A Joe Biden aide has made a bizarre jab at George Clooney after he said the president must drop out of the 2024 presidential race.
The movie star and lifelong Democrat, 63, has turned on Biden after his disastrous debate and widespread concerns about whether he can serve four more years.
Clooney, who has hosted fundraisers for the 81-year-old, said Biden can’t win the ‘battle against time’ in a scathing op-ed for the New York Times on Wednesday morning.
But a Biden aide has claimed it was Clooney who lacked the stamina at a record-breaking $28 million fundraiser he held for the president in Los Angeles on June 16.
‘A campaign official who attended that Los Angeles fundraiser tells me that George Clooney left three hours before the president,’ CNN White House correspondent Kayla Tausche said.
A Joe Biden aide has made a bizarre jab at George Clooney after he said the president must drop out of the 2024 presidential race
Clooney has condemned Democratic party leaders for ignoring ‘every warning sign’ of Biden’s declining physical and mental health and for trying to defend his car-crash performance against Donald Trump.
He added that Democrat voters ‘collectively hold our breath or turn down the volume whenever we see the president, who we respect, walk off Air Force One or walk back to a mic to answer an unscripted question.’
His comments came weeks after he hosted a fundraising event for Biden and was pictured alongside him.
But a Biden aide has hit out at Clooney for leaving three hours before the president and claimed it was him who lacked stamina.
Host Jake Tapper asked: ‘What does that mean, George Clooney left three hours earlier? What‘s the point?’
Tausche replied: ‘The point of that is to suggest that Biden’s stamina is better than Clooney‘s and Clooney didn‘t have eyes on the entire event. That‘s the response to the Clooney op-ed.’
She added: ‘Biden aides point to an aggressive travel schedule in the coming weeks. He’s set to go to Michigan on Friday, Nevada next week, as well as an aggressive fundraising schedule with events planned in Texas and Colorado and two in California as proof that he is not going anywhere.’
Clooney joins the scores of Democrats and Biden allies who have called for the president to step down in the two weeks since his meandering and mumbling showing on CNN.
The actor hosted some of the biggest fundraisers in the party’s history, including one last month for Biden’s reelection.
Biden has insisted he is not going anywhere and that he will still beat Trump in November, but Clooney’s comments are an enormous blow to his embattled campaign.
‘Joe Biden is a hero; he saved democracy in 2020. We need him to do it again in 2024,’ the actor wrote in the op-ed.
Clooney, who hosted a star-studded fundraiser for Biden in Los Angeles on June 16, said the person he saw there was the candidate the world saw at last week’s presidential debate.
‘I love Joe Biden. As a senator. As a vice president and as president. I consider him a friend, and I believe in him. Believe in his character. Believe in his morals. In the last four years, he’s won many of the battles he’s faced,’ Clooney wrote.
‘But the one battle he cannot win is the fight against time. None of us can. It’s devastating to say it, but the Joe Biden I was with three weeks ago at the fund-raiser was not the Joe ‘big F-ing deal’ Biden of 2010.
The movie star and lifelong Democrat , 63, has turned on Biden after his disastrous debate and widespread concerns about whether he can serve four more years
But a Biden aide has claimed it was Clooney who lacked the stamina at a record-breaking $28 million fundraiser he held for the president in Los Angeles on June 16, according to CNN
‘He wasn’t even the Joe Biden of 2020. He was the same man we all witnessed at the debate,’ he said.
Biden and Clooney have a long relationship, going back to Biden’s day as chairman of the Senate Foreign Services Committee. Clooney was working on issues in Darfur and connected with him.
The president has honored Clooney for his support, hosting him at the White House for the Kennedy Center Honors in December 2022.
The actor has become a major force in the Democratic Party, raising millions for its candidates. He’s seen as an influential voice in American politics.
His dis-endorsement of Biden could also hurt the Democratic Party in the pocket book.
Hollywood donors, with their deep pockets, were said to be furious with campaign co-chair Jeffrey Katzenberg after Biden’s debate performance.
The donors, like many Biden supporters, said they felt misled and betrayed about the president’s health.
