Biden and Obama Absolutely Torch Trump With Record-Breaking Fundraiser

A record-breaking fundraiser for President Joe Biden’s 2024 campaign raised a whopping $26 million, with the help of two high-profile speakers and a star-studded guest list.

On Thursday, former Presidents Barack Obama and Bill Clinton joined Biden in New York City for a unique campaign event that included comedians Mindy Kaling and Stephen Colbert as moderators; House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer as additional speakers; and Queen Latifah, Lizzo, Ben Platt, Cynthia Erivo, and Lea Michele as guests. It was, as First Lady Jill Biden put it, “the fundraiser to end all fundraisers.”

The historic unity train stood in stark contrast to Biden’s opponent, Donald Trump, whose team has already admitted they won’t be able to match those numbers. His aggressive, far-right politics and derisive approach to leadership (that includes strong-arming the party on the national stage and one notorious instance in which he allowed a mob of his followers to ransack the Capitol building) have also kept his former Cabinet members and former Vice President Mike Pence from endorsing his bid for reelection.

The only semblance of support that Trump could get similar to Thursday’s turnout for Biden would be to convince the last Republican president, George W. Bush, to endorse him … though it would be a long shot. In past elections, the majority of the Bush family, including Presidents George W. Bush and his since deceased father, George H.W. Bush, refused to back Trump.

Trump’s campaign schedule has also been waylaid by his myriad criminal trials, gluing him to East Coast metropoles instead of rallies across the nation. And the trials have cost him a pretty penny too—so much so that the self-purported billionaire has turned to unconventional means and get-rich-quick schemes to pocket some dough fast, including launching a Trump sneaker campaign at a Philadelphia sneakerhead event, turning to a supporter-backed GoFundMe, selling “collectible” NFT cards featuring images of himself as an astronaut, and hawking limited-edition Bibles.

Pro-Palestinian protesters disrupted Joe Biden’s exclusive multimillion-dollar fundraiser on Thursday, repeatedly interrupting the bougie event to criticize Biden’s stance on Israel’s war in Gaza.

More than 32,600 Palestinians have been killed and more than 75,000 wounded in Israel’s constant bombardment of Gaza since October 7. The majority of the victims have been women and children. Biden’s repeated refusal to call for a permanent cease-fire has become a major sticking point with Democratic voters, particularly younger people.

Protesters were able to get into Radio City Music Hall in New York City on Thursday night and repeatedly interrupted Biden as he spoke onstage with former Presidents Barack Obama and Bill Clinton. They shouted, “Shame on you!” and accused Biden of having “blood on your hands.”

Demonstrators also stood outside the venue and shouted things including, “Genocide supporter” and “Cease-fire now” as event attendees came and left.

The protests were organized by Jewish Voice for Peace, the Palestinian Youth Movement, and several other advocacy groups.

“We refused to be silenced,” Jay Saper of JVP said Thursday. “We will continue to raise our voices of dissent until Palestinians are free.”

The three presidents pushed back on protesters, trying to keep the focus on the dangers of a second Donald Trump term. Clinton argued that Biden cares about Palestinian self-determination and establishing two states in the region. Obama said Biden had the moral clarity to lead the United States during the war.

He also chastised the protesters, saying, “You can’t just talk and not listen. That’s what the other side does.”

Biden called to stop “the effort that is resulting in significant deaths of innocent civilians” in Gaza, although he still stopped short of calling for a cease-fire. He said he is working with Arab nations to find a solution to the crisis.

The protests somehow did not seem to dent the glitzy event, where entry fees started at $225 and the crowd was studded with celebrities. Biden raised about $26 million overall.

New York Representative Gregory Meeks, who attended the event, said the protests were “minor” and that he “didn’t think that marred [the event] at all.”

“It’s part of what our democracy is about,” he added.

Pro-Palestinian protesters have frequently interrupted Biden’s recent campaign events, which has reportedly prompted his aides to try to shield the president from the demonstrations. Their strategies include decreasing the number of attendees, avoiding college campuses, and withholding event locations from the media until Biden has arrived.

This has led to a proliferation of campaigns in multiple states urging people to vote “uncommitted” during the primaries to protest Biden’s policy on Israel. And while the pressure seems to have slowly started making an impact on the White House, Biden is still deeply unpopular among young voters as a result of his refusal to budge.

Marjorie Taylor Greene is going postal over accusations that Donald Trump tried to interfere in Georgia’s 2020 election results—literally. The congresswoman insisted Thursday that the U.S. postal service simply lost all the mail-in votes Trump would have needed to win, and all Trump was trying to do was find them.

