NEW YORK (NewsNation) — After months of keeping quiet about former President Donald Trump’s criminal trial in New York, President Joe Biden is sending his allies to the court proceedings as the campaign begins a new plan of attack.
Biden’s campaign Tuesday showed up outside former President Donald Trump’s New York City criminal hush money trial with actor Robert De Niro and a pair of former police officers in an effort to refocus the presidential race on the former president’s role in the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the Capitol.
It was a sharp about-face for Biden’s team, which had largely ignored the trial since it began six weeks ago and is now looking to capitalize on its drama-filled closing moments, sending the “Goodfellas” actor and the first responders who were at the Capitol on Jan. 6. Biden’s campaign had been wary about feeding into Trump’s argument that his criminal trials were the result of politically motivated prosecutions, but ultimately, it decided to engage because its message about the stakes of the election was struggling to break through the intense focus on the trial.
Former Washington, D.C., police officer Michael Fanone and former Capitol police officer Harry Dunn spoke of their personal experiences on Jan. 6, with Fanone describing his injuries suffered at the hands of the mob of Trump supporters seeking to halt Congress’ certification of Biden’s 2020 presidential victory.
“I came here today to remind Americans of what Donald Trump is capable of and the violence that he unleashed on all Americans on Jan. 6, 2021,” Fanone said.
The two former officers were also witnesses during a congressional investigation of the Jan. 6, 2021, riot. Hundreds of law enforcement officers were beaten and bloodied in the attack by Trump supporters, who descended after a rally and smashed into the Capitol while Trump remained silent for hours.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
