President Joe Biden soared off the tarmac at LAX aboard Air Force One on Sunday afternoon, Dec. 10, having apparently logged “mission accomplished” on a weekend of fundraising with high-profile entertainment moguls, celebrities and financiers around the City of Angels.
On a clear afternoon under sunny blue skies, the president and his entourage lifted off just after 1:25 p.m. The first couple experienced unusually chilly weather — by La La Land standards — during their Southern California stay.
First lady Jill Biden, who arrived in the Southland on her own, departed with the president.
There didn’t appear to be any protesters of well-wishers at the airport for Biden’s departure.
For two days, the first couple criss-crossed the L.A. area on a fundraising blitz that included at least a half-dozen meetings, most of them at private homes in posh neighborhoods. This weekend mission: To help Biden attain a fundraising target of roughly $67 million for the fourth quarter of the year, according to a source close to the president’s campaign who spoke to the Associated Press but insisted on anonymity to discuss internal numbers.
Biden has also been collecting cash on the East Coast. He flew to Boston on Tuesday for a trio of gatherings to raise money, including one that featured singer-songwriter James Taylor, and attended a high-dollar event Wednesday at a hotel near the White House.
Biden has another fundraiser scheduled Monday in Philadelphia that’s expected to feature Pennsylvania’s Democratic Gov. Josh Shapiro, who has been mentioned as a potential post-2024 presidential candidate. He is also planning an upcoming Maryland reception with Democratic Gov. Wes Moore, 45, a key voice for Biden’s campaign with young voters.
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No events the president attended were open to the general public. Before landing in L.A., however, the president appeared in a packed union-worker training facility in Las Vegas to showcase $8.2 billion in funding for 10 major passenger rail projects across the country, including to spur work on high-speed, electric train routes that could one day link Nevada and California, as well as Los Angeles and San Francisco.
While most of the president’s L.A.-area stops were thought to be linked to efforts to fuel his campaign coffers, one was a solemn experience: Biden attended a shiva on Saturday at the residence of Lyn and Norman Lear in honor of the pioneering TV producer’s death last week at the age of 101.
Scant details about the meetings were released by the White House, but the largest of the events appeared to be a celebrity-studded gala Friday night in Holmby Hills which featured filmmakers Steven Spielberg and Rob Reiner, television producer Shonda Rhimes, Gov. Gavin Newsom, Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass and Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Burbank.
Former House Speaker Rep. Nancy Pelosi reportedly co-hosted the event along with former L.A. mayoral candidate and entrepreneur developer Rick Caruso.
According to Deadline, tickets ranged from $1,000 to $500,000. Those who contributed $25,000 or more had access to a photo line.
The first lady also campaigned separately for her husband, appearing at a fundraising event Saturday at NeueHouse Hollywood hosted by Matthew Crowley and Martha Leon De La Barra. She was introduced by actress Connie Britton and spoke for 11 minutes to an audience of about 100 guests, according to a pool report.
Related: Peek inside Joe Biden’s fundraisers, where big money mingles with old jokes in swanky homes
“I wish that this election were about simple policy differences. I wish it were about differences of character or merit. But fundamentally, what this election will be about is democracy,” she said. After the speech, she participated in a discussion moderated by actress Elizabeth Banks.
On Friday, the first lady appeared at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center to tour research laboratories as part of the White House Initiative on Women’s Health Research. She toured the Barbra Streisand Women’s Heart Center and Smidt Heart Institute.
Meanwhile, police continued to investigate numerous acts of vandalism by some of the more than 1,000 protesters who demonstrated not far from the president’s appearance Friday evening.
No marge-scale protests linked to the president’s trip were reported on Saturday, though pro-Palestinian demonstrations were staged in Pasadena and at Disneyland in Orange County.
Demonstrators gathered Friday afternoon to condemn U.S. funding of Israeli military strikes in Gaza.
At one point, the crowd blocked entry to the president’s fundraiser as cars attempted to enter. Some demonstrators slammed on cars, shouted “Free Palestine,” at drivers, and refused to let up their street blockage.
Someone spray-painted “Free Gaza” on the wall of an apartment building on Wilshire Boulevard across from Sinai Temple. Some of the building’s residents inside threw objects at the crowd. Other Westwood businesses were tagged, Fox11 reported.
The demonstration was put on by the Palestinian Youth Movement, an organization comprising Palestinians and Arabs living in the U.S. and Canada, according to its website. Other activist groups, including Code Pink and the Los Angeles chapter of the Party for Socialism and Liberation, also planned to participate in the demonstration.
LAPD Chief Michel Moore said the protest ended without arrests. “The crowd slowly dispersed and no arrests were made, no use of force, and no officers were injured,” he said.
“The LAPD is actively investigating these crimes,” said a police statement released Saturday. While the LAPD fully supports 1st Amendment rights for peaceful demonstrations, we will not tolerate violence or vandalism of any kind.”
Meanwhile, inside the gala at the home of celebrity designer Michael Smith and his partner, James Costos, Biden spoke briefly to an A-list throng before a performance by rocker Lenny Kravitz.
“It’s just a normal Friday at our house,” Costos joked to the crowd of hundreds that filled his backyard to near overflow capacity. He added, “This is not just a Hollywood gathering, it’s more like a national event,” saying that supporters from around the country joined in.
Biden touted his record to the gathering of high-profile supporters and took a few swings at the GOP front-runner, former President Donald Trump.
“You’re the reason,” Biden told the crowd — co-hosted by such folks as former L.A. mayoral candidate and entrepreneur Rick Caruso and former Speaker Rep. Nancy Pelosi, D-San Francisco — “that Donald Trump is a former president, or he hates when I say it, a defeated president.”
Rhetoric swapped between the two political foes has grown increasingly bitter in the past few days, with Trump declaring Biden as “the destroyer of American democracy” this week. At Friday’s event, Biden declared: “The greatest threat Trump poses is to our democracy, because if we lost that, we lose everything.”
Earlier in the week, Trump declared Biden “the destroyer of American democracy.” The former president said Tuesday in Iowa: “(Biden has) been weaponizing government against his political opponents like a Third World political tyrant.”
Polls have shown Trump holds an overwhelming lead in the race for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination. Other polls have shown he has a slight lead over Biden in a potential 2024 general election race.
Republican Party officials condemned Biden’s fundraising swing.
“Today, Biden will listen to the concerns of Hollywood elitists instead of ordinary Californians suffering a violent crime epidemic, increased cost of living and Gavin Newsom’s record $68 billion deficit,” National Republican Congressional Committee spokesman Ben Petersen said in a statement Friday. “No wonder Biden is dragging down Democrats in competitive House races.”
Pool reporter S.V. Dáte of HuffPost, Southern California News Group staff writers Georgia Valdes, Kristy Hutchings and Emily Holshouser, the Associated Press and City News Service contributed to this report.
Source: Orange County Register
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