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Actor Robert De Niro weighed in Thursday on former President Trump being found guilty in his high-profile hush-money case.
“I think justice was served,” the two-time Academy Award winner told reporters while on the red carpet in the Big Apple for his new movie “Ezra,” Variety reports.
“This is just one part of the whole picture, so I want to be very careful.”
Trump was found guilty on all 34 counts of falsifying business records in the first degree in New York v. Trump.
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Robert De Niro attends Bleeker Street’s “Ezra” New York Premiere at DGA Theater on May 30, 2024 in New York City. (Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images)
De Niro said he thinks the outcome would affect the presidential election, but did not say how, Variety reports.
“I would think it would,” De Niro said.
“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.”
De Niro and Trump have spatted for years, with the actor holding a chaotic press conference on Tuesday outside a Manhattan courthouse where he claimed that Trump “wants to destroy” New York City and the nation and eventually could destroy the entire world. Trump shot back on Truth Social, labeling De Niro as “pathetic” and a “wacko.”
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Former President Trump, left, and Robert De Niro have clashed for years. (Julia Nikhinson-Pool/Getty Images | Yuki Iwamura/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
In previous years, De Niro has torched Trump in various speeches and videos. Ahead of the 2016 presidential election, De Niro said he wanted to punch Trump in the face.
On Thursday’s red carpet, De Niro was also asked if he ever fears for his safety.
“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,” De Niro said, according to Variety.
“People are fed up, they’re going to fight back. That’s not what we’re about in this country.”
Trump had pleadednot guiltyto 34 counts of falsifying business records in the first degree and claimed the case was a political hit-job emanating from the White House. The charges stem from a yearslong investigation by theManhattan District Attorney’s Office.
The charges are related to alleged payments made to silence adult film actor Stormy Daniels about an alleged 2006 extramarital affair with Trump before the 2016 presidential election. Trump has denied the affair.
Trump’s former attorney Michael Cohen paid Daniels, whose real name is Stephanie Clifford, a $130,000 hush money payment ahead of the 2016 presidential election in an effort to keep her silent on allegations of an affair with Trump in 2006.
Former President Trump arrives to Trump Tower on Thursday, May 30, 2024 after being found guilty on 34 counts of falsifying business records in the first degree. (Felipe Ramales for Fox News Digital)
The payments to Daniels werefirst revealedin January 2018 in a Wall Street Journal report that said Cohen and Daniels’ lawyer negotiated a nondisclosure agreement to prevent her from publicly discussing the supposed sexual encounter with Trump.
At the time, though, Cohen, Trump and even Daniels denied the arrangement.
“Ezra” is a comedy drama where De Niro plays the grandfather of a stand-up comedian who has a child with autism.
Fox News’ Jamie Joseph and Brooke Singman contributed to this report.
Michael Dorgan is a writer for Fox News Digital and Fox Business.
You can send tips to michael.dorgan@fox.com and follow him on Twitter @M_Dorgan.
