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NBC Brian Williams interviews De Niro, on Trump: 'like being a car salesman'

By April MacIntyre Apr 25, 2011, 0:19 GMT

Robert De Niro - Philadelphia, PA, USA © Paul Froggatt / PR Photos

NBC Sunday means "Celebrity Apprentice", the network's ratings juggernaut that has Donald Trump oversee celebrities as they try to win business challenges.

NBC News' Brian Williams interviewed Robert De Niro on Saturday night at the Tribeca Film Festival, which De Niro, one of Tribeca's founders, spoke passionately about President Barack Obama and the current Trump 'birther' bad-mouthing in the news.

Trump is mulling a run as a Republican presidential contender, and says he will announce his intentions on his hit NBC show.

De Niro said: "I won't mention names, but certain people in the news the last couple weeks, just, what are they doing?...It's crazy. They're making statements about people that they don't even back up. Go get the facts before you start saying things about people."

Williams asked De Niro asked if he was speaking about someone "on my network on Sunday night," referring to Trump's "Celebrity Apprentice."

De Niro said he was. "It's like a big hustle; It's like being a car salesman," De Niro added. "Don't go out there and say things unless you can back them up. How dare you? That's awful to do. To just go out and speak and say these terrible things? Unless you just wanna get over and get the job. It's crazy."