President Joe Biden took aim at the “distant” conservative Supreme Court and criticized Donald Trump while appearing alongside former President Obama at a splashy fundraiser in Los Angeles on Saturday night as protesters gathered outside.
The president was on the West Coast to raise money for his reelection bid alongside Obama at the celebrity-studded event, fresh from a trip to the G7 in Italy.
The event raised more than $30 million for the president’s campaign, according to a campaign official, and was attended by Hollywood royalty, including George Clooney, Julia Roberts and Barbra Streisand.
During a show moderated by late-night host and comedian Jimmy Kimmel, Biden, 81, focused on abortion and the Supreme Court. She warned that the next president is likely to have new nominees for the nation’s highest court.
President Biden and former President Obama appear at a fundraising event for Biden’s re-election campaign in downtown Los Angeles on Saturday night.
Biden called Trump’s choice of two more justices “one of the scariest parts” of the former Republican president’s election to a second term and said there has never been a Supreme Court so out of touch.
The president also mentioned Justice Clarence Thomas, noting that the conservative member had said the court, which struck down the federal right to abortion in 2022, should reconsider things like in vitro fertilization (IVF) and contraception.
Sitting next to Obama at the Peacock Theater in downtown Los Angeles, Biden and Kimmel also made some jokes about the president’s predecessor and his Republican opponent.
Kimmel noted how Biden said he ran to restore the soul of the nation: “It looks like we might need an exorcism. Is that why you visited the Pope?” referring to Biden’s recent meeting with Pope Francis in Italy.
Biden mentioned Trump’s handling of the coronavirus pandemic.
‘Do you remember the pandemic? He said, “Don’t worry, just inject some bleach,” the president said.
“It worked for me,” Kimmel joked.
“It worked for (Trump),” Biden responded. “He dyed her hair.”
During the show with comedian Jimmy Kimmel, Biden took aim at the conservative Supreme Court and his Republican opponent Donald Trump
Obama also participated in the conversation where he praised Biden and harshly criticized Trump for his recent felony conviction in New York, as well as other controversies.
Obama praised his former vice president and issued his own warning about the upcoming presidential election.
‘YO“It’s a reminder that we don’t have to just vote against something in this election,” Obama said. ‘We have someone to worry about and there is a whole agenda we should worry about, but we can be proud to affirm the extraordinary work that Joe has done.”
Obama, who also appeared with Biden at a fundraiser in New York City earlier this year as well as in campaign videos, focused on Trump’s recent felony conviction in New York.
“We have normalized behaviors that were previously disqualified,” he criticized the former president.
“We have the spectacle of the candidate of one of the two major parties appearing in court and being convicted by a jury of his peers on 34 counts,” Obama said.
‘His foundation is not allowed to operate because it was involved in a monkey business. “Your organization is being prosecuted for not paying taxes,” Obama continued.
The 44th president reached out to people who are conservative and disagree with him or Biden, but believe in “basic honesty.”
“There are certain norms and values that we must defend,” he said.
While Biden and Obama rubbed shoulders with celebrities inside, pro-Palestinian protesters gathered outside the venue in Los Angeles.
Dozens of protesters gathered outside the entrance to the Biden campaign fundraiser in Los Angeles.
Pro-Palestinian protesters in Los Angeles carried signs and waved flags as Biden and Obama cracked jokes with comedian Jimmy Kimmel inside the Peacock Theatre.
The protesters outside in downtown Los Angeles are the latest in a long line of pro-Palestinian protesters showing up to Biden events across the country.
The large crowd carried Palestinian flags and signs calling for a ceasefire in Gaza and for the United States to stop providing aid to Israel.
It was the latest in a series of protests that have emerged outside Biden events since the war in Gaza began more than six months ago in response to the Hamas terrorist attack on Israel on October 7.