Veteran Republican strategist Karl Rove said it was a “big mistake” by President Biden’s campaign to politicize former President Trump’s hush money trial by having actor Robert De Niro and two of the Jan. 6 police officers appear at a news conference near the courthouse.
“This was a stupid mistake by the Biden campaign,” Rove said Tuesday during an appearance on Fox News, where he is a contributor. “They were trying to make a spectacle of themselves while the cameras were there. And it was a big mistake.”
Appearing near the Manhattan courthouse alongside former police officers Henry Dunn and Michael Fanone, De Niro spoke about the potential dangers of a second term for Trump.
“I’m not trying to scare you. No, wait, maybe I am. If Trump is back in the White House, the freedoms we take for granted, our elections, will go away. Forget it, he’s never going away,” De Niro said, getting heckled by Trump supporters.
Rove, a top adviser to former President George W. Bush, questioned whether the event would attract new voters at a time when some Democrats are declining in support. I’m getting more and more worried Regarding Biden’s efforts for reelection.
“The trial has been politicized. It would have been better if they had waited longer,” Loeb said, arguing that De Niro’s stern warnings would not convince the type of voters at stake in November’s election.
“Are these statements persuasive to people who don’t like Biden or Trump but are still thinking about who to vote for?” Rove said.
“There are people in the Biden campaign who believe that already,” he continued. “They’re not the ones he should be reaching out to. He came close to that when he talked about January 6th and the two officers, and that may have had an impact. But this was just too far-fetched and completely unhelpful.”
De Niro, who has been a staunch anti-Trump voice in Hollywood, filmed a campaign ad for Biden last week in which he criticised the former president as an “errant, power-hungry candidate”.
Rove said the actor’s appearances outside of Trump’s trial would only exacerbate Democrats’ concerns about Biden being their nominee.
Trump currently leads Biden by one point nationally, according to a Decision Desk HQ/The Hill polling average, but he has consistently led Biden in most battleground states that will determine the Electoral College outcome.
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