Clooney Faces Backlash Over Comment
The Biden campaign’s efforts to downplay concerns about President Biden’s mental fitness took a significant blow on Wednesday. This came after actor George Clooney and former Obama aide Jon Favreau spoke out, challenging the narrative aggressively pushed by the White House in recent weeks.
Clooney, a longtime friend of former President Obama, called on Biden to exit the 2024 race, citing an incident at a Hollywood fundraiser in late June. Clooney criticized the president for seemingly needing to be led off the stage by Obama.
“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.
Backing Clooney’s assessment was former Obama speechwriter Jon Favreau, who also attended the fundraiser. “It was not surprising to any of us who were at the fundraiser,” said Favreau, noting that everyone he spoke with shared the same concerns, except for Biden’s team.
Favreau’s comments come just a day after he and his fellow “Obama bros” dedicated much of their latest “Pod Save America” episode to criticizing Biden’s poor debate performance and subsequent interview.
Following the June 18 fundraiser, where videos circulated showing Biden being led off the stage by Obama, the Democratic Party and media launched a coordinated effort to dispel questions about Biden’s age and fitness.
The Associated Press fact-checked the incident, stating, “Biden paused amid cheers and applause as he exited the stage with his predecessor following an interview moderated by late-night host Jimmy Kimmel.”
White House spokesperson Andrew Bates described the moment as “the President taking in an applauding crowd for a few seconds,” while Biden campaign spokesperson James Singer dismissed the negative characterizations as distractions from Biden’s accomplishments compared to Trump’s legal troubles.
White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre called the footage “cheap fakes” and “done in bad faith,” asserting that such videos show Republican desperation.
A source who helped organize the fundraiser told the AP that Obama wanted to be “chummy” by walking offstage with Biden. Lewis Kay, spokesperson for Jimmy Kimmel, also at the event, called the claims “nonsense,” explaining that Biden was simply trying to hear attendees shouting from the front.