Actor Robert De Niro in angry scenes outside Donald Trump trial
While lawyers inside the New York court wrapped up the Donald Trump trial, on the street outside a Hollywood legend was getting angry.
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There have been dramatic scenes outside the New York court where the hush money trial of Donald Trump is wrapping up with Hollywood legend Robert De Niro verbally sparring with supporters of the former president.
“You’re a f****** idiot,” De Niro shouted at one Trump supporter who asked him if he was on pedophile financier Jeffrey Epstein’s client list.
De Niro had come to the Manhattan court to campaign for Joe Biden alongside police officers who were in Washington DC the day of the January 6, 2021, insurrection.
Inside the courthouse, the prosecution and defence teams summed up their cases.
The defence laid out its arguments as to why the charges against Donald Trump should be thrown out — calling the star witness Michael Cohen the “GLOAT (Greatest liar of all time)” whose evidence shouldn’t be relied on.
The prosecution admitted Mr Cohen, once President Trump’s personal lawyer “has baggage,” but added “anyone in Cohen’s shoes should want the defendant to be held accountable”. The jury had seen a “mountain of evidence,” to convict Mr Trump, the prosecution argued.
A verdict could come as early as this week or next week.
Mr Trump is accused of 34 counts of fraud by falsifying business records to cover up payments of $200,000 ($US130,000) to porn star Stormy Daniels to buy her silence about an alleged extramarital sexual encounter. The allegations were in danger of becoming public knowledge in the run up to the 2016 US Presidential election.
The prosecution is attempting to persuade the jury that the payments were effectively electoral interference.
Mr Trump, 77, has denied a sexual encounter took place and denied the charges.
De Niro fracas
Drama unfolded outside the courthouse, however, as pro- and anti-Trump protesters clashed.
On some days there have been relatively few protesters around the Downtown building. But as a verdict nears, numbers have grown and tempers have been raised.
A group of police officers who helped prevent the January 6 insurrection joined with Robert De Niro in supporting Mr Biden.
“We were all called traitors on January 6 for doing our job,” said retired Capitol Police Officer Harry Dunn, reported the New York Post.
Another said Mr Trump was an “an authoritarian who answers only to himself”.
But it was the Taxi Driver and Raging Bull star’s comments about his fellow New Yorker that led to a clash with Trump supporters.
“He doesn’t belong in my city,” he said of Mr Trump.
“He’s a clown. But this city is pretty accommodating, we accommodate clowns.”
De Niro said Mr Trump wanted to “sow total chaos”.
“He will never leave. This is not a threat, this is a reality,” he said of accusations Mr Trump would not want to vacate the White House if he reclaimed it.
“Donald Trump wants to destroy not only this city and the country but the entire world.”
One pro Trump protester then made unsubstantiated claims that De Niro was connected to the late disgraced Jeffrey Epstein. There is no evidence for the claim.
“You’re a f****** idiot,” shot back De Niro.
As the actor left in a car, the vehicle was jostled with one pro-Trump protester calling him a “traitor”.
Trump campaign spokesman Jason Miller said Mr Biden had employed a “washed up actor” to spruik his re-election run.
Trump ‘innocent,’ claim defence
Above the movie star melee, on the 15th floor of the courthouse, defence lawyer Todd Blanche tried to persuade the jury to throw out the charges against Mr Trump.
“President Trump is innocent, he did not commit any crimes, and the district attorney has not met their burden of proof, period,” he told the jury on Tuesday, local time.
Former Trump Organisation lawyer Michael Cohen has been key to the prosecution’s case. He has claimed that the money he received to be President’s Trump’s personal lawyer in 2017 was actually reimbursement for the hush money he paid to Ms Daniels allegedly with Mr Trump’s approval.
He also said that Mr Trump’s motivation for paying the cash was less to do with protecting his marriage and more to do with hiding unsavoury details that might put off his potential voters.
But summing up for the defence, Mr Blanche said Mr Cohen – who has done prison time for violating campaign finance laws in another case related to Mr Trump – couldn’t be believed.
“You cannot convict President Trump of any crime beyond a reasonable doubt on the words of Michael Cohen.
“He took an oath, he swore to tell the truth and he told you a number of things on the witness stand that were lies, pure and simple,” he said.
Mr Blanche said the scandals Mr Trump was involved in prior to the election – such as the infamous Access Hollywood hot mic tape where he talked about how he would “grab (women) by the p***y” – would not affect his election chances so there was little need to cover them up.
“It was not a doomsday event. He never thought it was going to cause him to lose his campaign, and indeed, it didn’t”.
A so-called “catch and kill” plan with the National Enquirer has been at the centre of the case. David Pecker, the publisher of the tabloid, said an agreement was in place it to pay for but not publish stories that could have been damaging to Mr Trump.
“This is a campaign, this is an election, this is not a crime,” Mr Blanche said of the scheme.
He also said that Mr Trump was simply too busy being President to actually commit any fraud.
Trump ‘pulled wool over eyes’ of voters
For the prosecution, Joshua Steinglass pushed back against the defence assertion that incidents like the Access Hollywood tape, and Stormy Daniels potentially coming forward, were of no great concern.
Rather, he insisted, they caused “pandemonium” in the campaign in a tight election.
“It’s no coincidence the (Daniels) pay-off didn’t happen until two weeks before the election. That’s because the defendant’s primary concern was not his family, but the election,” Mr Steinglass said.
He did admit Mr Cohen was not a perfect, blemish free, witness.
“He’s a convicted felon. He’s lied under oath.” But Mr Steinglass said Mr Cohen’s legal wrongs came from protecting Mr Trump.
He was “understandably angry,” said Mr Steinglass, because he was punished for doing Mr Trump’s “bidding”.
“This case is not about Michael Cohen. This case is about Donald Trump and whether he should be held accountable for making false entries in his own business records, whether he and his staff did that to cover up for his own election violations”.
Mr Steinglass told the jury the “catch and kill” plan was electoral interference and a “subversion of democracy”.
Together, he said, Mr Trump, Mr Cohen and Mr Pecker, were attempting to “pull the wool over” the eyes of voters.
“This scheme cooked up by these men at this time, could very well be what got President Trump elected.”
Originally published as Actor Robert De Niro in angry scenes outside Donald Trump trial
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