George Clooney has no regrets about penning a New York Times op-ed calling for former president Joe Biden bow out of the 2024 presidential election. However, the actor now says it was a “mistake” for Kamala Harris to step in as the new candidate.
Speaking on CBS’ Sunday Morning, Clooney acknowledged that he would write the op-ed again in hindsight. “We had a chance,” he said. “I wanted there to be, as I wrote in the op-ed, a primary. Let’s battle-test this quickly and get it up and going.”
He continued, “I think the mistake with it being Kamala is she had to run against her own record. It’s very hard to do if the point of running is to say, ‘I’m not that person.’ It’s hard to do, and so she was given a very tough task. I think it was a mistake, quite honestly. But we are where we are. We were gonna lose more House seats, they say. So I don’t know. To not do it would be to say, ‘I’m not gonna tell the truth.’”
Reporter Seth Doane then asked Clooney if he saw Hunter Biden’s aggressive response to the op-ed. Clooney confirmed he had, saying he could spend “a lot of time debunking many of the things he said.” These included the claim that Barack Obama had put Clooney up to it, which Clooney said is untrue.
“But the reality is I don’t looking backwards like that is helpful to anyone, particularly to [Hunter],” Clooney said. “I think don’t think it’s helpful for the Democratic party. And so I’m just going to wish him well on his ongoing recovery and I hope he does well and just leave it at that. I have many personal opinions about it, but I don’t find it to be helpful to have a public spat with him.”
Elsewhere in the interview, Clooney explained of his decision to voice his opinion publicly, “I do it when I think I have a responsibility to, quite honestly.” He added, “My father always told me to challenge people with more power than you and protect people with less power. … I believe in that. I teach our kids that.”
Last July, Clooney authored a much-read op-ed in The New York Times calling for Biden to step down, writing that “the one battle he cannot win is the fight against time.” “We are not going to win in November with this president,” the actor wrote. “On top of that, we won’t win the House, and we’re going to lose the Senate. This isn’t only my opinion; this is the opinion of every senator and Congress member and governor that I’ve spoken with in private.”
Eleven days later, on July 21, Biden dropped out of the presidential race and backed Harris, who Clooney subsequently endorsed.
