Robert De Niro spars with bystander during remarks outside Trump trial

this is my neighborhood,

downtown New York City.

I grew up here and feel at home

in these streets.

I feel comfortable.

The Twin Towers fell just over here.

Just over there.

This part of the city

was like a ghost town, but we found

we would not allow terrorists

to change our way of life.

And we started

the Tribeca Festival

to bring people back.

I love this city.

I love this city.

I don't want to destroy it.

Donald Trump wants to destroy

not only the city, but the country.

And eventually

he could destroy the world.

But we vowed

we would not allow terrorist.

I owe this city a lot.

And that's why it's so weird

that Donald Trump

is just across the street.

Because he doesn't belong in my city.

I don't know where he belongs,

but he shouldn't.

He doesn't belong here.

We New Yorkers used to tolerate him

when he was just

another grubby real estate

hustler masquerading as a big shot,

a two bit Playboy

lying his way into the tabloids,

pretending to be a spokesman,

a spokesperson for himself.

He was calling it as himself for himself

to fool the press into inflating his net

worth.

A clown,

but 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'll eventually run the country.

That does not work. And we all know that.

Anyway, we make room for clowns.

To each his own,

but no one takes him

or took him really seriously.

They take him seriously now, of course,

but around the country,

people who didn't know him

as we did started to support him.

They bought into his bullshit.

Trump bought their votes

with outrageous lies and empty promises.

He got the most religious evangelicals

to applaud a sinner

who bragged about sexual assault.

And just a couple of blocks from here,

a jury found him liable for sexual abuse.

Somehow, he even got self-styled

patriots to support

a man

who called

for terminating the constitution.

And on January 6th, rallied an angry mob

to threaten democracy,

leaving death

and destruction in its wake.

That's why I needed to be involved

and wanted to be involved

in the new Biden-Harris, Ed,

because it shows the violence of Trump

and reminds us that he'll use violence

against anyone

who stands in the way of his megalomania

and greed.

But it's a coward's violence.

You think Trump ever

threw a punch himself or took one?

This guy who ran and hid

in the white House bunker

when there were protesters outside?

No way.

He doesn't get blood on his hands.

No he doesn't.

He directs the mob

to do his dirty work for him

by making a suggestion

and inference.

He and his gang

rivals, and follows his obvious order.

It's no surprise that the murder rate

and other violent crimes

peaked under Trump, and a

falling under Biden,

and now he's promising

to use our own military to attack U.S.

citizens.

That's the tyrant.

That's the tyrant.

He's telling us he'll be.

And believe me, he means it.

When Trump ran in 2016,

it was like a joke.

This buffoon

running for president

now never could happen.

We'd forgotten

the lessons of history

that showed us other clowns

who weren't taken

seriously until they became vicious

dictators.

With Trump, we have a second chance

and no one is laughing.

Now this is the time to stop him

by voting him out once and for all.

We don't want to wake up

after the election saying what again?

My God, what the hell have we done?

We can't have that happen

again.

Yesterday was Memorial Day.

It's a good time to reflect

on how Americans fought and died,

so that we may enjoy the freedoms

guaranteed to us

by a democratic government,

a government

that is President Lincoln said

of the people, by the people, for

the people shall not perish

from the earth.

Under Trump, this kind of government

will perish from the earth.

I don't mean to scare you.

No, no, wait.

Maybe I do mean to scare you.

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 all that's done.

If he gets in, I can tell you right now

he will never leave.

He will never leave.

You know that.

He will never leave.

What does that mean?

Is that

the country we want to live

in, do we want him running this country

and saying, I'm not leaving,

I'm dictator for life.

I hope this new ad campaign

campaign reaches

outside the bubble to remind supporters

of what a danger he is to our lives.

This is not a threat.

This is a reality.

And that's why I've joined

the Biden-Harris campaign.

Because the only way

to preserve our freedoms

and hold on to our humanity is to vote

for Joe Biden for president.

Really

do.

We don't have a choice.

On January 6th,

while Republican lawmakers

despicably tried to keep the loser Trump,

the loser Trump in the white House

and Trump inspired

insurrectionists stormed

the Capitol,

brave men and women from law enforcement

put their lives on the line

to defend this country.

Our democracy.

They are the true heroes.

These guys are the true heroes.

They stood

and put their lives on the line

for the low lives, for Trump.

They lied under oath.

They lied under oath.

Who lied under oath?

What are you telling me?

Those two traitors.

Excuse me?

Those two. Traitor!

They lied under oath. That's right.

What do you say, a traitor?

They're. They're traitors.

