MSNBC’s Mika Brzezinski questioned why the Biden campaign would choose to have actor Robert De Niro speak outside of former President Donald Trump’s trial in Manhattan, stating that it “doesn’t feel right to me at all.”
De Niro was joined by Harry Dunn and Michael Fanone, former police officers who defended the Capitol during the Jan. 6 riot, at the press conference on Tuesday, during which the actor warned that Trump was a danger to the United States and the world. Michael Tyler, a Biden campaign spokesman, told Brzezinski that the decision to host the conference outside the Trump trial stems from the media attention the trial has received.
“Michael, I get everything you’re saying, and I agree with the officers who showed up and with Robert De Niro,” Brzezinski said on Morning Joe. “But I’m just curious about the location. Last week, when the members of Congress showed up to support Donald Trump, I called it unbecoming of the office, of their serving the people of their district, American citizens. They’re not supposed to politicize a court proceeding. I’m just, I feel the same way about the campaign. Is there any concern about the campaign getting a little bit too close to these court proceedings, and could that backfire?”
Brzezinski asked if the Biden campaign had any concern about “getting a little bit too close” to Trump’s court proceedings and if doing so could backfire on the campaign in its reelection bid. Tyler contended the campaign is not speaking about “the substance” of the trial but is discussing “the unique threat” Trump poses to democracy.
The campaign’s move of recruiting De Niro for a conference outside Trump’s trial has been widely criticized online, with the Washington Examiner’s Byron York stating that the campaign could not wait for a verdict on Trump’s trial before addressing it. Karl Rove criticized the use of De Niro at the press conference and how the conference was carried out, arguing that trying to win over voters by calling Trump a threat to the country is not an effective strategy.
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Many Trump supporters outside the former president’s trial did not appreciate De Niro’s appearance and jeered at him as he was leaving the scene. A car alarm also went off as De Niro was delivering his speech.
Karoline Leavitt, Trump’s campaign press secretary, contended that the Biden campaign “knows that they are losing” with the recruitment of De Niro on Tuesday. She added that the Biden campaign’s latest stunt indicates a confession that Trump’s legal battles are a witch hunt that “comes from Joe Biden.”