Hollywood Stars Help Biden Raise $28 Million during Fundraiser

Some of Hollywood's brightest stars headlined a glitzy fundraiser for President Joe Biden on Saturday night, helping raise what his reelection campaign said was $28 million and hoping to energize would-be supporters ahead of a November election that they argued repeatedly was among the most important in the nation's history.
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, who both stressed the need to defeat former President Donald Trump in a race that's expected to be exceedingly close.
During more than half an hour of discussion, Kimmel asked if the country was suffering from amnesia about the presumptive Republican nominee, to which Biden responded, “all we gotta do is remember what it was like" when Trump was in the White House.
Luminaries from the entertainment world have increasingly lined up to help Biden’s campaign, and just how important the event was to his reelection bid could be seen in the president flying through the night across nine time zones, from the G7 summit in southern Italy to Southern California, to attend.
He also missed a summit in Switzerland about ways to end Russia's war in Ukraine, instead dispatching Vice President Kamala Harris who made her own whirlwind trip of her own to represent the United States there — a stark reminder of the delicate balance between geopolitics and his bid to win a second term.
Further laying bare the political implications were police in riot gear outside the theater Saturday night, ready for protests from pro-Palestinian activists angry about his administration’s handling of Israel’s war against Hamas in Gaza.
The event featured singing by 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 deadpanned, “I was told I was getting introduced by Batman, not Bateman.”
But he quickly pivoted to far more serious topics, saying that “so much is at stake in this election” and listing off women’s rights, health care and noting that “even the ballot is on the ballot” in a reference to the Biden administration's calls to expand voting rights.
Kimmel asked the president what he was most proud of accomplishing, and Biden said he thought the administration’s approach to the economy “is working.”
“We have the strongest economy in the world today,” Biden said, adding “we try to give ordinary people an even chance.”
Trump spent Saturday campaigning in Detroit and criticized Biden for weakening the economy and stoking inflation. The president was fundraising "with out-of-touch elitist Hollywood celebrities,” said Trump campaign spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt.
But Biden told the crowd in California that “we passed every major piece of legislation we attempted to get done." And Obama expressed admiration for sweeping legislation on health care, public works, the environment, technology manufacturing, gun safety and other major initiatives that the administration of his former vice president has overseen.
“What we’re seeing now is a byproduct of in 2016. There were a whole bunch of folks who, for whatever reason, sat out," said Obama, who, like Biden wore a dark suit with a white shirt with an open collar.
Obama added that "hopefully we have learned our lesson, because these elections matter in very concrete ways.”
When the conversation turned to three Supreme Court justices who Trump nominated and who helped overturn Roe v. Wade — the landmark decision guaranteeing a constitutional right to an abortion — the crowd expressed its displeasure to which Obama responded, “don't hiss, vote.” That was a play on his common refrain prioritizing voting over booing.
Biden said that if he were to win four more years in the White House he may get the chance to nominate two new justices — though even that probably wouldn't drastically overhaul a court that current features a 6-3 conservative majority.
He also suggested that if Trump wins back the White House, “one of the scariest parts" was the Supreme Court and how there has “never been a court that’s so far out of step.”
Biden also referenced reports that an upside-down flag, a symbol associated with Trump’s false claims of election fraud, was displayed outside the home of Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito in January 2021. He worried Saturday that, if Trump is reelected, “He’s going to appoint two more who fly their flags upside down.”
Biden's campaign said it was still counting, but that Saturday night's gathering had taken in at least $28 million — more money than any event for a Democratic candidate in history.
That meant outpacing the president's fundraiser in March at Radio City Music Hall in New York, which featured late-night host Stephen Colbert interviewing Biden, Obama and former President Bill Clinton, which raised $26 million.
Biden held an early lead in the campaign money race against Trump, but the former president has gained ground in recent months, after formally locking up the Republican nomination.
Trump outpaced Biden's New York event in April, raking in $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 had raised a whopping $141 million in May, padded by tens of millions of dollars in contributions that flowed in after Trump's guilty verdict in his criminal hush money trial.
That post-conviction bump came after Trump and the Republican Party announced collecting $76 million in April, far exceeding Biden and the Democrats’ $51 million for the month.

Russia's Foreign Ministry said on Friday that a decision to remove the Taliban from a list of terrorist organizations had been "taken at the highest level", the state TASS news agency reported.
The decision needs to be followed up with various legal procedures in order to make it a reality, President Vladimir Putin's special representative on Afghanistan, Zamir Kabulov, was quoted as saying.
Putin said in July that Russia considered Afghanistan's Taliban movement an ally in the fight against terrorism.
Russia has been slowly building ties with the Taliban since it seized power in Afghanistan in August 2021 as US-led forces withdrew after 20 years of war but the movement is still officially outlawed in Russia.
No country has formally recognized the Taliban as the country's legitimate leadership.
Russia added the Taliban to its list of terrorist organizations in 2003. Removing it would be an important step by Moscow towards normalizing relations with Afghanistan.
The Taliban's acting foreign minister Amir Khan Muttaqi said in a speech in Moscow that recent decisions by Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan to remove the former insurgents from a list of banned groups was a welcome step.
"We also appreciate the positive remarks by the high-ranking officials of the Russian Federation in this regard and hope to see more effective steps soon," he said.
In separate comments on Friday, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Moscow was convinced of the need to maintain "pragmatic dialogue" with the current Afghan government.
"It is obvious that it is impossible to solve problems or even discuss an Afghan settlement without Kabul," Lavrov said.
"Moscow will continue its course on developing political, trade and economic ties with Kabul," he added, speaking at a meeting in Moscow with Muttaqi and representatives of neighboring countries.
While he did not mention the Taliban by name, he praised the current Afghan leadership for its efforts to curb drug production and fight ISIS, which is outlawed in Russia.
Muttaqi said that countries in the region should cooperate against the ISIS group, which he said had established training centers outside Afghanistan.
Lavrov said the United States should return confiscated assets to Afghanistan and the West should acknowledge responsibility for the post-conflict reconstruction of the country.
Lavrov also called for an increase in humanitarian aid to Afghanistan, and said Russia would keep sending it food and essential goods.
Russia has a troubled history in Afghanistan, where the Soviet army invaded in 1979 to support a pro-Moscow government but withdrew 10 years later after sustaining heavy casualties at the hands of fighters.
Russia and its post-Soviet neighbors have suffered recurrent attacks from militant groups linked to Afghanistan - most recently in March, when 145 people were killed in an attack claimed by ISIS at a concert hall near Moscow.

Hollywood Stars Help Biden Raise $28 Million during Fundraiser