| | | | |  | | By Brakkton Booker | With help from Jesse Naranjo, Rishika Dugyala and Teresa Wiltz
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Robert De Niro holds a press conference with the Biden-Harris campaign outside the Manhattan Criminal Courthouse on Tuesday in New York. | POLITICO illustration/Photo by Alex Kent for POLITICO | What up, Recast fam! President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris both campaign in the critical city of Philadelphia to launch a Black voter initiative, while embattled GOP Rep. Tony Gonzales (R-Texas) survives his runoff challenge. When it comes to Donald Trump’s criminal trial, the Biden campaign is finally taking the gloves off. And it sent the Oscar-winning actor from “Raging Bull” to deliver the first punch. For his latest role, Robert De Niro played campaign attack dog in a press conference that doubled as an off-Broadway spectacle as the leading actor got into a shouting match with Trump supporters, referring to them as “gangsters” and shouting an expletive in their direction. Before his speech veered off script, De Niro referred to Trump as “a loser” and “a clown” and launched the type of direct, unflinching attack he used when narrating the ad for the Biden campaign that dropped last week. In that video, he declared, “Trump wants revenge. And he’ll stop at nothing to get it.” At the Tuesday presser, he continued with his line of attack. “When Trump ran in 2016, it was like a joke,” the actor said. “This buffoon running for president? Naw, never could happen. We'd forgotten the lessons of history that showed us other clowns who weren't taken seriously until they became vicious dictators.” De Niro’s event, which also included two law enforcement officers who fought a pro-Trump mob during the Jan. 6 attack, signaled a flipping of the script for Biden world. It had largely ignored the Trump courtroom drama during its first six weeks, but as POLITICO’s Jonathan Lemire wrote last week, the president intends to lean in with planned remarks from the White House once the verdict is reached, which could come as soon as this week. Initially, the Biden campaign was reluctant to touch this topic head-on.
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Previously, Biden’s campaign seemed to dodge the issue, for fear of handing Trump world a cudgel to pummel them with — namely accusations that Trump’s criminal trial was a Democratic-led effort to persecute a political rival. But now, Biden’s campaign is shaking off those concerns — staging De Niro’s presser just a few blocks away from the courthouse.
When a reporter asked the reason for the press conference, Michael Tyler, the Biden campaign’s communications director quipped, looking at the gaggle of reporters: “Because you all are here.”
|  De Niro was joined at the news conference by Harry Dunn and Michael Fanone, former police officers who responded to the Jan. 6 Capitol riot. | Natalie Allison/POLITICO | “You’ve been incessantly covering this, day in and day out,” he added, later saying the Biden team is also there to remind people of “the stakes of this election.” Trump’s trial, which is now in the hands of a jury, has featured sordid details about hush money payments to a porn star by a future president and the alleged falsifying of business documents to keep it secret. But from a political standpoint there’s a sobering reality for Democrats: The trial is having little impact on how the electorate views both candidates. “They're building a campaign based on convincing people in October, November,” observes longtime Democratic strategist Jamal Simmons, “not based on convicting people in May.” While a conviction would undoubtedly be “an added boost” to Democrats, he also points to stubborn trends in national and swing state polling that suggests Biden is not gaining any advantage — even with his political rival stuck most weekdays inside a courtroom. “The problem is that Biden's numbers haven't recovered,” says Simmons, who served as deputy assistant to Biden and as communications director for Vice President Kamala Harris. A check of the Real Clear Politics polling average shows that on April 15, the day Trump’s trial kicked off, Biden was at 40.8 percent approval; today he’s at 40.2 percent. At a later, dueling presser in the same location, Jason Miller, a Trump campaign spokesperson, seemed to relish blasting Biden and Democrats for “weaponizing the legal system” against Trump.
|  The Trump campaign's Jason Miller addresses reporters Tuesday outside the courthouse. | Ted Shaffrey/AP | “The Biden folks have finally done it after months of saying the politics had nothing to do with his trial,” Miller said. “They showed up and made a campaign event out of the Lower Manhattan trial day for President Trump.” And then he slammed the messenger: De Niro, he said, was “a washed-up actor.” For other Democrats, the in-your-face bluster and swagger De Niro brought was a much-welcome sight for a campaign suffering from a dearth of enthusiasm. “I like anytime Democrats are fighting back,” says Chuck Rocha, a veteran Democratic strategist who ran Latino outreach for Bernie Sanders’ 2020 presidential campaign. “I love when Democrats show strength and that we’re not scared and we will not be bullied.” He adds that with the end of the trial in sight, there may be another positive for Democrats. “Donald Trump is using the [trial] to raise money,” Rocha continues, suggesting that the end of the trial may stunt Trump’s recent fundraising surge, including last month when he outpaced the president by $25 million. It was the first time Biden had been outperformed by Trump this election cycle. Some Democrats acknowledge that in a close election, Democrats should not rely on the courts to shape public perception of Trump. “I don't know that many people who are going to vote based on whether or not Donald Trump is convicted or not,” says Rep. Jennifer McClellan (D-Va.), a surrogate for the Biden campaign. “It’s a big deal, but it is not the one thing that people decide how they’re going to vote.”
