President Biden touches down in LA again to fill campaign coffers

President Joe Biden descended the steps of Air Force 1 at Los Angeles International Airport on a rainy Tuesday afternoon to begin a three-day fundraising blitz in California.

He was greeted on the tarmac by Rep. Maxine Waters, D-Hawthorne, and L.A. Mayor Karen Bass before departing in the presidential  motorcade around 3:50 p.m.

This marks the president’s second trip to Los Angeles in February and his third visit in the last three months. This trip, like the prior two, will be largely dedicated to raising support for the reelection campaign by appealing to the hearts and wallets of influential Angelenos.

First up on the agenda is a Tuesday evening campaign reception hosted by longtime Democratic donors Haim and Cheryl Saban and Casey Wasserman, a sports management executive and chairman of the LA 2028 Olympic Games planning group, the Los Angeles Times reported. Tickets for the private event ranged from $3,300 for entry all the way u to $250,000 for those who want to be listed as a co-chair, Deadline reported.

The president will then travel to San Francisco on Wednesday afternoon for more campaign-related events, before a final Thursday evening stop in Los Altos Hills for a fundraiser at the private residence of Robert and Danielle Klein, according to the L.A. Times.

The First Lady, meanwhile, is in Guilford, Connecticut, where she is expected to deliver remarks at a Tuesday political finance event for the Biden Victory Fund. The couple will be reunited in D.C. on Friday for the National Governors Association Winter Meeting, according to the White House.

While departing the White House lawns on Tuesday morning the president told reporters he plans on announcing a “major” sanctions package against Russia on Friday. En Route to LAX, Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre held a press briefing aboard the Air Force One and addressed reporters’ questions about the upcoming announcement.

The timing of the fresh round of sanctions is related to both the upcoming two-year anniversary of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and to the recent death of Alexei Navalny, one of the most prominent Russian critics of President Vladimir Putin, Jean-Pierre said.

“It’s clear that Russia is responsible for the Navalny’s death,” she said, adding that Navalny’s death is more evidence that “He (Putin) does not only target the citizens of other countries, as we have been seeing happen obviously in Ukraine for the past two years, he also inflicts terrible crimes on his own people.”

Jean-Pierre also reiterated the president’s previous statements on the importance of passing the bipartisan National Security Supplemental Bill to provide humanitarian assistance to the millions of Ukrainians who have been displaced by Russia’s war.

Source: Orange County Register