CNN anchor Jake Tapper seemed surprised when President Joe Biden’s campaign claimed he has more stamina than George Clooney after the A-list actor penned an op-ed urging the Democratic nominee not to seek reelection this fall.
During Tapper’s late afternoon news show “The Lead with Jake Tapper” on Wednesday, CNN senior White House correspondent Kayla Touche said she had been told by a Biden campaign official that Clooney, 63, had left a Hollywood fundraiser last month three hours before the president.
“But what does that mean? George Clooney left three times ago? What the hell?” Tapper asked Touché midway through the show.
“The point is to suggest that Biden has greater stamina than Clooney, and Clooney, you know, didn’t watch the entire event,” she replied.
“That’s the reaction to Clooney’s op-ed.”
“OK,” Tapper replied, smiling at the surprised look on his face. Mediaite reported.
Biden, 81, has resisted calls from Clooney and other leading Democrats to resign after his disastrous debate performance with former President Donald Trump last month.
In the weeks before the debate, Clooney, Julia Roberts and Barbra Streisand all took the stage at a record-breaking fundraiser that raised more than $30 million for Biden, trying to galvanize his supporters for what could be one of the most crucial battles for the White House in American history.
Clooney is a movie star and a well-known Hollywood donor and fundraiser for Biden. Wrote an op-ed for the New York Times In it, he expressed his “love” for the president, but still urged him to withdraw from the campaign.
Breaking down Clooney’s role in Biden’s 2024 presidential campaign
- George Clooney has played a role in fundraising for the Democratic Party since Barack Obama’s 2012 presidential run, and is leading a charitable effort for former Vice President Joe Biden in 2020 and another in June 2024.
- Clooney, along with actresses Julia Roberts and Barbra Streisand, helped Biden raise a record-breaking more than $30 million at a star-studded fundraiser in New York City last month.
- Just a few weeks later, Clooney slammed Biden, publishing an op-ed in The New York Times urging the 81-year-old Biden to drop out of the race in the wake of his poor performance at the debate.
- Clooney wrote that Biden “cannot win” the November election, adding that the president is not the person he knew, but “the same person we all witnessed at the debates.” The actor went on to say that “every senator, congressman and governor I’ve spoken to personally” agrees that Biden should step down.
- Donald Trump slammed Clooney for his comments, telling him to “get out of politics and get back on TV” and that Clooney “betrayed Crooked Joe like they’re both rats.”
- Reports also revealed that President Obama knew in advance what Clooney planned to write and did not object to the op-ed.
Politico reported late Wednesday that former President Barack Obama knew in advance that Clooney was planning to publish the op-ed, and that Obama reportedly did not try to dissuade his friend from writing it.
Clooney wrote in a Times opinion piece that if Biden becomes the nominee, Democrats would lose not only the presidency but also control of Congress.
“This is not just my opinion. It is the opinion of every Senator, Representative and Governor I have personally spoken to,” Clooney wrote.
He has hosted several big-ticket fundraisers in Hollywood, including one for Biden last month.
Clooney argued that a new nominee should be chosen at the party’s convention next month, saying the process would be “disruptive” but would “awaken” the party’s voters, and named Vice President Kamala Harris, Maryland Governor Wes Moore, Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer and California Governor Gavin Newsom as candidates the country should hear from now.
Clooney spent much of his article focusing on Biden’s age, pointing out the contrast between the 81-year-old president seen at a recent event in Los Angeles and past presidents.
“This is shocking to say, but the Joe Biden I was sitting with at a fundraiser three weeks ago was not the ‘big’ Joe Biden of 2010,” Clooney wrote.
“He wasn’t even the Joe Biden of 2020. He was the same person we all witnessed at the debates.”
He’s not the only one to describe Clooney’s recent exchange with Biden in this way.
A person close to Biden told The Associated Press that while the president was vibrant and engaging at a fundraiser in March, they noticed Biden’s presence was noticeably diminished at an event in Los Angeles a few months later.
The person, who spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity to discuss their private interactions with the president, recalled being struck by how tired and “dazed” the president seemed during a conversation backstage at the Los Angeles event.
The anonymous person said they did not suspect Biden because he had not been as eloquent or energetic behind the scenes as he arrived in Los Angeles from Italy to attend an international summit.
Asked for comment on Clooney’s essay, the Biden campaign pointed to a letter the president sent to Democratic lawmakers earlier this week vowing to continue his campaign.
His team also disputed the actor’s portrayal of Biden’s behavior during a fundraiser in Los Angeles, pointing out that a campaign official who attended the event said the president was there for more than three hours despite having just returned from Europe.
Biden has refused to abandon his reelection bid after his poor performance in the June 27 debate with Republican front-runner Trump.
With post wire
