First Lady Pool Reports of December 9, 2023

FLOTUS pool report #1

Good afternoon from sunny Los Angeles, where the First Lady, Dr. Jill Biden, appeared at a campaign fundraising event midday today.

Here's background on the event via the Biden-Harris campaign: The First Lady's fundraiser in Los Angeles today is at NeueHouse Hollywood hosted by Matthew Crowley and Martha Leon De La Barra in support of the Biden Victory Fund.

FLOTUS entered the event space on the top floor of NeueHouse, a co-working space for creatives, at 12:28 pm. She wore a canary yellow suit and matching blouse, and she was introduced by actress Connie Britton, who said the event was "to support another four years of Biden leadership, and, not to downplay it, our democracy."

She spoke for 11 minutes to the audience of roughly 100 guests. She began by thanking the hosts and audience for their support, joking, "you're so enthusiastic. I kind of feel I can just close the book and go."

After speaking about her first date with her now-husband, President Biden, and why she decided after five proposals to marry him, she spoke about the accomplishments of his first term.

"He's passed the boldest climate change legislation in American history. He put Ketanji Brown Jackson on the Supreme Court. And he's guided one of the strongest economic recoveries in modern history," she said. She also mentioned the administration's efforts to lower prescription drug prices and cap insulin prices for seniors.

She then spoke about the stakes of the upcoming election.

"I wish that this election were about simple policy differences. I wish it were about differences of character or merit. But fundamentally, what this election will be about is democracy," she said.

"We are the party defending it, not the one tearing it at its seams," she continued. "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."

She ended asking the audience to remember how they felt after the 2016 presidential election "when we fell short."

"Remember how you woke up and you said to yourself, 'my God, what just happened?' We can't let that happen again. Because I don't want to wake up with that feeling again. I don't want to say to myself, 'oh we should have started earlier, or we should have done more.' No, we have to begin now."

Dr. Biden finished her remarks at 12:43 p.m. She was about to begin a discussion moderated by actress Elizabeth Banks as your pooler was escorted out.

Feel free to reach out with any questions.