Robert De Niro didn’t hold back when he was asked about Donald Trump‘s guilty verdict in the Stormy Daniels hush money case Thursday.
“I think justice was served,” he said on the carpet for his new movie “Ezra.” “This is just one part of the whole picture, so I want to be very careful.” Though at first he was reticent to expand on his thoughts, he then continued to open up about Trump’s conviction.
“I would think it would,” he said when asked if he thought it could affect the presidential election.
“This never should have gotten to this stage,” he continued, “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.”
When asked if he ever fears for his safety, De Niro admitted he does. “You think about that. It makes me more angry, but I have to be afraid to be intimidated. And that’s why I said, you’re not going to intimidate us.
“People are fed up, they’re going to fight back. That’s not what we’re about in this country,” De Niro said.
De Niro was in New York City promoting his new movie “Ezra” just hours after a jury in the city found the former president guilty of all 34 felony counts. Trump was accused of conspiring to cover up a 2006 sexual encounter with Daniels by paying her $130,000 and later falsifying records to claim it as a legal expense. He faced a total of 34 felony counts related to false invoices, checks and ledger entries. He faces up to four years in prison but probation is also a possibility, as is an appeal. Trump has now become the first former president convicted of a crime.
De Niro has had a longstanding feud with Trump, dating back to before the 2016 presidential election. The actor has used awards show speeches and political videos to throw jabs at Trump, like in 2016 when he said he’d like to “punch him in the face” on Megyn Kelly’s talk show.
At the 2018 Tony Awards, De Niro said “fuck Trump” on stage; in response, Trump went on a posting rampage on Twitter (now X), calling De Niro “a very Low IQ individual” who “has received to many shots to the head by real boxers in movies.” Trump added, “I watched him last night and truly believe he may be “punch-drunk.”
Most recently, De Niro spoke at a Democrat news conference outside Trump’s courthouse, saying the former president should go to jail.
“The fact is whether he’s acquitted, whether it’s hung jury, whatever it is, he is guilty, and we all know it,” De Niro said. “I’ve never seen a guy get out of so many things and we all know this. Everybody in the world knows this.”
