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De Niro warns Trump could ‘destroy the world’ if elected
Robert De Niro is a native New Yorker, and likened Donald Trump to the sort of clown that is tolerated in the city, but does not belong in the White House.
“Donald Trump wants to destroy not only the city, but the country, and, eventually, he could destroy the world,” the actor warned.
He continued:
This city is pretty accommodating. We make room for clowns. We have them all over the city. People who do crazy things in the street, we tolerate it. It’s part of the city, it’s part of the culture, but not a person like Trump who will eventually run the country. That does not work, and we all know that.
As the actor spoke, protesters could be heard shouting in the background, and chanting “fuck Joe Biden”.
Key events
Judge rejects special counsel request for gag order on Trump in classified documents case over assassination claim
Hugo Lowell
The federal judge overseeing Donald Trump’s trial on charges related to possessing classified documents has rejected a request from special counsel Jack Smith for a gag order on the former president.
Smith’s prosecutors made the request after Trump last week claimed that federal agents who searched Mar-a-Lago, the Florida resort where the documents were found, were authorized to kill him. In an order today, judge Aileen Cannon denied their motion, saying prosecutors had not properly talked with Trump’s lawyers.
Here’s more on the assassination claim, which the FBI said was just part of their standard operating procedure:
Trump adviser accuses Biden campaign of ‘weaponizing the legal system’ with courthouse press conference
Minutes after Joe Biden’s surrogates concluded their press conference outside the courthouse where closing arguments are being heard in Donald Trump’s hush-money trial, the former president’s adviser Jason Miller appeared before reporters.
“The Biden folks have finally done it. After months of saying the 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,” Miller said.
He continued:
In fact, Biden’s cronies had a printed-out campaign sign saying, Biden-Harris. So why the change? 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. The headline for today in Politico very simply said, “Dems in freak out over Joe Biden”. Joe Biden is losing nationally, is losing in every single battleground state, and president Trump’s numbers continue to rise, and the best that Biden can do is roll out a washed-up actor.
Up next was Harry Dunn, a former Capitol police officer.
He referenced his campaign for Congress representing a Maryland district, which ended last week when he lost the Democratic primary.
“A lot of people that I met out there said they were afraid. They’re scared to see what another Trump presidency looks like. I try to pride myself in having some type of way to make people feel comfortable, saying some kind of a word, a hug, a look or something, it’s going to be okay. I couldn’t say that to those individuals. I couldn’t say it’s going to be okay,” Dunn said.
“We can’t count on these institutions to stop Donald Trump. It’s going to take us Americans at the ballot box to defeat him once and for all.”
Michael Fanone, a former Washington DC police officer, recounted the story of his assault at the Capitol on January 6, and blamed Donald Trump for instigating it.
“I’m just one representative of the hundreds of police officers that were assaulted that day by Donald Trump supporters, inspired by his lies, the lies that continue to this day to inspire my fellow Americans, to turn against their fellow Americans, to turn against police officers,” Fanone said.
“At the end of the day, this election is about Donald Trump and his vision for the office of the president of the United States, not as a public servant who answers to the elected, to the people who elected him, but as an authoritarian, who answers to and serves only himself.”
As Robert De Niro began to introduce Harry Dunn and Michael Fanone, two former police officers who fought the Trump supporters that attacked the Capitol on January 6, a heckler interrupted, accusing the duo of lying under oath.
“I don’t even know how to deal with you, my friend, I don’t even know how to deal with you,” De Niro replied.
“They stood there and fought for us, for you, for you,” the actor continued, referring to Dunn and Fanone. “No, no, they fought for you, buddy. You’re able to stand right here now. They are the true heroes.”
Fanone is speaking now.
De Niro says if Trump is elected ‘he will never leave’
The press conference grew noisier after a car alarm began blaring near where Robert De Niro was speaking
The actor nonetheless kept up his denunciation of the former president.
“If Trump returns to the White House, you can kiss these freedoms goodbye, that we all take for granted. And elections? Forget about it. That’s over, that’s done. If he gets in, I can tell you right now, he will never leave. He will never leave,” De Niro said.
De Niro warns Trump could ‘destroy the world’ if elected
Robert De Niro is a native New Yorker, and likened Donald Trump to the sort of clown that is tolerated in the city, but does not belong in the White House.
“Donald Trump wants to destroy not only the city, but the country, and, eventually, he could destroy the world,” the actor warned.
