Biden, at a Los Angeles fundraiser, says 2024 election offers a stark choice
President Biden, speaking Tuesday night at a Los Angeles fundraiser, said the 2024 election offers a “crystal-clear” choice for voters between a Democratic agenda to improve Americans’ lives and Republican Donald Trump’s efforts to restrict freedoms and destroy the progress Democrats have made on issues such as healthcare and drug costs.
“Time and again, Republicans show they are a party of chaos and disunity. They shout about problems but offer nothing,” Biden told a couple of hundred people gathered under a tent at the sprawling Beverly Park estate of Israeli American media mogul and billionaire Democratic donor Haim Saban. “They have no platform.”
“Are they here to solve problems or just weaponize them for political attacks?” Biden said of the GOP, adding that in a second term, he would work to restore abortion and voting rights, strengthen the Affordable Care Act and Social Security, increase access to affordable housing and make corporations pay their fair share in taxes. “I’m here to serve the people.”
“We’re gonna finish the job,” Biden said. “We can do that. I keep my promise.”
Saban and co-host Casey Wasserman, chair of LA28, the committee organizing the Los Angeles Olympics, both tested positive for COVID-19 on Tuesday and could not attend the event.
Saban is a major supporter of Israel, and there had been concerns that there could be protests over the U.S. role in Israel’s war against Hamas, as there were when Biden visited in December. A small group of pro-Palestinian demonstrators gathered on Mulholland Drive as Biden’s motorcade drove past, but nothing like the level of protests seen during the president’s December visit.
Biden did not mention the war, but former television executive Leslie Gilbert-Lurie, another host of the fundraiser did so as she introduced Biden.
“As an American Jew whose mother is a Holocaust survivor, and as a human being, I am deeply grateful to President Biden, for showing up for Israel and the Jewish people, literally showing up to embrace Israelis just days after the worst atrocity Jews have faced since the Holocaust,” she said, referring to Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack on Israel. “He has continued to support Israel while also stepping up to demand for humanitarian aid to innocent Palestinians.”
Tension has been mounting within the Democratic Party over Biden’s support for Israel as it bombards the Gaza Strip in retaliation for the terror attack.
The Biden administration has been a steadfast ally to Israel, preparing to send additional weapons to the nation even as the president has described the military campaign against Gaza as “over the top” and reportedly privately expressed frustration with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
The administration has called for a temporary cease-fire in a draft resolution submitted to the United Nations Security Council, according to a CNN report Monday. But on Tuesday, the United States was the sole member of the 15-member council to veto a resolution calling for an immediate humanitarian cease-fire.
The issue has divided California Democrats — in November, their convention was shut down early after about 1,000 protesters stormed into the Sacramento venue.
In December, the last time Biden visited Los Angeles to raise money, demonstrators staged major rallies in support of Palestinians, calling for a cease-fire in Gaza and an end to U.S. financial and military aid to Israel. Vandals spray-painted “Baby killers,” “LA says no to Genocide Joe” and “Ceasefire now!!! End the war crimes!” on buildings in the Westwood area.
Demonstrators waving Palestinian flags took over the convention center where California Democrats gathered to endorse candidates in the 2024 election.
Biden has to thread a careful line, so as to not alienate core segments of the Democratic coalition — Jewish voters, young people and people of color who are key to his reelection effort. Biden administration officials met this month with Arab American and Muslim leaders in Michigan in an attempt to foster relationships with a community that could influence who wins the crucial swing state in this year’s election.
A super PAC supporting former President Trump, Biden’s likely opponent in the November general election, had seized on tension over the Israel-Hamas war as Biden arrived in California. It ran digital ads targeting social media users in Saban’s ZIP Code that focus on White House officials’ meeting with Osama Siblani, a Michigan newspaper publisher who has previously praised the militant groups Hamas and Hezbollah.
“Joe Biden continues to embrace America’s enemies. The White House’s embrace of Osama Siblani is an affront to the dozens of Americans and hundreds of Israelis who lost their lives on Oct. 7, and the millions of Israelis who wake up every morning under siege by Islamic terrorism,” Alex Pfeiffer, spokesman for the MAGA Inc. super PAC, said in a statement.
Biden’s campaign did not respond to a request for comment on the attack ad.
This is probably Biden’s last trip to California before Super Tuesday on March 5, when California and more than a dozen other states hold primary elections.
Tickets to the fundraiser cost up to $250,000. Actor Jane Fonda and comedian Greg Proops were among the attendees. The 405 Freeway was shut down twice during rush hour to make way for the motorcade, leading to a seemingly endless stream of grid-locked cars during Tuesday’s rainstorms.
In the 2020 presidential contest, Biden’s campaign raised $145.4 million from Californians, the most of any state in the nation, according to campaign finance disclosures filed with the Federal Election Commission. (And that doesn’t include donations to super PACs and other groups that supported his bid.)
His campaign’s fundraising efforts in the state were stymied last year by the entertainment industry strikes.
Political donations from the entertainment industry, a backbone of Democratic politics, dried up during the Hollywood strikes. The floodgates are now expected to open.
On Tuesday, the campaign announced that the combined groups supporting Biden’s 2024 presidential campaign raised more than $42 million in January and had $130 million in the bank, the most any Democratic presidential candidate has had at this point in the electoral cycle.
“January’s fundraising haul — driven by a powerhouse grassroots fundraising program that continues to grow month by month — is an indisputable show of strength to start the election year,” campaign manager Julie Chavez Rodriguez said in a statement.
The president is expected to speak at an official event Wednesday before leaving the Southland and heading to the Bay Area, where he is scheduled to hold additional fundraisers before leaving the state on Thursday.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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