‘A lot of people thought I was exaggerating:’ Biden touts being right and Zelensky being wrong about Putin’s plans to invade Ukraine at high-dollar LA fundraiser co-hosted by producer Jeffrey Katzenberg
- President Joe Biden touted being right about Russian President Vladimir Putin ‘s plans to invade Ukraine at an LA fundraiser co-hosted by Jeffrey Katzenberg
- ‘I know a lot of people thought I was exaggerating,’ the president told the group. ‘And there was no doubt and Zelensky didn’t want to hear it nor did a lot of people’
- In January, Zelensky said in the run-up to the invasion that warnings of an imminent invasion was ‘panic’
- Biden was headlining two high-dollar LA fundraisers Friday night after spending three days at the Summit of the Americas
President Joe Biden touted being right about Russian President Vladimir Putin’s plans to invade Ukraine at a high-dollar fundraiser co-hosted by producer Jeffrey Katzenberg in Los Angeles Friday night.
‘I know a lot of people thought I was exaggerating,’ the president told the group. ‘But I knew we had data to sustain. He was gonna go into the border. And there was no doubt and Zelensky didn’t want to hear it nor did a lot of people.’
In January, Zelensky said in the run-up to the invasion that warnings of an imminent invasion was ‘panic.’
‘I understand why they didn’t want to hear it, but he went in,’ Biden said of Putin.
Biden was headlining two LA fundraisers Friday after spending three days at the Summit of the Americas.
President Joe Biden touted being right about Russian President Vladimir Putin’s plans to invade Ukraine at a high-dollar fundraiser co-hosted by producer Jeffrey Katzenberg in Los Angeles Friday night, after spending three days at the Summit of the Americas (pictured)
Hollywood producer Jeffrey Katzenberg (left) co-hosted a fundraiser headlined by President Joe Biden Friday night at the Brentwood home of Andrew Hauptman and Ellen Bronfman Hauptman (right)
Biden’s first fundraiser was held in LA’s Brentwood neighborhood at the home of Andrew Hauptman and Ellen Bronfman Hauptman, and co-hosted by prominent film producer Katzenberg, according to Deadline.
‘The money raised today will help get people to the polls on election day in November. Just the idea of Kevin McCarthy and Mitch McConnell in charge should be enough to get people out to vote,’ Katzenberg told the publication.
Andrew Hauptman introduced the president and also First Lady Jill Biden.
‘If there was ever a time that our country needed assurances about leadership with integrity, it’s now so Mr. President, it’s perfect to have you and Dr. Biden with us,’ the business executive said.
‘It’s my sense that every guest here joins Ellen and me and thank you both for your care and commitment, and your service and leadership and for your high standards of decency, you bring to everything that you do to advance our country forward,’ he added.
The first lady defended her husband and said The New York Times’ coverage of the Summit of the Americas – which highlighted some of the criticism from the leaders of Belize and Argentina over the U.S.’s decision not to invite the authoritarian leaders of Cuba, Venezeula and Nicaragua – was unfair.
Dr. Biden said she read it and gave a pretend shriek.
‘I thought it was so unfair because at the dinner late night, every leader came up to Joe and said, ‘What a difference you’ve made. It’s so great that you’re here. It’s so great we’re working together,” the first lady said. ‘And that’s what all the spouses said to me.’
The Bidens hosted a dinner Thursday night at the Getty Villa and then she held a lunch for the spouses Friday afternoon outside the Walt Disney Concert Hall.
‘And I thank God we did win because if you think of what went on January 6, if we were living with that kind of president today, it’s like you can’t even let your head go there,’ the first lady continued.
The House’s select committee on January 6 held its first primetime hearing on the Capitol attack Thursday night.
‘And then once we were elected, people came up to me all the time, everywhere … and said, ‘Jill, I feel like I can breathe,” the first lady added.
She said her husband was ‘working as hard as he can’ ahead of the 2022 midterm races.
‘We are moving in the right direction. And I know you know there’s so many naysayers about out there saying, ‘Oh, you’re never going to win the you know the midterm elections and the Democrats aren’t going to do well.’ That’s not true. That’s not true. You know, we just have to fight a little bit harder. We can’t lose our momentum,’ she told the Democratic donors.
President Biden also defended the relationships he forged with the North, Central and South American heads of state and foreign ministers who traveled to Los Angeles for the Summit of the Americas this week.
‘The press will probably not say it but I wish they’d to back and interview all the heads of state [at] the Latin American conference we just had,’ he said, adding there was ‘overwhelming support for what we’re trying to do by holding all the hemisphere together.’
About 30 attendees were expected to be at the first fundraiser – with tickets going for between $50,000 and $100,000. The money will benefit the Democratic National Committe’s Democratic Grassroots Victory Fund, which trickles down to state party committees.
Haim (left) and Cheryl Saban (right) are hosting President Joe Biden for his second Los Angeles fundraiser Friday night
Biden’s second stop was at the Beverly Hills home Haim and Cheryl Saban for an event that cost attendees at a minimum of $1,000 per ticket, Deadline said. ‘Sponsors’ can give or raise as much as $36,500.
The president picked up his fundraising schedule in April, doing a west coast swing to Portland and Seattle and more recently raised money in Chicago.
At the events he’s had candid conversations with donors, while also reiterating points he’s made publicly.
‘What he’s trying to do is obliterate there culture, not just not just take the nation, but the culture, the Ukrainian culture,’ Biden said in Brentwood – a point he’s made on prior occassions. ‘Because he doesn’t believe it’s such an independent thing as a Ukrainian culture. He think it came as a seed of mother Russia.’
He made similar comments at the second fundraiser, while also addressing inflation and gun control.
‘We are going to live with this inflation for a while. It’s going to come down gradually but we are going to live with it for a while,’ the president told donors.
He added, ‘there’s more than one way to deal with the impact of inflation on average families. We can lower the prices for other things,’ likely a reference to some of the provisions of the currently-dead Build Back Better bill.
He echoed comments made by Rep. Adam Schiff, who was on hand, saying, ‘‘it gets done to we need two more senators.’
Biden also dismissed the GOP-floated idea of arming school teachers to combat school shootings.
‘There is a reason why the military takes so long to train. It’s not easy to pick up a rifle.’ adding later, ‘more people get killed with their own gun.’
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