He continued:
This city is pretty accommodating. We make room for clowns. We have them all over the city. People who do crazy things in the street, we tolerate it. It’s part of the city, it’s part of the culture, but not a person like Trump who will eventually run the country. That does not work, and we all know that.
As the actor spoke, protesters could be heard shouting in the background, and chanting “fuck Joe Biden”.
The Biden campaign did not specify who would be appearing at their press conference outside the courthouse where Donald Trump is on trial in New York City, saying only that there would be “special guests”.
The event is now getting started, and the campaign has invited actor Robert De Niro, along with two police officers who defended the Capitol on January 6: Harry Dunn and Michael Fanone.
“Trump poses a unique and growing threat to our fundamental rights and our freedoms, our very democracy and our economy. That threat is crystal clear today. It will remain crystal clear tomorrow, and it will be crystal clear on the debate stage in Atlanta,” Biden campaign spokesman Michael Tyler said as the press conference began.
Biden campaign to hold press conference outside Trump business fraud trial
Joe Biden’s campaign just announced they will hold a press conference this morning outside the New York City courthouse where closing arguments have begun Donald Trump’s trial on charges related to falsifying business records to cover up hush money payments.
Here is the latest on the closing arguments:
The Biden campaign has enlisted a trio of police officers who fought the rioters that attacked the Capitol on January 6 as campaign surrogates.
Washington DC police officer Daniel Hodges and former Capitol Police officers Harry Dunn and Aquilino Gonell will make their first appearance on behalf of the campaign in Arizona, the Arizona Republic reports.
“If I can tell that story a million times, I will. If I can do that, I’ll just be doing my part to save democracy,” Dunn told CNN in an interview. The former officer ran for Congress in Maryland as a Democrat, but last week lost his primary:
I just got off the phone with Senator Elfreth, congratulating her on her hard-fought victory. I look forward to ensuring that we send Senator Elfreth to Congress this November.
Although tonight’s results may not have gone like we hoped, all I can feel right now is gratitude.…
— Harry Dunn (@libradunn) May 15, 2024
Democrats’ anxiety over Biden’s chances rises after Trump gains fundraising edge – report
The latest development rattling Democrats is the edge in fundraising that Donald Trump gained over Joe Biden last month, Politico reports.
The former president’s fundraising last month was $25m more than Biden, Politico reports, though the Democrat maintains his edge in cash on hand. The story is otherwise full of alarming quotes from nameless Democratic insiders warning that Biden’s in a far weaker position than he should be, especially considering the stakes of this election.
From one Democratic operative Politico describes as being in touch with the White House:
This isn’t, “Oh my God, Mitt Romney might become president.” It’s “Oh my God, the democracy might end.”
And a Democratic adviser:
The list of why we “could” win is so small I don’t even need to keep the list on my phone.
The response from Biden campaign spokesman Kevin Munoz:
The work we do every day on the ground and on the airwaves in our battleground states — to talk about how President Biden is fighting for the middle class against the corporate greed that’s keeping prices high, and highlight Donald Trump’s anti-American campaign for revenge and retribution and abortion bans — is the work that will again secure us the White House.
Biden enlists January 6 police officers to campaign in swing states as reports of Democratic ‘freakout’ over poor polling emerge
Good morning, US politics blog readers. With less than six months to go until the 5 November presidential election, Politico has published yet another report about Democrats being nervous about Joe Biden’s chance for re-election against Donald Trump. That the president is unpopular, and has been for year, is practically old news, but his allies have more recently been rattled by successive waves of polls showing him trailing Trump in most of the swing states he will need to win. Citing anonymous sources, Politico reports that some Democrats are in “freakout” mode over Biden’s chances, with the president facing persistent public concerns about his handling of issues as varied as inflation, immigration, and the relative unpopularity of his running mate Kamala Harris.
The Biden campaign has plenty of cards up its sleeve, including reminding voters of the violence at the Capitol on January 6, and Trump’s role in instigating it. Three police officers who fought the insurrectionists will soon be hitting the road to campaign for Biden in battleground states, and warn voters that Trump would pose a threat to the country’s democracy, if he returned to the White House.
Here’s what else is going on:
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The big news of today is happening in New York City, where closing arguments are scheduled in Trump’s business fraud trial. Follow our live blog for more.
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Texas holds run-off primary elections, where somewhat-vulnerable Republican congressman Tony Gonzales faces rightwing challenger Brandon Herrera.
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A majority of voters support filing lawsuits again oil companies for deceiving the public about the climate crisis, new polling shared with the Guardian finds.
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