​President Joe Biden kicked off a three-day celebrity fundraising trip in California on Friday, mocking Republican front-runner Donald Trump, who said he would be a dictator on his first day in office if re-elected, Reuters reported and News.ro.

Trump said on Tuesday that he will not become a dictator if he receives a new term as US president, except for “the first day”.

“Thank God, just one day,” Biden joked during a fundraiser in Los Angeles at the home of Michael Smith, a celebrity interior designer, and his partner James Kostos, a former HBO executive who served as President Barack Obama’s ambassador to Spain.

Biden called Trump, who lost the 2020 election but tried to overturn the results, a threat to democracy.

In August, Trump was indicted for widespread attempts to overturn the election.

Biden’s trip comes a day after the Justice Department filed new criminal charges against Biden’s son Hunter, accusing him of evading $1.4 million in taxes while spending millions of dollars on a lavish lifestyle.

The president did not mention his son in his remarks at the fundraiser.

California — and its rich entertainment industry — has long served as a major source of funding for Democrats, but prolonged strikes by actors and writers have had a dampening effect on fundraising.

Ending the labor dispute has unlocked dollars, said Jeffrey Katzenberg, a movie mogul and campaign co-chairman who has become an influential voice in Biden’s bid to win re-election in November 2024.

“This will be the most successful day and a half for the campaign to date,” Katzenberg said in an interview with Reuters.

Biden was scheduled to attend two fundraisers in Los Angeles, which are expected to include directors Steven Spielberg and Rob Reiner and musicians Barbra Streisand and Lenny Kravitz.

The events in California are part of a series of at least nine fundraisers that Biden will hold before the end of the month.

Fundraising in California and an earlier round in Boston are expected to raise at least $15 million, according to a source familiar with the matter, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

The total in the fourth quarter of 2023 will be closer to $67 million, the source said, adding that the amount would be similar to what President Obama collected during the same period in 2011.

Katzenberg, who is helping organize one of the fundraisers, said the final figure is still unknown.

“The figure is big. I know that,” said Katzenberg, who founded DreamWorks Animation.

On Friday, Biden made a brief stop in Las Vegas to announce $8.2 billion in funding for 10 new passenger rail projects.

“Trump doesn’t know what he’s talking about,” Biden says

“Trump is just talking. We do. He likes to say that America is a failing nation. He honestly has no idea what the hell he’s talking about. I see shovels in the ground, cranes in the sky. People are working hard to rebuild America together,” Biden told the crowd of union carpenters.

Projects funded by the $1 trillion infrastructure law include $3 billion for the nation’s first high-speed rail line to run through California, a senior administration official said.

Biden also announced a $3 billion investment to help build another high-speed rail corridor between Las Vegas and Southern California, as well as money for projects in North Carolina, Virginia and Washington.

Biden has spent the past year traveling the country announcing new funding related to his signature bills: the infrastructure bill, the Science and Pipelines Act and the Lower Inflation Act.

The trips are part of an effort to boost his poll ratings and convince voters that he is the man to lead the U.S. economy, but recent opinion polls show the effort has been successful.