US President Barack Obama on Friday told donors that Republican presidential hopefuls Donald Trump and Ted Cruz were doing Democrats a “favor” by exposing extreme views within their party on issues such as immigration and national security.
“I actually think that Donald Trump and Ted Cruz have done us a favor,” Obama said, referring to policy positions that would restrict Muslims and Mexicans from entering the country.
Obama said Trump and Cruz have upset mainstream “establishment” Republicans with their insurgent campaigns.
Photo: Reuters
However, he told about 100 people at the annual “signature” fundraising dinner for Democratic House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi that Trump had laid bare what some in the Republican Party had been saying for years.
“He said, ‘You know what? I can deliver this message with more flair, with more panache,’” Obama said.
Speaking in an opulent two-storey atrium with marble pillars in the home of billionaire oil heirs Gordon and Ann Getty, where donors paid US$33,400 per couple to benefit the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, Obama mocked Trump.
“In 10 months, I will no longer be president of the United States. But in 10 months, I will — contrary to Mr Trump’s opinion — still be a citizen of the United States,” he said, drawing laughter and cheers from the crowd.
Trump had long raised questions about whether Obama, who was born in Hawaii, was actually born outside the US.
It was Obama’s fourth stop on a fundraising swing through San Francisco and Los Angeles. Earlier, in San Francisco, Obama held a private roundtable at the Potrero Hill home of Susan Sandler and Steve Philips for the Democratic National Committee with about 25 people who paid up to US$33,400 to attend.
He started Friday in Los Angeles with a breakfast event at the Brentwood home of Spider-man actor Tobey Maguire, closed to the media, where an undisclosed number of US$33,400 tickets raised money for the committee.
On Thursday, he spoke at a fundraising dinner for the committee in a tent with seating for about 80 people outside the Bel Air home of Walt Disney Studios chairman Alan Horn and environmental activist Cindy Horn.
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