Trump infamously was caught on tape in January 2021 begging Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger to “find” 11,780 votes, the exact number Trump would have needed to flip the Peach State in his favor. Trump was later indicted for trying to interfere in the state’s election results.

But according to Greene, Trump didn’t mean “find” ballots as in “invent” ballots. He meant “find” ballots as in “literally find lost ballots.”

“When President Trump got on the phone with our Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger and said, ‘Can you find the votes, where are they?’ He was basically looking for ballots, and these ballots have been ‘lost in the mail,’” Greene said on Steve Bannon’s podcast War Room.

“And so there was nothing wrong with what President Trump said. As a matter of fact, I think he’ll be vindicated easily by a lot of the work that I’m doing and the proof that I’ll be showing pretty soon.”

Greene did not specify what work she had been doing, what proof she expected to find, or when we can expect to see it. Unfortunately for her, her argument here has already been debunked—by Trump himself.

The full transcript of Trump’s call with Raffensperger reveals that the former president wanted to go through all of the ballots cast in Georgia and re-verify them. And in the process, he wanted to disqualify ballots cast for Biden until he himself took the lead.

While the Republican Party grapples with the realization that it’s losing elections thanks to its own extreme positions on abortion and IVF, one political candidate on the national stage has decided to go even more extreme on the issue.

Robert F. Kennedy’s vice presidential pick, Nicole Shanahan, has attacked in vitro fertilization for years, and is apparently doing the heavy lifting on more extreme conservative talking points on reproductive rights while Kennedy himself remains relatively quiet.

“It became abundantly clear that we just don’t have enough science for the things that we are telling and selling women,” Shanahan told the Australian Financial Review in February, referring to IVF. “It’s one of the biggest lies that’s being told about women’s health today.”

Shanahan’s beef with IVF reportedly began when she was turned away as a candidate for the procedure, with a clinic identifying her as a poor candidate due to a prior diagnosis of polycystic ovary syndrome, according to an interview she gave to The New Yorker last year.

Since then, Shanahan has invested millions into research that offers alternatives to the procedure, including funding some truly wacky ideas, like examining the “effects of two hours of morning sunlight on reproductive health.”

Between 2020 and 2021, the 38-year-old gave $7 million to the Buck Institute, a biomedical research group, for “reproductive longevity and equality” and a “healthy and livable planet,” according to financial disclosure forms obtained by Politico.

“I try to imagine where we would be as a field if all of the money that has been invested in IVF, and all of the money that’s been invested into marketing IVF, and all of the government money that has been invested in subsidizing IVF, if just 10 percent of that went into reproductive longevity research and fundamental research, where we would be today,” Shanahan said in a Buck Institute webinar in 2021.

A prominent Georgia state Republican, who has repeatedly claimed the 2020 election was stolen, was found to have voted illegally nine times.

Brian Pritchard, the first vice chairman of the state Republican Party, violated state election laws when he voted illegally in nine elections from 2008 to 2010, a Georgia judge ruled Wednesday. At the time he cast those votes, Pritchard was still on probation after being convicted of a forgery felony in Pennsylvania in 1996.

Georgia is one of 15 states that bars people from voting until they have completed their sentence, including probation. Judge Lisa Boggs ordered Pritchard to pay a $5,000 fine for his illegal votes. He will also receive a public reprimand.

Pritchard told Boggs he believed he had completed his sentence when he cast the illegal votes. He said he was not aware that the Pennsylvania criminal court had extended his probation until 2011 for allegedly failing to pay $38,000 in restitution.

The confusing nature of the U.S. sentencing system is a real issue when it comes to voting rights. Multiple people, particularly Black people, have been charged for trying to vote while ineligible due to felony convictions. But Boggs said she did not believe this was the case for Pritchard.

In her ruling, Boggs wrote that she did not find Pritchard’s defense credible because he had appeared in court multiple times while his probation was extended. So he should have known he had not completed his sentence.

Pritchard, like many Republicans, has repeatedly insisted that the 2020 election was fraudulent, tipped in Joe Biden’s favor by thousands of illegal votes. No one, including investigators hired by former President Donald Trump, has found any evidence to back up this conspiracy.

Several members of the Michigan GOP—including the head of the party—made an incredibly embarrassing mistake about why a group of buses arrived at the Wayne County Airport.

On Wednesday, Michigan state Representative Matt Maddock posted a couple of photos capturing three buses waiting outside a hangar at Detroit Metro accompanied by a police escort. And the Republican didn’t waste any time looking for an answer before catapulting his theory into the social media stratosphere: It was the arrival of an army of undocumented immigrants.

