>> c-span has been delivering unfiltered congressional coverage for 45 years. here's the highlight from a key moment. >> to my colleagues, my friends and most especially my wife and family, i have hurt you all deeply and i beg your forgiveness. i was prepared to lead our narrow majority as speaker and i believe i had it in me to do a fine job. but i cannot do be the kind of leader that i would like to be under current circumstances. so i must set the example that i hope president clinton will follow. i will not stand for speaker of the house on january 6. but rather, i shall remain a back-bencher in this congress that i so dearly love for approximately six months into the 106th congress whereupon i

shall vacate my seat and ask the governor to call a special election to take my place. >> c-span, powered by cable. >> actor robert de niro and former capitol police officers expressed to donald trump outside:qz? the manhattan courtroom where the jury was hearing closing arguments in the hush money trial against the presumptive republicanresidential nominee. this is about 25 minutes. >> mor. good to go? thank you so much for being here. let me say this, first and foremost. we are not here today because of what is going on over there, we are here because you all are here. we are glad you are all here this morning. we are here primarily because of the threat that donald trump poses to the united states of america and to our democracy.

we are grateful to have two brave officers, michael for known and hay dunn, who defended our democracy and capitol against the violent mob trump incited january 6, 2021. and of course we are happy to have robert de niro, a native new yorker who can spot bs a mile away and isn't afraid to call it out. the contrast here pretty much writes itself as we speak donald trump is fighting for himself, taking a power nap, and for weeks and monthse seen the red wings of an unhinged, power-hungry -- ramblings of an unhinged, power-hungry, self-c entered man. it is not new for donald trump. it is how he spent his time in the white house. americans will have an opportunity to witness in primetime the contrast between trump, the chaos agent waiting a

self obsessedage and retribution, and joe biden, who fights for american servicing of a he would like -- the president has a list of trump about if trump shows up. you will start with -- with whye architect of the repeal of roe v. wade, wants to go even further. he wants to talk about trump's embrace of political violence and the core it poses to our democracy. he wants to talk about trump's economic■i plan and how they mae trump and his rich fenceorking - rich friends richer just like he life. that is what his campaign will talk about of the course of the next month. we will have trump-pence for all of the above and 6 -- trump answer for all of the above and

is extremism on the debate said. an ad narrated by mr. de niro looks at trump's unhinged quest for power. trump poses aour fundamental ris and freedoms, our very democracy, and our economy. the threat is critical clear today, it will remain crystal-clear tomorrow, it will be crystal-clear on the debate stage in atlanta on june now i'd turned it over to robert de niro. robert: thank you. i mean, this is reall -- even these people over here are kind of -- it's kind of crazy. it's really crazy in this thing, donald trump has created he should be telling them not to do this, but he is just -- he

wants to sow total chaos, which he is succeeding in some areas and places to do. anyways, beside all that, this is my neighborhood, downtown new york city. i grew up here and feel at home in these streets. i feel comfortable. the twin towers fell just over here, just over there. this part of the city was like a ghostn(■ town. but we vowed we would not allow terrorists to change our way of life, and restarted the tribeca festival to bring people back -- we started the tribeca festival to bring people back. i love this city. i love this city. i don't want to destroit wants o destroy not only the city, but the country, and eventually he could destroy the world. but we vowed we would not allow

%í■terrorists -- i owe this cita lot. and that's why it is so weird that donald trump is just across the street, because he doesn't belong in my city. i don't know where he belongs, but he certainly doesn't belong here. we new yorkers used to tolerate him when he was another grubby real-estate hustler masquerading as bigshot, a to wait playboy pretending to be a spokesman, a spperson for himself. he was calling it as himself for f to for the press into inflating his net worth. a clown. but this city is pretty accommodating. we make room for clowns. we have them all over the city,

people who do crazy things in the street. we tolerate it, it's part of the city, it's part of the culture. but not a person like trump, wh6 will eventually run the country. that does not work, and we all we make room for clowns, to each his own. but no one took him really seriously. they taken seriously now, of course. but around the country, people who didn't know him as we did started to support him. they bouht into his bullshit. trump bought their votes with outrageous lies and emptypromis. he got the most religious of evangelicals to applaud a assaut -- a sinner who bragged about se assault, in just a few

