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George Clooney has hailed Joe Biden’s decision to drop out of the 2024 presidential race as “the most selfless thing that anybody has done since George Washington.”
In an appearance at the 2024 Venice Film Festival on Sunday September 1 – where he is promoting his new film Wolfs with co-star Brad Pitt – the actor was asked about the “impact” of the damning op-ed he wrote for The New York Times titled “I Love Joe Biden, But We Need a New Nominee”.
The essay is seen as one of the key turning points as momentum built to urge the president to step aside in favor of a younger candidate. Less than two weeks later, Biden dropped out of the race and endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris — who was also quickly endorsed by Clooney.
“The person who should be applauded is the president who did the most selfless thing that anybody has done since George Washington,” Clooney told journalists at the festival, People reported.
“All of the machinations that got us there, none of that’s going to be remembered, and it shouldn’t be,” he continued.
“What should be remembered is the selfless act of someone who did the hardest thing to do. You know we’ve seen it all around the world, and for someone to say, ‘I think there’s a better way forward,’ he gets all the credit, and that’s really the truth.”
In late July, after the president made the decision to stand down, Clooney said in a statement to CNN: “President Biden has shown what true leadership is. He’s saving democracy once again.”
He added: “We’re all so excited to do whatever we can to support Vice President Harris in her historic quest.”
The Hollywood star’s July 10 op-ed sent shockwaves through the Biden camp, having come just three weeks after Clooney and Julia Roberts hosted a $28m celebrity fundraiser featuring Biden and former president Barack Obama.
In the op-ed, Clooney said he had witnessed first-hand a change in his “friend”.
“The one battle he cannot win is the fight against time,” Clooney wrote.
“None of us can. It’s devastating to say it, but the Joe Biden I was with three weeks ago at the fundraiser was not the Joe ‘big f***ing deal’ Biden of 2010. He wasn’t even the Joe Biden of 2020. He was the same man we all witnessed at the debate.”
Clooney spoke of his “love” for Biden as a senator, vice president and president, praising the many “battles” the White House incumbent has won since taking office in January 2021.
But the star was also withering in his criticism of the Democratic party and Biden’s inner circle of advisers, writing: “We’re all so terrified by the prospect of a second Trump term that we’ve opted to ignore every warning sign.
“Is it fair to point these things out? It has to be. This is about age. Nothing more. But also nothing that can be reversed. 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,” he wrote.
Clooney added that his opinion was shared by “every senator and congress member and governor” he had spoken to privately since the debate.
Clooney concluded the essay by expressing gratitude for the president: “Joe Biden is a hero; he saved democracy in 2020. We need him to do it again in 2024.”
His editorial was a major blow to Biden’s campaign at a time when he was rapidly losing support from top Democrats, donors and allies.
Donald Trump hit out at Clooney over his editorial at the time, calling him a “fake movie star” who should “get out of politics and go back to television”.
When Biden ultimately announced he was stepping down from the race, Ana Navarro, co-host of ABC’s The View criticized Clooney.
“I hope those donors who said things about him come back with big checks now,” she added.