Clooney argued it was more important to beat Donald Trump in November than to keep Biden on the ticket.
‘Our party leaders need to stop telling us that 51 million people didn’t see what we just saw. We’re all so terrified by the prospect of a second Trump term that we’ve opted to ignore every warning sign,’ he wrote.
But Biden and Clooney also hit some bumps in their relationship.
The actor was reportedly furious at the White House in early June after Biden attacked an attempt by Amal, Clooney’s lawyer wife, to jail the Prime Minister of Israel, it emerged on Thursday.
Amal Clooney signed off on a bid by the chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court last month to seek the arrest of Benjamin Netanyahu alongside Hamas leaders for war crimes – a move the President denounced as ‘outrageous.’
Clooney reportedly called one of Biden’s closest advisers to make his feelings known.
But he still hosted a fundraiser – along with actress Julia Roberts and former President Barack Obama – later that month that helped raise $30 million for Biden’s campaign last month.
The fundraiser, however was overshadowed by questions about the president’s health after a video appeared to show Obama having to guide Biden off stage.
George Clooney visited the White House where he was honored by the President in 2022
Amal Clooney and George Clooney – Clooney was reportedly furious at the White House decision to question Amal’s work on the war in Gaza
In the video, Biden and Obama are seen waving and smiling while receiving a standing ovation in the Peacock Theater in downtown Los Angeles.
Biden applauds and gives the audience a thumbs up but then he stops moving as he stares out over the crowd for several long moments.
That’s when Obama, still smiling and waving, took Biden by the wrist and gave him a gentle tug. That’s when the president appears to snap out of it.
They proceed to walk off the stage together with Obama speaking into Biden’s ear as he pats him on the back as they go.
The White House called the video a fake. Officials also noted the fundraiser took place the day after Biden returned from participating in the G7 summit in Italy.
Already some prominent Democrats are saying Clooney has a point.
‘I am concerned.’ Michael Douglas, a longtime Biden supporter, told ABC’s The View. ‘I think it’s a valid point,’ he said of Clooney’s op-ed.
Biden has been struggling to rally Democrats around his presidential bid as calls for him to exit the presidential race grow.
Former Speaker Nancy Pelosi is among those appearing to question Biden’s decision to remain in the contest.
‘It’s up to the president to decide if he is going to run. We’re all encouraging him to make that decision. Because time is running short,’ she said on Morning Joe on Wednesday.
Some Democratic lawmakers have expressed their doubts about Biden’s ability to beat Trump.
Clooney said he’s heard this concern from members of Congress he has spoken to, including worries the Democratic Party will lose the House and Senate.
‘We are not going to win in November with this president. On top of that, we won’t win the House, and we’re going to lose the Senate.
‘This isn’t only my opinion; this is the opinion of every senator and congress member and governor that I’ve spoken with in private. Every single one, irrespective of what he or she is saying publicly,’ he wrote.
Obama seen giving Biden’s arm a gentle tug and leading him off the stage after the president freezes during the applause at a fundraiser in Los Angeles in June
Clooney met with then-President Barack Obama at the White House in 2010 to talk about the Sudan
He argues a nominee should be picked at the Democratic National Convention, which will be held in Chicago August 19th through August 22nd.
And the actor suggested an array of candidates who could replace Biden and go on to win in November.
‘Let’s hear from Wes Moore and Kamala Harris and Gretchen Whitmer and Gavin Newsom and Andy Beshear and J.B. Pritzker and others,’ he said, name checking several governors and the vice president.
‘Let’s agree that the candidates not attack one another but, in the short time we have, focus on what will make this country soar. Then we could go into the Democratic convention next month and figure it out,’ he adds.
Biden has insisted he will stay in the race.
He sent a letter to all Democratic lawmakers on Monday, announcing his decision. He’s also reached out to party officials, donors and mayors as he tries to shore up his support with the party faithful.
‘I want you to know that despite all the speculation in the press and elsewhere, I am firmly committed to staying in this race, to running this race to the end, and to beating Donald Trump,’ Biden wrote to Democrats.
Some Democrats are standing by the president.
