“You’re a f****** idiot,” De Niro shouted at one Trump supporter who asked him if he was on pedophile financier Jeffrey Epstein’s client list.

De Niro had come to the Manhattan court to campaign for Joe Biden with police officers who were in Washington DC the day of the January 6 2021 insurrection.

Inside the courthouse, Donald Trump’s defence team summed up their arguments as to why the charges against him should be thrown out — calling the star witness a “liar” whose evidence shouldn’t be relied on.

The defence’s summation will be followed by the prosecutions after which the jury will deliberate. A verdict could come as early as this week or into next week.

Mr Trump is accused of 34 counts of fraud by falsifying business records to cover up payments of $200,000 ($US130,000) to porn star Stormy Daniels to buy her silence about an alleged extramarital sexual encounter. The allegations were in danger of becoming public knowledge in the run up to the 2016 US Presidential election.

The prosecution is attempting to persuade the jury that the payments were effectively electoral interference.

Mr Trump, 77, has denied a sexual encounter took place and denied the charges.

De Niro fracas

Drama unfolded outside the courthouse, however, as pro- and anti-Trump protesters clashed.

On some days there have been relatively few protesters around the Downtown building. But as a verdict nears, numbers have grown and tempers have been raised.

A group of police officers who helped prevent the January 6 insurrection joined with Robert De Niro in supporting Mr Biden.

“We were all called traitors on January 6 for doing our job,” said retired Capitol Police Officer Harry Dunn, reported the New York Post.

Another said Mr Trump was an “an authoritarian who answers only to himself.”

But it was the Taxi Driver and Raging Bull star’s comments about his fellow New Yorker that led to a clash with Trump supporters.

“He doesn’t belong in my city,” he said.

“He’s a clown. But this city is pretty accommodating, we accommodate clowns.”

De Niro said Mr Trump wanted to “sow total chaos.”

“He will never leave. This is not a threat, this is a reality.

“Donald Trump wants to destroy not only this city and the country but the entire world.”

One pro Trump protester then made unsubstantiated claims that De Niro was connected to the late disgraced Jeffrey Epstein. There is no evidence for the claim.

“You’re a f****** idiot,” shot back De Niro.

As the actor left in a car, the vehicle was jostled with one pro-Trump protester calling him a “traitor”.

Trump ‘innocent,’ claim defence

“President Trump is innocent, he did not commit any crimes, and the district attorney has not met their burden of proof, period,” defence lawyer Todd Blanch told the jury on Tuesday, local time.

Former Trump Organisation lawyer Michael Cohen has been key to the prosecution’s case. He has claimed that the money he received to be President’s Trump’s personal lawyer in 2017 was actually part of a reimbursement for the hush money he paid to Ms Daniels allegedly with Mr Trump’s approval.

He also said that Mr Trump’s motivation for paying the cash was less to do with protecting his marriage and more to do with hiding unsavoury details that might put off his potential voters.

But summing up for the defence, Mr Blanch said Mr Cohen – who has done prison time for violating campaign finance laws in another case related to Mr Trump – couldn’t not be believed.

“You cannot convict President Trump of any crime beyond a reasonable doubt on the words of Michael Cohen.

“He took an oath, he swore to tell the truth and he told you a number of things on the witness stand that were lies, pure and simple,” he said.

“Cohen lied to you”.

Mr Blanche said that the scandals Mr Trump was involved in prior to the election – such as the infamous Access Hollywood hot mic tape where he talked about how he would “Grab (woman) by the pussy,” – would not affect his election chances so there was little need to cover them up.

“It was not a doomsday event. He never thought it was going to cause him to lose his campaign, and indeed, it didn’t”.

He also said that Mr Trump was simply too busy being President to actually commit any fraud.