|  Trump waits for the start of proceedings Tuesday in Manhattan Criminal Court | Pool photo by Julia Nikhinson | McClellan says Biden and Harris should continue talking up economic and social issues, such as affordable housing and fighting for reproductive rights, on the campaign trail. She added that during next month’s televised presidential debate, she expects Biden to go directly at Trump over his legal woes. The debate is scheduled for June 27 in Atlanta. We’ll keep you posted on how it all impacts the closing months of the campaign. All the best,
The Recast Team
| | | TEXAS GOP INCUMBENTS SURVIVE CIVIL WAR
|  Texas GOP Rep. Tony Gonzales eked out a win against a primary challenger on Tuesday night. | Francis Chung/POLITICO | On Tuesday, embattled GOP Rep. Tony Gonzales (R-Texas) survived a runoff challenge from an insurgent hard-right opponent who sought to put the two-term congressman on defense over his stances on guns and his willingness to, at times, compromise with Democrats to pass legislation. Gonzales eked out a victory over Brandon Herrera, a YouTube personality known to his legions of fans as “The AK Guy” who received support from House Freedom Caucus Chair Bob Good (R-Va.). He was joined on the campaign trail by far-right media darling Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) and Kyle Rittenhouse, who was acquitted in 2021 of shooting and killing two people in Wisconsin during the height of the racial reckoning protests of 2020. The Texas race was extremely close and wasn’t called by the AP until after 1 a.m. Eastern Time Wednesday. The result underscores how deep the fissures remain inside the GOP over how to best govern as the party tries to retain its razor-thin majority in the House after the November elections. Part of why Gonzales, a retired Navy cryptologist, found himself out of step with some Republicans was because he approved military aid for Ukraine. His other offense: backing a bipartisan federal gun safety measure following the deadly shooting at Robb Elementary School in 2022 in the city of Uvalde, which is located in his sprawling district that runs along the U.S.-Mexico border. The Texas Republican Party censured Gonzales over the gun vote last year. My POLITICO colleagues Ally Mutnick, Liz Crampton and Mia McCarthy note in their reporting Wednesday that Texas House Speaker Dade Phelan also pulled off a narrow victory in his GOP primary runoff. It’s something they describe as “a remarkable turnaround after coming in second in March behind his well financed challenger David Covey,” whom Trump endorsed.
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Concern about Joe Biden reelection chances has metastasized in recent days. | Susan Walsh/AP | Ah, Freak Out! — “A pervasive sense of fear has settled in at the highest levels of the Democratic Party over President Joe Biden’s reelection prospects” write POLITICO’s Christopher Cadelago, Sally Goldenberg and Elena Schneider in an explosive account of Dems’ hand wringing over Biden’s chances at winning back the White House. Herschel’s Money Pile — His long-shot Senate campaign two years ago perhaps is best remembered for a rambling speech about him wanting to be a werewolf rather than a vampire, but former NFL star-turned-politician Herschel Walker is sitting on some $4 million in unspent campaign funds. POLITICO’s Brittany Gibson reports that Georgia and national Republicans are mad because it appears Walker seems unwilling to spend to help them in this critical battleground state. Uvalde Families Sue Tech, Video Game Company — Families of the 2022 Uvalde school shooting are suing Meta, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram as well as video game giant Activision Blizzard, maker of the “Call of Duty” franchise. POLITICO’s Alex Nieves reports the families claim in a wrongful death complaint that the companies played a role in “grooming” the 18-year-old gunman.
| | | THE RECAST RECOMMENDS More than three years ago, Major League Baseball said it was “correcting a longtime oversight in the game's history” and recognized thousands of Negro League veterans as Major League-caliber players. On Wednesday, big league baseball is officially incorporating those stats with the MLB, meaning Negro League stars like Josh Gibson will officially hold a number of league records. Check out this Vanity Fair piece from Adrian Carrasquillo who details why Democrats are worried about Trump selecting Florida Sen. Marco Rubio as his running mate — and how it could complicate Biden’s reelection bid. More Diddy drama, this time in an exclusive from Rolling Stone with more details of the music icon’s fall from grace. A new biographical drama miniseries set in 1974 recounts an attempt by the Black Panther Party's Huey P. Newton to go on the lam in Cuba. “The Big Cigar” is streaming now on Apple TV+.
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| The 14th season of “Doctor Who” stars Ncuti Gatwa, who made a name for himself on the Netflix series “Sex Education.” Catch it now on Disney+. Rich The Kid crosses marching band vibes with scenes from an indulgent lifestyle in the music video for his new track, “Band Man.” Cameron Lew, the soul and indie pop fusion artist who performs as Ginger Root, gets fired from a media conglomerate and starts his own TV company in the music video for his new song “No Problems.”
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| TikTok of the Week: Preparation
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