Former President Obama knew of George Clooney's New York Times guest essay calling for President Biden to drop out of the race but didn't object to it, according to a new report.
Clooney, a major Democratic donor who hosted a lavish fundraiser for Biden just weeks ago, published a devastating essay in the New York Times on Wednesday, demanding Biden step aside because of growing concerns over his mental acuity that were heightened after his disastrous presidential debate.
Politico reports that Clooney reached out to Obama beforehand to make him aware of the story to come, but Obama didn't try to stop him.
"While Obama did not encourage or advise Clooney to say what he said, he also didn’t object to it, we’re told from people familiar with their exchange. The lack of pushback is an eye-popping revelation given that the former president was one of the first big voices defending Biden following his abysmal debate performance (while many of his former aides have been some of the incumbent’s biggest critics)," the outlet reported.
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Fox News Digital reached out to Obama's office but did not immediately hear back.
In Clooney's bombshell piece, he claims that he personally witnessed signs of the president's decline at the Hollywood fundraiser he hosted with Obama in June.
"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," Clooney wrote.
"Was he tired? Yes. A cold? Maybe. But our party leaders need to stop telling us that 51 million people didn’t see what we just saw. We’re all so terrified by the prospect of a second Trump term that we’ve opted to ignore every warning sign," he continued.
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The actor joined a growing list of Hollywood elites and megadonors who've called for Biden's ouster following the debate, where his halting, frail performance alarmed supporters. Members of Biden's party, political allies and liberal media figures have also pressured the president to drop out of the race, warning he cannot beat former President Trump.
Despite mounting calls to step aside, Biden has insisted to supporters and media outlets this week that he will stay in the race.
