A dramatic press briefing was conducted on Tuesday May 27, 2024 by President Biden’s campaign team, outside the Manhattan courthouse. This came at a time when the former President of the United States of America, Donald John Trump is being arraigned to court for criminal charges. To begin with, the Biden campaign dismissed the Trump trial. Then, they privately mentioned Trump is “available on Wednesdays,” which is the day the court is closed. Now, they have gone more concrete in their approach.
This event involved the use of an actor named Robert De Niro, who is the voice behind Biden’s newest campaign commercial. Accompanying him was Harry Dunn and Michael Fanone, two former U. S. Capitol Police officers, who have condemned Trump for his actions during the January 6, 2021 riot at the Capitol. De Niro said Trump has practiced what he calls “coward’s violence” after the 2020 election. He said, “He leads the group to do his bidding for him.”
When answering questions after the speech, De Niro went off the script to opine on Trump’s potential conviction. “Even if he is acquitted or if it is a deadlock, he is guilty and we all know this,” De Niro remarked. He said: “I’ve never seen a guy get out of so many things, we all know this, everybody in the world knows this…” When asked if he believed Trump should be in jail, De Niro said, “You bet your a** I do.
The Biden campaign as a rule did not react to the criminal charges against Trump. However, their decision to hold this news conference during Trump’s lawyer’s closing argument was a comment. The event was meant to unveil the actions of Trump in relation to the January 6 Capitol invasion. Trump is involved in another federal case regarding these events.
In the Manhattan case, Trump is accused of having committed bank and insurance frauds in relation to a payment made to a porn star prior to the 2016 elections. De Niro also made a comment on the civil case in which Trump was accused of sexually assaulting and slander E. Jean Carroll, a former magazine writer. In January, Trump was ordered to pay $83. $3 million in damages to Carroll. The Biden campaign does not often discuss this case or its outcome.
“Just a couple of blocks from here a jury found him liable for sexual abuse,” De Niro stated. The Biden campaign suggested that De Niro and the Capitol Police officers’ participation was not a commentary on Trump’s trial but on the media. “We’re not here today because of what’s going on over there,” said Michael Tyler, the campaign’s communications director. “We are here today to help and support you all.”
Outside the courthouse protesters consisting of trump supporters, harassed De Niro and the former Capitol police officers. They branded De Niro as an elitist and the officers as mercenaries.
Trump has connected the four other criminal cases to his presidency claiming that Biden is behind all of them. Apart from the Manhattan trial, Trump has other federal cases involving classified documents and attempting to challenge the outcome of the 2020 election and a case from Georgia regarding the outcome of the 2020 election.
The Trump campaign was quick to respond to Biden’s news conference. A senior adviser, Jason Miller criticized Biden’s campaign staff, stating, “The Biden folks have finally done it. After months of telling us that this trial had nothing to do with politics, they showed up and turned it into a campaign rally.”
Steven Cheung, a Trump campaign spokesman, accused the Biden campaign of ‘making a political mockery of the criminal case. When probed to understand why the Biden campaign organized the news conference, the campaign’s press secretary, Karoline Leavitt replied: “They are pathetic.”
This represents a shift in the strategy of the Biden campaign, showing the potential conflict between the two main contenders of the major party in the run-up to the next presidential election.