Robert De Niro urges early voting, slams Trump at Indivisible event

Actor Robert De Niro criticized President Trump and congressional Republicans at a New York City event Sunday, urging attendees to vote early in next month’s midterm elections.

The 83-year-old Oscar winner spoke at Indivisible’s Hands Off Our Vote event on Sunday, according to USA Today. Mr. De Niro accused Mr. Trump of trying to suppress votes and said Republicans in Congress had failed to protect voters’ rights. He closed a call-and-response with the crowd by shouting, “Keep your f—-ing hands off our vote.”

He told attendees and livestream viewers to vote early, recruit family, friends and neighbors, and “take back” the House and Senate. He also urged participation in the No Kings nationwide day of action on Oct. 17.

The White House responded by reissuing a statement it had earlier given USA Today. Spokesman Davis Ingle called Mr. De Niro irrelevant for three decades and accused him of spreading hate speech and inciting violence. He also said the actor should seek treatment for what he called Trump Derangement Syndrome.

The SAVE America Act, which the House has passed but the Senate has not, would require proof of U.S. citizenship to register for federal elections. It would also require photo identification to vote and direct states to run their voter rolls through the Department of Homeland Security’s Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements database. Separately, the administration expanded that database so states can check voter rolls for citizenship and eligibility. A federal judge in Washington blocked the expansion in June, finding it violated federal privacy law. On Sept. 25, the Supreme Court paused that ruling in a 6-3 order, allowing the expanded system to be used while the litigation continues.

Mr. De Niro has criticized Mr. Trump for years, and Mr. Trump has answered in kind. In a Feb. 25 post on Truth Social, the president called the actor “sick and demented.”