Obama, Clinton join Biden at fundraiser

Sold-out NYC event raises more than $26M

Barack Obama and Bill Clinton joined President Joe Biden on Thursday night in New York at the most lucrative fundraiser of the 2024 campaign, warning fellow Democrats that Donald Trump must be defeated while making forceful cases for Biden’s reelection.

“Joe is absolutely right that we’ve got not just a nominee, but, frankly, a party and an entire infrastructure that increasingly seems unconcerned with the essence of America,” Obama said of Trump and Republicans. “The idea of self-governance and the possibilities of us all fully operating and bridging our differences and moving forward.”

“But we also have a positive story to tell about the future,” Obama added.

The three presidents took turns taking questions during an “armchair conversation” moderated by Stephen Colbert, host of CBS’ “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert.”

Obama: ‘Sometimes we forget where we started’

The Biden campaign fundraiser, held at Radio City Music Hall before a sold-out crowd of more than 5,000 donors, raised more than $26 million, the most ever for a single fundraiser in U.S. political history, according to the campaign.

“It’s not just the negative case against the presumptive nominee on the other side. It’s the positive case for somebody who’s done an outstanding job,” Obama said, referring to Biden. “Sometimes we forget where we started, and where we are now. You’ve got record-breaking job growth. You’ve got an unemployment rate that is as low as it has been.”

Most polls show Biden trailing Trump, the former president and presumptive Republican nominee, in a head-to-head contest, in part because Biden is underperforming among Black, Latino, and young voters − three crucial constituencies of the Democratic base.