Donald Trump slams 'backstabber' George Clooney over Joe Biden op-ed, calls him third-rate actor

WASHINGTON, DC: Donald Trump has harshly criticized George Clooney following his recent New York Times essay calling on President Joe Biden to quit the 2024 race.

On 'The Clay Travis and Buck Sexton Show' on Friday, July 12, Trump said, “Whether you like Biden or not, you know, he’s been nice to Clooney."

George Clooney's call on President Joe Biden to step aside

In the op-ed by George Clooney on Wednesday, July 10, the Academy Award winner said Democrats are “not going to win in November with this president.”

The actor, who hosted a high-profile fundraiser for President Joe Biden's reelection campaign, shifted his stance following the president's disastrous debate performance against Trump on June 27.

"The dam has broken. We can put our heads in the sand and pray for a miracle in November, or we can speak the truth," he wrote.

“We love to talk about how the Republican Party has ceded all power, and all of the traits that made it so formidable with Ronald Reagan and George HW Bush, to a single person who seeks to hold on to the presidency, and yet most of our members of Congress are opting to wait and see if the dam breaks," he added.

Donald Trump denounces George Clooney's critique

Speaking to the show's co-hosts Sexton and Travis, Trump called Clooney a "very disloyal, backstabber, third-rate movie actor."

Slamming the 'Gravity' star's acting career, the former president said, "He was a television actor and never made really a good movie. So he’s sort of third-rate."

“Clark Gable he’s not. I thought it was a great act of disloyalty,” he continued.

In a Truth Social post a day before Clooney's op-ed was published, Trump wrote, “He’s turned on Crooked Joe like the rats they both are. What does Clooney know about anything?"

“Clooney should get out of politics and go back to television,” he added.

Donald Trump camp's fundraising off George Clooney's remarks

The Trump camp has also capitalized on Clooney's shift in stance over Biden's candidacy.

In a fundraising email from Trump National Committee JFC and signed by Trump, the former president said, “George Clooney just said Biden should drop out. Does that mean he’s endorsing me?!”

"Even though he’s a proud member of the Hate-America Hollywood Elite, I will gladly accept his endorsement IF he pledges to change his ways!” added the email on Friday, July 12, according to The Hill.