Robert De Niro warns Trump 'will never leave' White House outside of NY hush money trial

Actor Robert De Niro on Tuesday appeared outside of a Manhattan courthouse to denounce former President Donald Trump on behalf of the Biden campaign.

The event saw the actor appear amid closing arguments in Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg's hush money case against Trump. De Niro, for his part, warned that the former president would effectively end personal liberties and limited government should he return to the White House.

"I don’t mean to scare you. No no, wait, maybe I do mean to scare you. If Trump returns to the White House, you can kiss away these freedoms that we take for granted, and elections, forget about it," he said, according to The Hill.

"If he gets in, I can tell you right now: he will never leave," he said. "Is that the country we want to live in? Do we want him running this country and saying 'I'm not leaving. I'm dictator for life'?"

"This is not a threat, this is a reality," he insisted.

In December of last year, Trump vowed he would not act as a dictator "except for day one," quipping that he would use such authority to close the border and expand drilling for natural resources.

Trump is currently facing 34 counts of falsifying business records in connection with a 2016 payment his then-attorney, Michael Cohen, made to Stormy Daniels. He has pleaded not guilty and contends that the case is part of a broader political witch hunt designed to derail his 2024 bid for the White House.

Closing arguments concluded on Tuesday and a verdict in the trial could come as early as this week.

Ben Whedon is an editor and reporter for Just the News. Follow him on X, formerly Twitter.