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Robert De Niro has told Sky News that 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 outside the court in Lower Manhattan, accusing Mr Trump of wanting to destroy the city and the country.

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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.

Actor Robert De Niro speaks during a news conference outside the court where former U.S. President Donald Trump during Trump's criminal trial on charges that he falsified business records to conceal money paid to silence porn star Stormy Daniels in 2016, in Manhattan state court New York City, U.S., May 28, 2024. REUTERS/Brendan McDermid
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Pic: Reuters

‘Trump’s a monster’ – De Niro

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.”

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Pic: Reuters
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Pic: Reuters

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”.

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Bryan Kohberger pleads guilty to murdering four University of Idaho students in 2022

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Bryan Kohberger pleads guilty to murdering four University of Idaho students in 2022

A man has pleaded guilty to murdering four University of Idaho students in November 2022.

Bryan Kohberger, a 30-year-old former criminal justice student, was arrested at his parents’ home in Pennsylvania weeks after the killings.

He was accused of sneaking into the rented home in Moscow, Idaho, which is not far from the university campus, and attacking Ethan Chapin, Xana Kernodle, Madison Mogen and Kaylee Goncalves.

Kohberger previously pleaded not guilty to charges of murder and burglary.

It comes after he agreed to a plea deal, just weeks before his trial was set to begin, in a bid to avoid the death penalty.

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Bryan Kohberger during a hearing in Latah County District Court in Moscow, Idaho
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Bryan Kohberger during a hearing in Latah County District Court in Moscow, Idaho. Pic: Reuters

Kaylee Goncalves, Maddie Mogen and Xana Kernodle, and Xana's boyfriend Ethan Chapin
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Kaylee Goncalves, Maddie Mogen and Xana Kernodle, and Xana’s boyfriend Ethan Chapin

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Donald Trump’s ‘big, beautiful bill’ has sparked ugly debate – so why is it so controversial?

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Donald Trump's 'big, beautiful bill' has sparked ugly debate - so why is it so controversial?

It is certainly big – 940 pages long – but on the question of beauty, Congress is divided.

Donald Trump’s “big, beautiful bill” has sparked ugly debate – both for its ambitious scope and for the political manoeuvring that’s gone on around it.

Elon Musk branded it “political suicide” for Republicans and threatened to fund challenges against those who back it in next year’s midterm elections.

But the president hit back, suggesting he would consider cutting Musk’s lucrative government contracts or even deporting him back to South Africa.

The “big, beautiful bill”, or HR 1 to give the proposed legislation its proper title, is Mr Trump’s signature spending and tax policy.

It extends tax cuts he secured in 2017 and bankrolls his second-term agenda in the White House.

File pic: Reuters
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File pic: Reuters

Here is a summary of the key points:

Permanent tax cuts: Extending relief from the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act

Small business support: Doubling the small business expensing limit to $2.5m (£1.8m) to help businesses expand and hire staff

Child tax credit: Expanding the child tax credit and making it permanent, benefiting 40 million families

Making housing affordable: Expanding the low-income housing tax credit to kickstart construction of affordable homes

Defence and border security: Allocating $170bn (£123bn) for border security alone, including $46bn (£33bn) for completing the border wall

Made-in-America incentives: Providing tax breaks and incentives for domestic manufacturing to promote US industry

Healthcare and social welfare: Implementing restrictions on Medicaid, which provides healthcare for millions of Americans, and reducing funding for certain healthcare and nutrition programmes.

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Clash over ‘monster’ debt bill

Musk, Mr Trump’s former ally and the man who established the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), claimed the bill “raises the debt ceiling by $5trn, the biggest increase in history.”

“DOGE is the monster that might have to go back and eat Elon,” was President Trump’s response.

The national debt currently stands at $37trn (£27trn) and the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) estimates that the bill could add $2.4trn (£1.7trn) to that over the next decade.

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Trump threatens to ‘put DOGE’ on Musk

Bill splits Republican ranks

Republican Senator Thom Tillis voted against the bill and, following criticism from the president, announced he would not seek re-election in North Carolina.

He said he couldn’t support it due to his concerns about the impact cuts to Medicaid would have on people in his state.

Democrats in the Senate forced a full reading of all 940 pages and then a vote-a-rama, a series of marathon voting sessions.

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In the House of Representatives, it passed by a single vote, 215-214. In the Senate, Vice President JD Vance, had to cast the deciding vote to break a tie (50-50).

Legislatively, the progress of the bill has been a case study in the complexities of American law-making.

Strategically, it represents a mammoth effort to consolidate the president’s policy agenda and secure his legacy.

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Gaza ceasefire proposal a significant moment – but there are still many unanswered questions

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Gaza ceasefire proposal a significant moment - but there are still many unanswered questions

In the long Gaza war, this is a significant moment.

For the people of Gaza, for the Israeli hostages and their families – this could be the moment it ends. But we have been here before, so many times.

The key question – will Hamas accept what Israel has agreed to: a 60-day ceasefire?

At the weekend, a source at the heart of the negotiations told me: “Both Hamas and Israel are refusing to budge from their position – Hamas wants the ceasefire to last until a permanent agreement is reached.

“Israel is opposed to this. At this point, only President Trump can break this deadlock.”

The source added: “Unless Trump pushes, we are in a stalemate.”

Israel-Gaza – live updates

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Will Trump achieve a Gaza ceasefire?

The problem is that the announcement made now by Donald Trump – which is his social-media-summarised version of whatever Israel has actually agreed to – may just amount to Israel’s already-established position.

We don’t know the details and conditions attached to Israel’s proposals.

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Would Israeli troops withdraw from Gaza? Totally? Or partially? How many Palestinian prisoners would they agree to release from Israel’s jails? And why only 60 days? Why not a total ceasefire? What are they asking of Hamas in return?

We just don’t know the answers to any of these questions, except one.

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Dozens killed at beachfront cafe in Gaza

We do know why Israel wants a 60-day ceasefire, not a permanent one. It’s all about domestic politics.

If Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu were to agree now to a permanent ceasefire, the extreme right-wingers in his coalition would collapse his government.

Itamar Ben-Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich have both been clear about their desire for the war to continue. They hold the balance of power in Mr Netanyahu’s coalition.

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If Mr Netanyahu instead agrees to just 60 days – which domestically he can sell as just a pause – then that may placate the extreme right-wingers for a few weeks until the Israeli parliament, the Knesset, is adjourned for the summer.

It is also no coincidence that the US president has called for Mr Netanyahu’s corruption trial to be scrapped.

Without the prospect of jail, Mr Netanyahu might be more willing to quit the war, safe in the knowledge that focus will not shift immediately to his own political and legal vulnerability.

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