blocks from here a jury found him liable for sexualbuse. somehow he got self-styled patriots to support a who called for terminating the constitution, and on january 6, rallied an angry mob to threaten democracy, leaving death and destruction in its wake. that is why i needed to be involved and wanted to be involved in the new biden-harris ad, because it shows the violence of trump and reminds us that he has used violence against anyone who stands in the way of his megalomania and. .-- and greed. but it college violence. you think trump a punch himself, or took one? this guy who hit in the white house bunker? no way. he directs the mob to do his dirty work for him by making a

suggestion. anand his gang grovels and folls his obvious order. it' no surprise that the murder rate and other violent crimes peeked under under trump, and are falling under biden. now he is promising to use our own military to attack u.s. citizens. that is the tyrant. that's the■t tryant he is tellig us he will be. believe me, he means it. when trump ran in 2016, it was like a joke. this buffoon running for president. no, never could happen. we forgot the lessons of history that showed us other clowns who weren't taken certainly until they became vicious dictators. with trump, we have a second chance, andnow.

this is the time to stop him by voting him out once and for all. we don't want to wake up after the election saying, " again? my god, what the hell have we done?" we can't have that happen again. yesterday was memorial day. it's at on how americans fought and died so -ed to us by a democratic government, a government thate people, by the people, for the people shall not perish from the earth. under trump, this kind of government wil perish from the earth. 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 these freedoms goodbye that we all take for granted. andí8■ elections? forget about it, that's over,

that's done. if he gets in, i can tell you right now, he will never leave. he will never leave. you know that. he will never leave. what does that mean? is that the country we want to live in? we want him running this country and saying i'm not leaving, ' life? i hope this new ad campaign reaches outside the bubble to remind supporters of what adang. this is not a threat. this reality. and that's why i have joined the biden-harris campaign, because the only way to preserve our freedoms and hold onto our humanity is to vote for joe biden for president. , to -- we don't have a choice.

on january 6, while republican lawmakers despicably tried to keep the loser trump, the loser trump, in the white house, and trump-inspired insre, brave men and women from law enforcement put their lives on the line to defend this country. our democracy. they are the true heroes. these guys are the true heroes. they stood and put their lives on the line for these lowlifes, for trump. they lied under oath. they lied under oath. >>'5 who lied under oath? what are you telling? robert: excuse me? they lied under oath? >> they are traitors. robert: they are traitors? i don't even know how to deal with you, my friend.

i don't know how to deal with you. they stood there, they didn't have to come and there were other ones in their groupnd a way to get around. not these guys. they stood there and fought, for us, for you. for you! >> they weren't fighting for me. robert: no? they fought for you, buddy. you are able to stand here right now. they are the true heroes. i'm honored to be with these true heroes,■ officer harry dunn and officer michael fanone. >> i came here today to remind americans of what donald trump is capable of. and the violence that he unleashed on all americans on

january 6, 2021. for two decades, i was a d.c. poce officer serving the citizens of the district of columbia, primarily working in naon january 6, 2021, i heard distress calls coming from fellow police officers on the capitol, as thousands of trump supporters in and brutally assaulted members of law enforcement. that day, i, like many other, hundreds of other d.c. police officers, put on a uniform and responded to the capitol■$ to assist our brothers and sisters in law enforcement, defending the capitol from a violent armed mob of trump's supporters. these supporters were fueled by

trump's lies and allies of his surrogates-- the lies of his surrogates, lies that thection . those sameies have been spewed by donald trump an about what hd to me so many other police officers on january 6, 2021. that day, i was brutally assaulted. i was pulled from the police line by a man named albuquerque head, a trump supporter who later pled guilty to his violent assault on me. while being restrained by the violent mob, i was beaten. an individual named kyle young tried to strip me of my firearm, while chants of "kill him with his own gun" were echoed by other members of the crowd.

at that time, a man from buffalo, new york, stripped me of my badge and police radiolife beaten, and the taser on my neck by daniel rodriguez, another trump all four of these individuals are self-admitted trump supporters. all four of them committed violent assault on law enforcement. i'm just one representative of e assaulted that day by donald trump's supporters, inspired by his lies. the lies that continue to this day to inspire my fellow americans to turn against their fellow americans, to turn

against police officers. at the end of the day, this election is about donald trump and his vision for the office of the president of the united states, not as a public servant who answers to the elected -- to the people who elected him, but as an authoritarian who answers to and serves only himself. thank you. >>shli ban unarmed veteran. >> morning. if january 6 didn't happen, we wouldn't be here right now. i would still be at work working tates capitol. i appreciate the words by mr. de

