Saturday night’s Hollywood fundraiser to bolster President Biden’s war chest is a platform for the Biden campaign to launch its most consensual and strongest attacks to date on former President Donald J. Trump as a celebrity, Barack Obama and even Jill Biden. changed to . Attacked President Trump’s ethics and suitability to return to the White House.
Mrs. Biden, who was introduced by Barbra Streisand, said she had a choice between her husband, who “respects the rule of law without bending it to his will” and “Trump, who wakes up every morning and worries about those around him.” There is only one person, and only one person, and that is him.”
“Mr. Trump went on to say why he wants the White House to give him absolute power and not take responsibility for his own criminal actions,” Ms. Biden continued. She told the crowd that his goal was “to keep the democratic party that stands in the way of him.” “It destroys protections,” he said.
Obama drew applause from the crowd by mentioning Trump’s felony conviction, something President Biden has largely avoided.
“We are witnessing a candidate from one of the two major political parties sit in a courtroom and be found guilty by a jury of his peers on 34 counts,” President Obama said. “Your organization has been indicted for failing to pay taxes,” he said, listing a series of actions he described as Mr. Trump’s crimes. Aside from everything else he says —”
President Biden picked up the microphone and said, “He didn’t pay a dime.”
The atmosphere of the event in downtown Los Angeles was different from the star-studded fundraiser held at Radio City Music Hall just three months earlier. The change comes after Trump was found guilty by a New York jury on May 30 of 34 felonies on charges of falsifying business records. Los Angeles is the only place where concern is growing among Democrats across the country.
It also added a twist to a fairly standard political event in Hollywood. Democratic candidates have emerged to raise money from the heavily Democratic entertainment community.
George Clooney was there. So did Julia Roberts and Jimmy Kimmel, who asked Biden if the country had “Trump amnesia” and compared those four years to a “colonoscopy” that people want to forget.
Prime Minister Biden responded, “Remember the pandemic.” “He said not to worry, just a little injection of bleach.”
The event, held at the Peacock Theater in Los Angeles, home of the annual Emmy Awards, helped the president raise at least $28 million, surpassing the $26 million he raised at his Radio City Music fundraiser three months earlier, his aides said. hall.
The tone was set early on when Ms. Streisand introduced the first lady.
“She’s the neighbor everyone wants, not the type that suddenly flies the American flag upside down,” Ms. Streisand said, referring to how Martha-Ann Alito, the wife of Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr., did it, with a laugh and a few groans. . ., January 6, 2021 An American flag, a symbol associated with the Capitol riots, was hung upside down outside the couple’s home in Virginia.
One of the reasons for the change in the mood of the evening was the change in political environment. Another was Mr. Kimmel, who asked far more pointed and leading questions than late-night talk show host Stephen Colbert, who posed questions to Biden, Obama and Bill Clinton at the Radio City Music Hall event.
“You say you’re fighting to restore the soul of America, but these days it looks like an exorcism may be necessary,” Mr. Kimmel said, turning to Mr. Biden at the top of the program. “So you visited the Pope?”
“Uh,” Mr. Biden said, smiling softly. “huh.”
When Mr. Kimmel mentioned repealing Roe, which Trump-appointed Supreme Court justices helped orchestrate, the audience hissed. “Vote without shouting!” Mr. Obama said.
“The next president will likely have two more Supreme Court nominees,” Mr. Biden said, referring to Mr. Trump, adding, “If he is re-elected, the idea is to nominate two more people who are waving the flag.” Below is—” he trailed off.
Prime Minister Biden said, “The Supreme Court has never been more unstable than it is now.”
He reminded the audience of the events of January 6 and that President Trump has recently used suggestive terms such as “bloodbath” and “revenge.”
Outside the theater complex on Olympic Boulevard, black-clad police officers with helmets lined up to greet arriving guests as about 100 protesters wearing T-shirts that said “ceasefire now” and holding signs that read “Stop the Murders in Gaza.” I screamed. . “There’s blood on my hands!” they said
Jody Evans, 70, a political activist and documentary maker based in Venice, was one of the protesters who said: “People are saying that Biden is funding his re-election campaign while he is arming Israel and funding genocide against the Palestinian people. “People are flocking to do it,” he said. Near Los Angeles.
The fundraiser comes amid anxiety about Biden’s strength against President Trump.
“The talk of money made us nervous.” said David Mandel, a TV show host who created “Veep” and a prominent supporter of the Biden campaign. “But we weren’t really confident, so we got nervous. We were tense for eight years. So this is nothing new.”
Mandel took issue with the comparison between business leaders writing checks to President Trump and those on display Saturday in the wealthy entertainment industry.
“I’ll tell you what Julia Roberts, Jimmy Kimmel and Mark Hamill don’t do,” he said. “They’re not asking Joe Biden to lower the corporate tax rate. They are not asking Joe Biden to lower personal income tax rates.”
But despite its financial success — the money raised was a record for a Democratic fundraiser — the event was a reminder of the risks politicians face when they try to mix Washington and Hollywood, the Biden campaign said.
Mr. Biden appeared on stage with Mr. Clooney, an actor who complained to White House officials about the president’s criticism of the International Criminal Court.
The court decided to seek a warrant against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Minister of Defense; and three Hamas leaders, whose illegal activities are waging a war in Gaza that has resulted in the deaths of thousands of civilians. Mr. Clooney’s wife, Amal Clooney, a human rights lawyer, served as an advisory board member who helped conduct the investigation.
Mr. Biden, who left a meeting of world leaders in Italy on Friday and skipped a farewell dinner to cross 10 time zones to Los Angeles, thanked supporters in his speech but did not address the complaints.
The hall was filled with familiar faces from the entertainment world, led by Hollywood producer Jeffrey Katzenberg, one of Biden’s top behind-the-scenes advisers and chair of his 2024 campaign.
It was a night where Hollywood royalty and Democratic leaders mingled from Washington to Sacramento. Bryan Lourd and Richard Lovett, who run Creative Artists Agency, one of the most powerful talent agencies in town, posed for a photo with Mr. Clooney and Mr. Roberts. California Governor Gavin Newsom and Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass also attended.
But the stakes were higher here than in New York. Republicans raised $50.5 million at a fundraiser in Palm Beach, Fla., in April and another $141 million in May. Ticket prices on Saturday night ranged from $250 per seat to $500,000 for a VIP package.
Chad Griffin, a Hollywood-based Democratic consultant and member of the party’s National Finance Committee, said the entertainment industry expects this to be “the most expensive election cycle in history,” given evidence of President Trump’s fundraising. Success and political support.
“I’ve never seen this town more motivated and committed to a presidential election,” said Mr. Griffin, who began his political career working in the Clinton White House. “And I think it’s because there’s a clear understanding of what’s at stake and what it’s going to take to win in November.”
Reed J. Epstein, brooks barnes and George Johnston contributed reporting.
