Robert De Niro slams 'clown' Trump outside NY criminal trial, as Biden campaign ramps up attacks

• Robert De Niro slammed Donald Trump as a "loser" and a "clown" outside the Manhattan courtroom where the former president is attending his criminal trial.
• De Niro headlined a campaign event for President Joe Biden, whose reelection effort is reportedly planning to crank up its attacks on Trump as the criminal trial winds down.
• Trump campaign spokesman Jason Miller was also outside the courthouse, where he accused Biden of employing a "washed-up actor" for his campaign.

Legendary actor Robert De Niro on Tuesday slammed Donald Trump as a "loser" and a "clown," standing just feet away from the Manhattan courtroom where the former president was listening to closing arguments in his criminal trial.

"He doesn't belong in my city," De Niro, a native New Yorker, said of Trump during a press conference hosted by President Joe Biden's reelection campaign outside Manhattan Supreme Court.

"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," De Niro said.

The "Taxi Driver" and "The Godfather Part II" star described Trump as a threat to the United States, and said Trump fomented violence and destruction during the deadly riot at the U.S. Capitol Jan. 6, 2021, by a mob of Trump's supporters.

De Niro said he decided to lend his talents to a Biden-Harris campaign ad, "because it shows the violence of Trump."

"But it's a coward's violence," said De Niro. "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."

De Niro was joined at the event by former U.S. Capitol Police