Weeks after hosting ritzy fundraiser for Biden, George Clooney calls for his replacement: 'It's devastating to say it'

Hollywood actor George Clooney called for President Joe Biden to drop out of the presidential race only weeks after he stood next to him at a million-dollar campaign fundraiser in California.

Clooney wrote Wednesday that he loved and respected Biden but that Democrats would lose the election if the 81-year-old insisted on staying in the race.

'The one battle he cannot win is the fight against time.'

"I love Joe Biden. As a senator. As a vice president and as president. I consider him a friend, and I believe in him. Believe in his character. Believe in his morals. In the last four years, he's won many of the battles he's faced," Clooney wrote in the New York Times.

"But the one battle he cannot win is the fight against time. None of us can. It's devastating to say it, but the Joe Biden I was with three weeks ago at the fund-raiser 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."

Former Obama speechwriter Jon Favreau told CNN that he was at the same fundraiser for Biden and "every single person I talked to at the fundraiser thought the same thing" as Clooney's observation.

"I was there and Clooney was exactly right," he added.

Political strategist David Axelrod called the op-ed "devastating" and "impactful."

'Would it be messy? Yes. Democracy is messy.'

Clooney went on to address the argument against Biden dropping out that it would be far too complicated and chaotic.

"Would it be messy? Yes. Democracy is messy. But would it enliven our party and wake up voters who, long before the June debate, had already checked out? It sure would," Clooney continued.

"The short ramp to Election Day would be a benefit for us, not a danger," he added. "It would give us the chance to showcase the future without so much opposition research and negative campaigning that comes with these ridiculously long and expensive election seasons."

A campaign official responded to the Clooney op-ed by telling CNN that the actor had left the fundraiser three hours before Biden did, implying that Biden had greater stamina than Clooney.

"Ok," Jake Tapper replied sarcastically.

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