Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton criticized the presidency of her 2016 rival, former President Donald Trump, as she lamented at a fundraiser for President Joe Biden that some voters might “risk” voting for him again in November.
Five months before Biden’s 2020 rematch against Trump, Clinton told donors during a $8 million fundraiser in Virginia it is “hard” to imagine people “could want to see that again.”
“Sadly, there are many of our fellow Americans who seem willing to take that risk,” Clinton said Tuesday.
Clinton was introduced by fundraiser host and former Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe, whose 450-person event, held in the backyard of his home in the northern Virginia suburbs, was the largest nonauditorium Biden fundraiser of the election cycle and sold out in days, with campaign officials telling the Washington Examiner it was “the highest grossing backyard fundraiser in the history of the Democratic Party.”
McAuliffe later returned to the stage to introduce former President Bill Clinton, who spoke before Biden.
Biden, who described the Clintons as “dear friends” and “great Americans,” underscored, as he did last weekend during a Hollywood fundraiser with former President Barack Obama, the prospect that, if reelected, Trump could appoint more justices to the Supreme Court. Biden has become increasingly critical of the Supreme Court since the repeal of Roe v. Wade two years ago next week.
“We can’t let that happen,” Biden said Tuesday.
Biden also scrutinized Trump for his failure to pass the infrastructure law the president eventually enacted, Trump’s tax reform, his “all-out assault” on the justice system, and his 2020 election challenges. Biden went on to claim his predecessor would make the economy, particularly consumer prices, “a hell of a lot worse,” citing Trump’s proposal to impose 10% tariffs on all imports.
“The threat Trump poses in a second term will be greater than his first term,” he said.
Reflecting on his trip this month to France to commemorate the 80th anniversary of D-Day, which put the United States on a path to victory in World War II, Biden reminded the crowd how those troops did their part for freedom and democracy and “now we’ve got to do ours.”
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Combined, the two fundraisers with Obama and then the Clintons raised roughly $40 million, according to the Associated Press. But Biden is still facing a recent fundraising surge by Trump after his campaign and the Republican National Committee reportedly raised $141 million last month, including $53 million after a New York jury convicted him in his hush money trial.
Tickets for Tuesday’s fundraiser cost $1,000 to $6,600 for a cocktail reception on McAuliffe’s lawn and $50,000 to $250,000 for a dinner in an air-conditioned tent on his tennis court afterward, according to Axios.
