Robert De Niro turned a weekend New York rally into a profane attack on President Donald Trump and his administration’s efforts to clean up voter rolls. The Focker-in-Law star appeared before a crowd at the “Hands Off Our Vote” event and repeatedly shouted [1] a blunt warning about the ballot.
De Niro was joined in New York City by actor Mark Ruffalo, another outspoken figure on the left. The weekend rally was organized by Indivisible and Hands Off NYC, with both actors appearing to oppose the administration’s voter roll initiative.
The centerpiece of De Niro’s appearance was a chant he repeated for the crowd: “Keep your fucking hands off our vote!” His remarks accused Trump of attempting to strip voting power from Democrats on the left.
De Niro delivered that allegation while portraying the administration’s effort as an assault on political power. He offered no restraint as he attacked Trump personally and asked the crowd to answer his charged question.
“When that coward, that fucking piece of shit Donald Trump tries to take our voice and power away, what do we tell him?” De Niro asked. He then returned to his refrain: “Keep your fucking hands off our vote!”
The Goodfellas star also urged supporters to maintain their commitment to defeating Trump’s agenda. “Now with your commitment and support… we’re gonna send him away!” De Niro told the rally.
His closing remarks expanded the message from voter rolls to control of Congress and the country. “Take back the House! Yes! Take back the Senate! Yes! Take back the power! Yes! Take back our country! Yes!” he concluded.
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Despite De Niro’s accusation, the administration’s voter roll cleanup does not take votes away from legal voters. The initiative instead has two major goals involving people who are not eligible to remain registered or participate in elections.
The first goal is removing ineligible names, including people who have died. It also covers people who moved out of state and are no longer eligible to vote in a state where they no longer reside.
The administration’s other stated priority is identifying illegal voters and noncitizens who appear on voter rolls. That effort stands in sharp contrast to De Niro’s rally claim that Trump is trying to take voting power away from Democrats.
The U.S. Department of Justice has requested voter roll information from states as part of that work. The purpose of obtaining the data is to cross-check state voter rolls for noncitizens.
In July, the White House alleged that more than a quarter of a million foreigners had illegally voted during the last few elections. The Justice Department is seeking to stop the criminal activity described in that allegation.
The Justice Department also recently arrested 16 more migrants accused of illegally voting in a U.S. election. According to the report, those migrants supplied false information and posed as citizens to gain access to the ballot box.
Today, the Justice Department announced charges involving 16 ALIENS in connection with illegal voting, fraudulent voter registration, and related election crimes across the country.
The cases include:
• Voting by aliens in federal elections
• False claims of U.S. citizenship to register or vote
• False statements on citizenship applicationsRead more about each of these cases here: https://t.co/2DgngyKfDZ
— U.S. Department of Justice (@TheJusticeDept) October 5, 2026 [2]
De Niro’s rally appearance nevertheless presented the cleanup effort as a direct threat to voters on the left. His repeated profanity and demands to take back political power supplied the event’s loudest message, while the administration continued pursuing ineligible registrations and alleged illegal voting.