Actor, activist, and prominent Democratic donor George Clooney has joined the growing Democratic voices urging President Joe Biden to step down, expressing admiration for the president while criticizing his current state. Clooney wrote in an op-ed published in The New York Times on Wednesday: "I love Joe Biden. As vice president and as president. I consider him a friend, and I believe in him. I believe in his character and integrity. Over the past four years, he has won many battles."
Clooney added, "But the battle he cannot win is the battle against time." He noted that "the Joe Biden I was with three weeks ago at a fundraiser was not the same Joe Biden of the big deal in 2010. He wasn't even the Joe Biden of 2020. He was the same person we all saw in the debate."
He continued: "Our party leaders need to stop telling us that 51 million people didn't see what we just saw. We are all so scared of the prospect of a second Trump term that we chose to ignore every warning sign."
Clooney urged key Democrats like Chuck Schumer, Hakeem Jeffries, and Nancy Pelosi to call for Biden to "voluntarily step aside." The prominent Democratic donor warned, "We will not win in November with this president," adding that lawmakers he has spoken with privately share this view.
Clooney hosted a fundraiser on June 15 with Biden and former President Barack Obama, which raised approximately $28 million for Biden's reelection campaign. Just weeks before this event, Biden strongly criticized the International Criminal Court's efforts to issue arrest warrants against leaders of Israel and Hamas. Clooney's wife, Amal Clooney, was among a group of legal experts advising the ICC to issue those warrants.