“Happening right now. Three busses just loaded up with illegal invaders at Detroit Metro. Anyone have any idea where they’re headed with their police escort?” Maddock posted on X, tagging the state’s GOP chairman, Pete Hoekstra.

A local radio host, Justin Barclay, also joined in on elevating the lie, quote-tweeting it with a side-eye emoji, which was then reposted by Hoekstra.

But the buses in question were actually arriving to scoop up a group of college-age American boys, better known as the Gonzaga men’s basketball team, who had just arrived by plane for March Madness.

After being roundly criticized—and thoroughly corrected—on the platform, Maddock doubled down on Thursday, refusing to admit that his unfounded allegation was completely incorrect.

“We know this is happening. 100,000’s of illegals are pouring into our country. We know it’s happening in Michigan. Our own governor is offering money to take them in!” Maddock wrote, referring to a controversial program, announced last month by Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer’s administration, offering $500 subsidies to households that volunteer to shelter refugees. “Since we can’t trust the #FakeNews to investigate, citizens will. The process of investigating these issues takes time.”

Maddock also showcased he was far more interested in rummaging up trouble than finding a legitimate answer to his incensed query, brushing off the truth as if it were conspiracy.

“Probably teams for the NCAA Mens Sweet 16 playing at LCA on Friday and Sunday,” responded one user.

“Sure kommie. Good talking point,” Maddock replied.

Donald Trump’s former lawyer has been recommended for disbarment, and according to the presiding judge, it’s for a very good reason.

State Bar Court of California Judge Yvette Roland recommended Wednesday that Eastman’s law license be put on “involuntary inactive” status starting three days after her ruling. Roland also recommended that he pay a $10,000 fine to the State Bar of California Client Security Fund.

“The court rejects Eastman’s contention that this disciplinary proceeding and Eastman’s resultant discipline is motivated by his political views or his representation of President Trump or President Trump’s Campaign,” Roland said in her ruling. “Rather, Eastman’s wrongdoing constitutes exceptionally serious ethical violations warranting severe professional discipline.”

But one other line in particular stood out in the ruling: “The scale and egregiousness of Eastman’s unethical actions far surpasses the misconduct at issue in Segretti.”

Donald Segretti, of course, was the lawyer who worked on Richard Nixon’s reelection campaign and who coined the term “ratfucking.” Segretti first came up with “ratfucking” when he was at the University of Southern California, where he and his friends would sabotage campus elections, including by stuffing ballot boxes, planting spies on opponents’ teams, and spreading disinformation.

Investigations into the Watergate scandal found that Segretti had applied those same strategies to Nixon’s campaign and took a leading role in the political sabotage efforts.

But Eastman’s transgressions are worse, according to Wednesday’s ruling, because he took those actions in the course of his role as Trump’s lawyer. Segretti’s actions occurred outside his legal role.

What’s more, when Segretti faced trial, the “court found compelling mitigation based on his expressed remorse and recognition of his wrongdoing,” Roland wrote. But “no such mitigating factor is present with Eastman. To the contrary, Eastman has exhibited an unwillingness to acknowledge any ethical lapses regarding his actions, demonstrating an apparent inability to accept responsibility.”

Eastman helped lead Trump’s legal efforts to undermine the election results and prevent certification of the votes, including by appealing directly to Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas. He also helped try to implement the plan to create slates of fake pro-Trump electors in states that Joe Biden had won.

He can appeal Wednesday’s decision. And the California Supreme Court still has to issue a final ruling.

The California bar association opened disbarment proceedings against Eastman in January, for helping Trump spread election fraud falsehoods, including at the January 6, 2021, rally in Washington, D.C., that turned into the insurrection at the Capitol. His trial was set to begin in August, but it was delayed so Eastman could surrender himself to Georgia authorities for allegedly trying to overturn the 2020 election.

Eastman also has been identified as one of the unnamed co-conspirators in special counsel Jack Smith’s indictment against Trump for trying to overturn the 2020 election.

Representative Dan Meuser had an unusual take on the collapse of Baltimore’s Francis Scott Key Bridge: It’s not the government’s job to fix it.

During an interview on Fox Business on Thursday, the Pennsylvania Republican slammed President Joe Biden for daring to say the multibillion-dollar reconstruction job is a responsibility of the federal government.

“Is Congress going to need to pony up more money, or is there enough money in the infrastructure package?” asked host Maria Bartiromo.

