Alec Baldwin’s detective stand-in had little to say about the allegations against Baldwin as the actor was being questioned Thursday in his onstage role as former President Nixon during the sixth and final “Performance Now: Nixon’s Shadow” in New York.
“I’m not going to talk to the press today,” Lt. Charles Findlay Jr. told The Associated Press, when asked about the accusations against Baldwin and his wife, Hilaria. “Too early to comment on the case at this point.”
Findlay said that after 30 minutes of questioning Baldwin and his wife, Carmen Yulman, were free to go.
Police said they conducted the sit-down Thursday after learning that Baldwin and Yulman planned to return to New York from the couple’s California vacation to make an appearance. The couple was on vacation in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico, over the July 4th weekend. They were arrested there on Saturday on charges of assault and harassment.
The couple are accused of attacking a reporter posing as a paparazzo and hitting him with their car at a San Diego parking lot.
Police said the 43-year-old actor and his wife, a yoga instructor, were cooperative at the time of the questioning, and Yulman posted a $50,000 bond.
Findlay said police did not have Baldwin handcuffed when he walked out of the 34th Precinct late Thursday.
The actor was then taken to the Manhattan district attorney’s office for a “meeting” that typically occurs when a person is arrested.
No one answered the door Thursday night at Baldwin’s townhouse in the upscale New York neighborhood of TriBeCa. A police car was parked outside. A neighbor said there was a truck outside as well.
Police said Baldwin can hold the special license he got after the “Saturday Night Live” actor performed an acclaimed 10-hour live character play, “10 Questions,” five years ago. In his role as Nixon, he had a court-appointed defense attorney, William Jeffress, and that attorney did not respond to a phone message left Thursday by the AP.
In “10 Questions,” Baldwin played eight characters: Bobby Byrd, a Secretary of Defense; Barry McCaffrey, a White House counterterrorism official; Roger Stone, the presidential campaign aide; Donald Rumsfeld, President Nixon’s Pentagon chief; Spiro Agnew, the vice president and Nixon’s vice president; L. Patrick Gray, the then-chief Watergate investigator; Leon Jaworski, the Attorney General; and Bob Woodward, the investigative reporter.
Baldwin has been back in New York this week. He finished filming a miniseries, “The Chairman,” on the Fox network in the city on Wednesday night.
“It was pretty neat to shoot there,” Baldwin wrote on Instagram about the city that is his adopted home. “The cast and crew didn’t have to go far and we got a great view of The Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island. What an amazing city!”
Baldwin’s character in “The Chairman” was a company CEO who raised his $1.4 billion in company stock on the public markets, only to be fired in his office and leave the company in bankruptcy. He then sought revenge by trying to buy the power station that controls the New York City’s primary electrical transmission.
Baldwin has put himself back in the public eye after spending time out of the spotlight amid a couple of turbulent years.
In 2013, he was put on an anger management course and issued a public apology for using a gay slur during a dispute with paparazzi outside his New York apartment.
In 2014, he was arrested and pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor charge of attempted assault for allegedly hurling a wine bottle at a photographer’s head, breaking his nose.
In late 2015, he signed up to star as President Donald Trump on “Saturday Night Live,” but the offer never materialized after Trump’s win in the November election.
Also Thursday, actor Robert De Niro criticized Baldwin and said actors have no place poking fun at people suffering from mental illness. De Niro made the comments at an event to mark Broadway’s move to Los Angeles from New York.
Baldwin’s last performance as the former president was July 10. The play runs through July 23, and for the finale, former President Barack Obama will speak to the audience.
