Biden campaign edges in on Trump trial media frenzy with De Niro outside court

NEW YORK — The Biden campaign took its biggest step toward engaging with Donald Trump’s criminal trial by staging a news conference on the courthouse’s doorstep Tuesday, injecting the president’s core campaign themes into the coverage but feeding claims from Trump’s team that the prosecution is political.

The White House and the president’s reelection campaign have avoided discussing Trump’s four separate criminal cases, aiming to guard federal and local prosecutors’ independence against Trump’s accusations without evidence that the charges are centrally coordinated and fabricated to harm his candidacy. On Tuesday, Trump’s attorneys and the Manhattan district attorney are presenting closing arguments on charges of falsifying business records to cover up hush money payments to an adult-film actress before the 2016 election.