RELATED COVERAGE: Westwood businesses tagged during Biden’s LA visit
As President Joe Biden visits Southern California this weekend, some of the protesters branched out of their planned demonstrations in LA’s westside to tag local businesses.
Saturday’s itinerary included a “campaign meeting” at a home on Burk Place in the Trousdale Estates portion of Beverly Hills, according to the White House. Afterward, Biden attended a shiva at the residence of Lyn and Norman Lear in honor of the legendary television producer who died Tuesday at age 101.
Biden’s motorcade returned to his hotel at 1:59 p.m., then left at 3:18 p.m. for a campaign meeting at a home in Brentwood, arriving at 3:33 p.m., passing largely supportive pedestrians, most of them waving. One man held up a Palestinian flag and another held up a flag reading “Don’t blame me I voted for Trump.”
The protesters had gathered Friday afternoon at nearby Holmby Park to condemn U.S. funding of Israeli military strikes in Gaza with one holding a sign, “No votes for mass murderer.”
“The crowd slowly dispersed and no arrests were made, no use of force and no officers were injured.”
Someone spray-painted “Free Gaza” on the wall of an apartment building on Wilshire Boulevard across from Sinai Temple, according to media reports. Some of the building’s residents threw objects at the crowd, the Daily News said.
Posts on multiple social media sites indicated the demonstrations were organized by the group Palestinian Youth Movement.
“The LAPD is aware of the acts of vandalism that occurred in the Westwood area last night by protesters who marched from an earlier demonstration. The graffiti is being removed today and crime reports have been taken,” the LAPD announced Saturday.
“The LAPD is actively investigating these crimes. While the LAPD fully supports 1st Amendment rights for peaceful demonstrations, we will not tolerate violence or vandalism of any kind.”
“The anti-Semitic acts and vandalism in Westwood are despicable. There is no `context’ in which anti-Semitism is acceptable. It is vile, repugnant and abhorrent,” Lieu wrote on X. “I urge law enforcement to investigate and prosecute to the fullest extent of the law.”
Bosse is the daughter of Holocaust survivors.
The first lady was introduced by actress Connie Britton and spoke for 11 minutes to an audience of about 100.
“We are the party defending it, not the one tearing it at its seams. We are the party that holds sacred the peaceful transfer of power, not the one that assaulted the Capitol on January 6. You and I — we are the party protecting the right of this nation’s people to live freely, not the one praising the oppressive thumb of dictators.”
Jill Biden had arrived in the Los Angeles ahead of her husband, landing early Friday afternoon at Hollywood Burbank Airport and then traveling directly to Cedars-Sinai Medical Center to tour research laboratories as part of the White House Initiative on Women’s Health Research.
“Research on women’s health has been underfunded for decades and many conditions that mostly and only affect women or affect women differently have received limited attention like those debilitating migraines and undiagnosed heart attacks,” Biden told a crowd of about 300 people following her tour.
The White House Initiative on Women’s Health Research is aimed at “galvanizing the federal government and the private and philanthropic sectors to spur innovation, unleash transformative investment to close research gaps, and improve women’s health,” according to the White House.
He walked off Air Force One quickly and entered a military helicopter for a flight to Santa Monica, where he then entered a motorcade to attend the fundraiser.
“Literally, I believe, the future of American democracy is at stake,” Biden said at the home of former U.S. ambassador to Spain James Costos and designer Michael Smith. “The greatest threat Trump poses is to our democracy, because if we lose that, we lose everything.
Polls have shown Trump holds an overwhelming lead in the race for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination. Other polls have shown he has a slight lead over Biden in a potential 2024 general election race.
Jill Biden, filmmaker Steven Spielberg, director Rob Reiner, television producer Shonda Rhimes, Gov. Gavin Newsom, Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass, former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-San Francisco, and Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Burbank, were among those in attendance.
“I’m all in to support Joe Biden for President,” Caruso posted on Instagram. “We can’t afford the chaos of Trump and his disdain for the fundamental principles of our democracy. We need a stable leader who has the experience to guide American through the complications of our world.”
According to the entertainment news website Deadline, tickets ranged from $1,000 to $500,000. Those who contributed $25,000 or more had access to a photo line.
“Today, Biden will listen to the concerns of Hollywood elitists instead of ordinary Californians suffering a violent crime epidemic, increased cost of living and Gavin Newsom’s record $68 billion deficit,” National Republican Congressional Committee spokesman Ben Petersen said in a statement Friday. “No wonder Biden is dragging down Democrats in competitive House races.”
“It seems even deep-blue California can’t get behind his disastrous agenda of high inflation, open borders, weak foreign policy, failing schools, and rampant crime,” Patterson said. “No amount of time spent rubbing elbows with Hollywood elites while bragging about the imaginary merits of `Bidenomics’ will change the fact that Joe Biden’s presidency is an abject failure.”