niro, officer fanone, but anytime i get an opportunity to acknowledge, address, and thank the men and women of the capitol police and thez& metropolitan police department who served democracy, to protect each other, to make sure everybody home that night, that is what we fought for that day. the fight for a lot of us did not end on january 6 that evening. the fight still continues now. what happened that day was an attempt to overthrow an election. donald trump is the greatest threat to our democracy and the safety of communities today. he has encouraged and continues to encourage political violence. we have been called traitors just today. all called traitors on january 6 for doing her job. --and yes, we protected

republicans, we protected democrats alike. it is not about the story we agree with. political violence is never acceptable. but you have a president candidate who champions it, who encourages it, who supports it. we cannot have that.officer sicy after january 6 full they said it was because of a stroke, but the events of january 6 caused it. his father said it bestcharles p is the reason my son is dead. he is all about himself." because the criminals who attacked our --■b calls the criminals who attacked our capitol patriots. he calls the men who died serving suckers and losers.

he constantly echoes the language of■t dtato and nazi germany, embracing clinical violence, pledging to rule as a dictator on day one. those en points, those aren't left news talking points. he said it. s not a drill. mr. de niro said he is not trying to scare you. i just unsuccessfully ran for office. a lot of people i met out there said they were afraid, scared to see what another trump residency looks like. i try to pride myself on having some type of way to make people feel comfortable, saying some kind of word, hug, look, something, it's going to be ok. i couldn't say that to those individuals. i can't even say that everything is going to be ok, everything is going to be all right.

it is going to take us americans at the ballot -- we cannot count on institutions to save us from donald trump. it's going to take us americans of the ballot box. ■] a few questions. >> why did the campaign to set a computer date? -idecide to come here today. >> because you are all here. we wanted to remind you of the deep threat donald trump presents to democracy. we will present that day in and day out. >>ernible] harry: h-a-r-r-y d-u-n-n. michael: m-i-c-h-a-elfu

f-a-n-o-n-e. >> what do you say to republicans who say you are's rn biden's record? >> 800,000 manufactured jobs, the work the president has done to lower the cost of, the single largest investment to combat climate change, the first bipartisan gun safety legislation in a generation. the list goes on and on about the historic record of aiken =parchment. the fact -- accomplishment. the fact remains that the looming threat of maga extresm has grown stronger since january 6 so we will campaign on the president's record and run against the extremism embodied by donald trump in that building. >> michael, do you really believe that an undecided voter from michigan or wisconsin is paying attention? michael t pay attention to the stakes of the

lection, and that is what we will do ahead of the debate in september, andll do from now unn day, making sure voters in states across the country understand the clear choices they have between a fighter in joe biden who wakes up every signal they fighting for them and their families and their communities and donald trump, who is fighting for himself, whether he is here in new york, in mar-a-lago, on truth social.■@he is fighting for one, donald trump. >> dot to address the trial? >> -- why you guys do this news conference outside the courtroom? michael t.: again, you all are here. it is easy to talk about the choice of this election when the entire news media is camped out day in and day out. we will talk about the choice voters have in the election and the threat embodied by the men in that building right now. it is a threat no matter where he is, threat to our fundamental

freedoms, fed to our democracy, threat to our very way of life. this campaign is going to communicate that in new york, the battleground states, day in, day out, until voters cast their ballots. >> [indiscernible] is this weaponization of the justice department? >> any media questions? >> you won't answer the real questions? >> [indiscernible] michael t.: stay tuned. >> [indiscernible] -- set a redline for rafahmichae thing, the president and his campaign are making sure they approach conflict like this not as a politician, but as commander, making sure that his northstar is american security, global security, making sure that yes, israel has the right

to defend itself, but not that -- but that any civilian casualties one too many. he has been very clear about that and makes decisions with the national security in mind.th the present news it's not building making every single decision based on what is in the decision based on what is in the best for himself. we will communicate the entirety of what voters will be taking to the ballot box. you mentioned young voters, making sure they understand that they have a president who has been fighting to address existential threat that is climate change, making the single largest investment in climate change in our nation's history, making sure they understand they have a president in joe biden who is fighting let the sleep to live in community -- fighting relentlessly to live in communities free of gun violence. we will make sure they bring all of this information to the ballot box and understand the clear choice between joeyb bide, with things about them, their safety, their interests, day in and day out, vs. donald