George Clooney says he has no regrets over NYT op-ed urging Biden to quit 2024 race
NEW YORK CITY, NEW YORK: George Clooney reaffirmed his stance on former President Joe Biden’s 2024 presidential candidacy, saying he does not regret writing an op-ed for The New York Times last year, urging him to withdraw from the race.
The actor, a longtime Democratic supporter and fundraiser, emphasized that he intended to put the country and the party over personal loyalty.
George Clooney stands by op-ed, says replacing Biden with Kamala Harris was a 'mistake'
On 'CBS Sunday Morning', host Seth Doane asked the Academy Award-winning actor whether he would have written the essay again, knowing President Donald Trump was reelected.
Clooney responded that he would, but added that he felt it was a mistake to run with former Vice President Kamala Harris without going through a primary.
"We had a chance. I wanted there to be, as I wrote in the op-ed, a primary," the 'Ocean's Eleven' star said. "Let’s battle-test this quickly and get it up and going. I think the mistake with it being Kamala is she had to run against her own record. It’s very hard to do if the point of running is to say, ‘I’m not that person.’ It’s hard to do, and so she was given a very tough task. I think it was a mistake, quite honestly."
"But, we are where we are. We were gonna lose more House seats, they say. So, I don’t know. To not do it would be to say, ‘I’m not gonna tell the truth,'" Clooney expressed.
George Clooney urged Biden to step down to save democracy
Following Joe Biden’s poor performance in the June 2024 debate against Donald Trump, George Clooney urged the then-president to withdraw from the reelection race in a New York Times op-ed titled, "I Love Joe Biden. But We Need a New Nominee."
"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 wrote.
"Joe Biden is a hero; he saved democracy in 2020. We need him to do it again in 2024," he urged, concluding his essay.
A couple of weeks later, Biden dropped out of the race and endorsed Harris as the Democratic presidential candidate.
George Clooney addresses Hunter Biden's accusations
In the interview, George Clooney also addressed Hunter Biden’s angry outburst, in which he accused the actor of lying about his father's condition and undermining his campaign with the help of Barack Obama's team.
"I could spend a lot of time debunking many of the things he said because many of the things he said were just outright lies: Obama didn’t put me up to it, it wasn’t my fundraiser, it was my fundraiser — all the things," Clooney said.
He continued, "But the reality is, I don’t think looking backwards like that is helpful to anyone, particularly to him. I don’t think it’s helpful for the Democratic Party, and so I’m just gonna wish him well on his ongoing recovery, and I hope he does well and just leave it at that."
"I have many personal opinions about it, but I don’t find it to be helpful to have a public spat with him," he added.
