of projecting power, confidence and stability.”
And his vice presidential pick JD Vance seems to have adapted his style to match.
“It’s putting on a uniform to say we are all one, we are all following this person. I think sameness, perhaps, with the party as well,” said Ms Clark.
“With Trump it’s almost become like a costume now.”
Harris often wears a pearl necklace, a reference to her college sorority Alpha Kappa Alpha, which was founded by black women at Howard University.
“Her wearing of the necklace is absolutely a shout-out to all the women who have supported her and that sorority is central to that,” said Ms Clemente.
The vice president is also known for her love of Converse shoes.
The trainers, which are associated with American basketball culture, “are a powerful cultural tool because what she’s saying is these shoes are just like the ones you have in your closet”.
Mr Trump and his supporters often wear the instantly recognisable red Make America Great Again baseball cap.
“The MAGA hat has an incredible amount of power, especially here in battleground states,” said Ms Clemente. “You see MAGA hats all around.”
Baseball caps are “ubiquitous in being used to signify something, it’s like having a slogan on your t-shirt”, says Ms Clark.
One accessory all US politicians are rarely seen without is an American flag pin badge on their lapel, which can be used to show patriotism.
It may also project a message that “we are all fighting for the same team” despite political differences, said Ms Clemente.
With seven weeks to go until the US goes to the polls, Sky’s dedicated team of correspondents goes on the road to gauge what citizens in key swing states make of the choice for president.
This week they focus on the second assassination attempt on Donald Trump.
Mark Stone travels to Florida where the foiled attack took place, while James Matthews has been finding out more about the suspected would-be assassin in his hometown of Greensboro, North Carolina.
Plus, Martha Kelner attended a Trump town hall in Flint, Michigan, to hear him speak for the first time after the attempt on his life, and asked voters if it will impact the way they vote in November.