Hollywood stars help Biden raise $28 million in fundraiser

Some of Hollywood's brightest stars headlined a glitzy fundraiser for President Joe Biden on Saturday night, helping raise what his re-election campaign said was $28 million and hoping energize their potential supporters ahead of the November elections that they have repeatedly claimed are among the most important of the year. the history of the nation.
George Clooney, Julia Roberts and Barbra Streisand were among those who took the stage at the 7,100-seat Peacock Theater in Los Angeles, the Associated Press reported. Late night host Jimmy Kimmel interviewed Biden and former President Barack Obama, both of whom stressed the need to defeat former President Donald Trump in a race expected to be extremely close.
During more than a half-hour of discussion, Kimmel asked whether the country was suffering from amnesia about the presumptive Republican nominee, to which Biden responded: “All we have to do is remember how it 'was' when Trump was in the White House.
Luminaries from the entertainment world have increasingly lined up to help Biden's campaign, and the importance of the event to his re-election bid could be seen as the president flew through the night across nine time zones , from the G7 summit in southern Italy to Southern California. , participate.
He also missed a summit in Switzerland on ways to end Russia's war in Ukraine, instead sending Vice President Kamala Harris, who made her own whirlwind trip to represent the United States there, a a stark reminder of the delicate balance between geopolitics and his bid to win a second term.
Police officers in riot gear outside the theater Saturday night laid bare the political implications, ready to accommodate protests by pro-Palestinian activists angry at his administration's handling of Israel's war against Hamas in Gaza.
The event featured singing from Jack Black and Sheryl Lee Ralph, and actors Kathryn Hahn and Jason Bateman introduced Kimmel at the start of the interview with Biden and Obama. The comedian was unmoved, I was told I was introduced by Batman, not Bateman.
But he quickly turned to much more serious topics, saying that much was at stake in this election, listing women's rights, health care and noting that even the ballot was on the ballot, in reference to the Biden administration's calls to expand voting rights. .
Kimmel asked the president what he was most proud of having accomplished, and Biden said he thought the administration's approach to the economy was working.
We have the strongest economy in the world today, Biden said, adding that we are trying to give ordinary people an equal opportunity.
Trump spent his campaign in Detroit on Saturday and criticized Biden for weakening the economy and stoking inflation. The president was raising money “from elitist Hollywood celebrities out of touch with reality,” said Trump campaign spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt.
But Biden told the crowd in California that we had passed every major bill we had tried to pass. » And Obama expressed admiration for sweeping legislation on health care, public works, the environment, technology manufacturing, gun safety and other major initiatives that his former vice-president's administration -president supervised.
What we're seeing today is a byproduct of 2016. There were a whole bunch of people who, for one reason or another, didn't opt ​​out,” said Obama, who, like Biden, carried a dark suit with a white open-collar shirt.
Obama added: “I hope we learned our lesson, because this election matters in a very real way.
When the conversation turned to three Trump-appointed Supreme Court justices who helped overturn the landmark Roe v. With Wade guaranteeing a constitutional right to abortion, the crowd expressed their displeasure, to which Obama responded, don't whistle, vote. It was a play on its common refrain, which prioritizes voting over booing.
Biden has said that if he wins four more years in the White House, he might get the chance to appoint two new justices, although it probably wouldn't dramatically change a court that currently features a 6-3 conservative majority.
He also suggested that if Trump wins back the White House, one of the scariest things will be the Supreme Court and the fact that there has never been a court more out of sync.
Biden also referenced reports that an upside-down flag, a symbol associated with Trump's false claims of election fraud, was flown outside the home of Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito in January 2021. He is worried Saturday that if Trump is re-elected, he will nominate two more who fly their flags upside down.
Biden's campaign said it still counted, but Saturday night's rally raised at least $28 million more than any event for a Democratic candidate in history.
That meant topping the president's March fundraiser at New York's Radio City Music Hall, during which late-night host Stephen Colbert interviewed Biden, Obama and former President Bill Clinton, which raised $26 million.
Biden has been ahead in the race for campaign cash against Trump, but the former president has gained ground in recent months, after formally blocking the Republican nomination.
Trump preempted Biden's event in New York in April, raising $50.5 million at a gathering of major donors at the Florida home of billionaire investor John Paulson. The former president's campaign and the Republican National Committee announced they raised a whopping $141 million in May, supplemented by tens of millions of dollars in contributions that poured in after Trump's guilty verdict during his criminal trial for secret money.
This post-conviction increase came after Trump and the Republican Party reported raising $76 million in April, far surpassing Biden and the Democrats' $51 million for the month.