Image source, Getty Images
- author, Brandon Drennon
- role, BBC News, Washington
-
George Clooney has sternly demanded that Joe Biden withdraw from the US presidential race, hours after House Speaker Nancy Pelosi dodged a question about whether Biden should continue to run for president.
The Hollywood actor and prominent Democratic fundraiser said the president has won many battles in his career, but “the one battle he can’t win is against time.”
His comments came after Pelosi, a former House speaker, added to growing anxiety within the party that “time is running out” for Biden, 81, to decide whether to continue in the campaign after his stumble in a debate with Donald Trump.
The president has repeatedly said he is determined to remain the Democratic nominee and defeat the 78-year-old Trump in November.
“It’s heartbreaking to say that,” Clooney wrote in The New York Times, but the Joe Biden he met at a fundraiser three weeks ago was not the Biden of 2010. “He wasn’t even the Joe Biden of 2020,” the actor added.
“He was the same guy we saw at the debates,” Clooney said.
The fundraiser in Los Angeles, co-hosted by Clooney and featuring Julia Roberts and Barbra Streisand, raised a record $30 million (£23 million) for the Biden campaign in one night.
The Biden campaign hit back at the Hollywood star, with an anonymous source telling US media: “The president was there for more than three hours. [at the fundraiser]Clooney took a quick photo and then left.”
The president’s campaign also noted that Trump had just arrived in Los Angeles from Italy, where he was attending the G7 summit, when he attended the fundraiser.
“Our party leaders need to stop telling us that 51 million people didn’t see what we saw,” Clooney said in the op-ed.
“This is about age, nothing more,” he continued. “We can’t win in November with this president.”
Clooney added that his concerns echo those of “every” lawmaker he has spoken to.
Asked to respond, Biden’s campaign pointed to a letter the president sent to Democratic lawmakers and said Biden is “firmly committed” to running for president and defeating Trump.
But Biden faces intense scrutiny as he hosts a NATO summit in Washington, and public opposition continues to grow within his own party.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who remains one of the most influential Democrats on Capitol Hill, appeared to ignore Biden’s assertions on Wednesday that he is determined to continue.
“I want him to do whatever he decides to do,” she said on MSNBC’s Morning Joe when asked whether Trump should continue his campaign.
“It’s up to the president to decide whether he wants to run or not. Time is running out and we’re all urging him to make the decision to run.”
A Biden campaign spokesman on Tuesday referred to Pelosi’s comments that she has “always been committed to the president.”
Since the June 27 debate with Trump, more than a dozen Democratic lawmakers have urged him to halt his campaigning.
On Tuesday, Sen. Michael Bennet of Colorado became the first Democratic senator to publicly voice his opposition.
He did not call for Biden to resign, but said Trump would probably win the election in a “landslide victory.”
When asked about Bennet’s comments, the Biden campaign reiterated the president’s statement that “we will fight this campaign to the end.”
Others have been more direct, including Rep. Mickey Sherrill of North Jersey, who said in a statement that she is “calling for him to announce that he will not run for reelection.”
Pelosi acknowledged the president’s request during the NATO summit, telling MSNBC: “I told everybody, ‘Let’s just wait.'”
“Tell somebody privately what you’re thinking, but you don’t need to bring it out into the open until we see how this week plays out. But I’m very proud of the president.”
New York Rep. Pat Ryan later posted on X: “For the sake of our country and my two young children, I ask Joe Biden to step down.”
Democratic House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries plans to meet with Biden by Friday to discuss concerns raised by lawmakers from across the party.
However, overall support from elected Democrats remains solid.
California Governor Gavin Newsom, whom Clooney has named as a possible successor, said he still offered his “full cooperation” with Biden.
The Congressional Black Caucus, a group of about 60 politicians, and newer members of the House of Representatives such as Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez have publicly supported Trump.
“I’m with Joe,” Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer said Tuesday.
Biden is hosting world leaders in Washington to mark 75 years of the NATO alliance, but his actions and rhetoric remain under intense scrutiny.
He will hold a rare solo news conference on Thursday and record an interview with NBC News on Monday that will air later that evening.