You got.

I don't know, I

don't even know how to deal with you,

my friend.

I don't even know how to deal with you.

They stood there.

They didn't have to.

And there were other ones in there

who probably were in with them

a little bit, too.

And they found a way to get around.

Not these guys.

They stood there and fought for us.

But you

for, you know, they weren't fighting for.

No. Yeah.

No, they fought for you, buddy.

You're able to stand right here now.

They are the true heroes.

I'm honored to be

with these two heroes today.

From former Capitol

Police officer Harry Dunn

and former Metropolitan

Police officer Michael Fanone.

Who?

I came here today

to remind Americans of what

Donald Trump is capable of.

And the violence

that he unleashed on all Americans

on January 6th, 2021.

For two decades,

I was a DC police officer

serving the citizens

of the District

of Columbia,

primarily working in narcotics.

On January 6th, 2021,

I heard distress calls coming from fellow

police officers on the Capitol

as thousands of Trump supporters

rush them and brutally assaulted

members of law enforcement

that day.

I, like

many other hundreds

of other DC police officers,

put on a uniform

and responded to the Capitol

to assist our brothers and sisters

in law enforcement

defending the Capitol

from a violent armed mob

of Trump's supporters.

These supporters were fueled

by Trump's loss

and the lives of his surrogates

lost it.

The 2020 election was stolen

and.

Those same lies

had been spewed by Donald Trump

and his surrogates about

what happened to me

and so many other police officers.

On January 6th, 2021.

That day, I was brutally assaulted.

I was pulled from the police line

by a man named Albuquerque Head,

a Trump supporter who later pled guilty

to his violent assault on me

while being restrained

by the violent mob, I was beaten.

An individual named Kyle

Young tried to strip me of my firearm,

while chants of kill him

with his own gun were echoed

by other members of the crowd.

At that time,

Thomas Sibbick, a man from Buffalo,

New York,

stripped me of my badge

and my police radio

my lifeline to call for help

from other officers.

All the while I continue to be beaten

and then struck with a taser on my neck

by Daniel Rodriguez,

another Trump supporter

supporter

who also pled guilty

to his violent assault on me.

All four of these individuals

are self-admitted Trump supporters.

All four of them

committed violent assault

on law enforcement.

I'm just one representative

of the hundreds of police officers

that were assaulted that day

by Donald Trump supporters, inspired

by his loss.

The lies that continue to this day,

to inspire my fellow Americans

to turn against their fellow Americans,

to turn against police officers.

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 is an authoritarian

who answers to and serves only himself.

Thank.

Ashley Babbitt was murdered.

An unarmed veteran.

Mourning.

If January 6th didn't happen,

we wouldn't be here right now.

I'd still be at work

working at the United States Capitol.

I appreciate the words by Mr.

DeNiro. Officer Fanone,

but any time I get an opportunity

to acknowledge, address,

and thank

the men and women of the Capitol Police

and the Metropolitan Police Department

who served that day

to protect our democracy,

to protect each other,

to make sure everybody got to go home

that night.

That's what we fought for that day.

The fight for a lot of us didn't

end on January 6th

that evening when we went home.

The fight still continues.

Now, what happened that day

with an attempt to hot to overthrow it?

an election.

Donald Trump

is the greatest threat to our democracy

and the safety of communities

across the country today.

He has encouraged

and continued to encourage

political violence.

We've been called traitors.

Just today,

we were all called

traitors on January 6th

for doing our job.

And yes, we protected Republicans.

We protected Democrats alike.

It's not about the story

that we don't agree with.

Political violence is never acceptable.

But you have a presidential candidate.

You have a presidential candidate

that champions it, that encourages it,

that supports it.

We cannot have that.

Officer Sicknick,

he died the day after January 6th.

They said it was because of a stroke.

But the the events of January 6th

caused him.

His father said it best.

Charles Charles Sicknick.

Trump is the reason why my son is dead.

Trump does

whatever will get him

votes and helps Donald Trump.

He is about himself.

He calls the criminals

who attacked our Capitol patriots.

He calls the men and women

who died serving

and protecting this country.

Suckers and losers.

He constantly echoes

the words of dictators

and invokes

the language of Nazi Germany

embracing political violence,

pledging to rule as a dictator

on day one.

Those aren't our talking points.

Those aren't news

left, news talking points, he said.

It.

Americans need to wake up.

This is not a drill,

Mr. Nero said.

He's not trying to scare you.

When I just

unsuccessfully ran for office.

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 pry myself

and 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.

Everything's going to be all right.

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.

Thank you so much.