“Yea, it was kind of outrageous immediately for Biden to express in this tragedy the idea that he’s going to use federal funds to pay for the—in the entirety,” Meuser responded, suggesting instead that Biden use the money set aside for electric vehicle infrastructure to fund the collapsed bridge. “You know, he doesn’t refer to it as the American taxpayer dollars on anything. You know, the first reaction, in fact the only reaction, tends to be to spend.”

But Meuser’s comments completely overlook the role the federal government has to play in repairing federal property. The Key Bridge was a section of Interstate 695, an alternative route passing Baltimore on Interstate 95—both of which are a part of the federal highway system, funded by the national government by as much as 90 percent, according to the Federal Highway Administration.

On Wednesday, Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg said that the federal government has approximately $950 million set aside in an emergency fund that could be used to reconstruct the bridge—though that may only cover part of the bill, which federal officials estimate could cost as much as $2 billion.

All the while, Baltimore is bleeding approximately $15 million a day in economic activity as the major artery, and the Port of Baltimore, remains closed “until further notice.”

But maintaining critical infrastructure might not be that important to Meuser. In 2021, the GOP lawmaker joined several dozen other Republicans in voting against a $1 trillion infrastructure package that promised to fix outdated roads, bridges, and other transit systems—though it passed without their help.

Former billionaire and tech wunderkind Sam Bankman-Fried was sentenced to 25 years on Thursday for defrauding clients around the world out of billions of dollars via his crypto exchange, FTX.

Once a poster boy for the emerging virtual market, Bankman-Fried was found guilty on all charges in November, including seven federal counts of fraud and conspiracy for stealing as much as $10 billion in customer funds, transferring them to another one of his companies, Alameda Research.

The sentencing was significantly less than the one recommended by federal prosecutors, who suggested the 32-year-old be put away for upward of 40 years, or by the Probation Department, which recommended a maximum sentence of 105 years.

“I know a lot of people felt very let down, and they were very let down. I’m sorry about that. I’m sorry about what happened at every stage—things I should have done and said and things I shouldn’t have,” Bankman-Fried told the court moments before his sentencing. “I failed everyone I care about and everything I cared about too.”

In his closing words, Judge Lewis Kaplan noted that Bankman-Fried “knew it was wrong.”

“A man willing to flip a coin as to the continued existence of life on earth. Mr. Bankman-Fried knew that Alameda was spending customer funds on risky investments, political contributions, and Bahamas real estate,” said Kaplan. “The funds were not his to use.”

“People need to feel it’s fair, or we’re back to trial by combat, folks, or something like it,” Kaplan continued. “So punishment must fit the seriousness of the crime. And this … was a serious crime.”

Donald Trump’s former campaign manager Kellyanne Conway, who coined the phrase “alternative facts,” may soon rejoin Team Trump.

Conway is considering an offer to join Trump’s team again, Axios reported Thursday, citing an anonymous person close to Conway. The source would not specify who had offered her a position or what the role even was.

Senior Trump advisers denied that an offer had been made. But Conway, now a Fox News commentator, has recently been front and center, speaking out about multiple contentious issues, including TikTok, abortion, and race. Many Republicans see this as an attempt to make herself relevant and ingratiate herself to Trump, according to Axios.

There is no denying Conway’s ability to deliver a message. Once Trump was elected, she became one of his primary spokespeople and demonstrated a terrifying skill for spinning reality to try to make it seem more favorable to Trump.

“She is the go-to messenger when it comes to hot-button issues,” one source, speaking anonymously, told Axios. “Anytime she talks about a topic, Republicans and Trump’s orbit take it very seriously.”

But that line to Trump’s ear means that even some people who like her don’t want to publicly associate with her, Axios reported.

In recent months, Conway has tried to help the GOP rebrand on abortion, advocating for a 15-week abortion ban as a compromise. Trump later backed this position.

Conway wrote an essay in The New York Times last month decrying “identity politics” but urging Trump to pick a person of color as his running mate. Trump is reportedly considering Senators Tim Scott and Marco Rubio, and former House and Urban Development Secretary Ben Carson. He also briefly considered Vivek Ramaswamy.

Conway works for the conservative super PAC Club for Growth, lobbying against the bipartisan bill in Congress to ban TikTok. She recently urged Trump to highlight the app’s usefulness to his supporters, according to Axios. Trump has come out against the bill.

Conway was one of the few people who left Trump’s White House by choice, not because he fired them. She stepped down in 2020 after she and her husband, George Conway, made the country watch their opposing political ideologies battle it out on social media for years. (They divorced last year.) Conway said at the time that her resignation was prompted by a desire to focus on her family.

“In time, I will announce future plans. For now, and for my beloved children, it will be less drama, more mama,” she said, in what may be the cringiest resignation announcement ever.