Robert De Niro reacts to Donald Trump’s conviction: “He is guilty, and we all know it”
Hollywood icon Robert De Niro has offered his thoughts on Donald Trump’s recent guilty verdict in a New York court. Trump had been tried over falsifying business records in order to cover up the hush money paid to the porn actor Stormy Daniels.
According to the conviction, Trump had attempted to silence Daniels in order to influence the outcome of the 2016 election in the United States. The criminal trial, in which Trump was convicted by a jury of 12, was the first against a current or former US president.
Responding to the conviction on the red carpet of his new movie Ezra, De Niro noted, “I think justice was served. This is just one part of the whole picture, so I want to be very careful.” The actor went on to suggest that the conviction may end up affecting the next presidential election, in which Trump is expected to be the Republican candidate.
“This never should have gotten to this stage,” De Niro added, “I don’t want to be talking, but I am so upset by it. I have to say something. This is my country. This guy wants to destroy it. Period. He’s crazy.”
De Niro previously turned up outside of Trump’s hush money trial in New York earlier this week and labelled the businessman and former US president a “monster”. The actor stated that Trump should never be allowed to be the president of the United States ever again.
“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,” De Niro had told Sky News. “This is the moment of truth for this country. Period.”
In return, Trump took to Truth Social to respond to De Niro following the actor’s appearance outside his hush money trial and subsequent run-in with a number of Trump supporters and protestors who had also attended the event.
The former president labelled the Taxi Driver and Goodfellas star a “wacko” who suffers from an “incurable case of Trump derangement syndrome”. De Niro’s personal feud with Trump goes back to before the 2016 election when Trump was preparing himself for candidacy.
The Killers of the Flower Moon star has repeatedly called out Trump in a number of talk show interviews and award show speeches, which had led Trump to retaliate, calling De Niro “a very low IQ individual who has received too many shots to the head by real boxers in movies.”
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