Former White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre has blasted Hollywood actor George Clooney in her new book, accusing him of delivering a “gut punch” to former President Joe Biden with his widely publicized 2024 New York Times essay.
In the essay, Clooney, a major Democrat fundraiser, urged Biden to drop out of the presidential race.
“When I woke up, the piece was there, splayed across the pages of The New York Times,” Jean-Pierre wrote in her memoir, “Independent.”
“The headline? ‘George Clooney: I Love Joe Biden. But We Need a New Nominee.’
“I read it in disbelief.”
Clooney’s essay, published in July 2024, called for Biden to exit the race.
The move quickly became one of the defining moments in the Democratic Party’s internal revolt against Biden’s re-election campaign.
“It was a gut punch,” Jean-Pierre wrote.
“Clooney was an A-list Hollywood celebrity and a self-professed proud Democrat.
“His opinion was a huge deal and would draw tremendous attention from the media and the public alike.”
The actor had helped Biden raise millions at a high-profile Los Angeles fundraiser just weeks earlier.
But in the op-ed, Clooney painted a stark picture of a president who was no longer the man he once knew.
“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,” Clooney wrote.
“He wasn’t even the Joe Biden of 2020.
“He was the same man we all witnessed at the debate.”
Clooney later defended the essay, calling it an act of “civic duty.”
“I’m a Democrat in Kentucky, so I get it,” he told CNN’s Jake Tapper in April.
“When I saw people on my side of the street not telling the truth, I thought that was time.”
Jean-Pierre Defends Biden’s Fitness
Jean-Pierre, who repeatedly dismissed reports of Biden’s cognitive decline during her time at the White House, defended her former boss in the book.
“Though his concerns weren’t completely unjustified, his assessment didn’t offer the full context,” she wrote, pointing out that Biden had just returned from a multi-leg overseas trip when he attended Clooney’s fundraiser.
“We’d just come back from Italy,” she explained.
“We flew to Washington, D.C., where some staffers got off and others got on, before taking off for the West Coast.
“We went through nine time zones. I was tired, and I’m decades younger than Biden, so it was understandable that he might not have been sprinting across a ballroom or at his most electric when addressing the star-studded crowd.”
Clooney’s Essay Accelerated Party Revolt
Jean-Pierre acknowledged that the essay intensified the push within the Democratic Party to force Biden out of the race.
“Clooney’s essay may not have been a calculated jab at the party’s campaign to push out the president,” she wrote, “but the letter lent a renewed velocity to the effort.
“After its publication, more and more party leaders said Biden had to go.”
“Betrayal” from Within
Jean-Pierre’s book repeatedly accuses Democrat leaders of betraying Biden and capitulating to pressure from party elites and donors who feared his electability against President Donald Trump.
Her criticism of Clooney reflects broader frustration among Biden loyalists, who viewed Hollywood’s defection as both hypocritical and opportunistic, especially after Clooney personally benefited from proximity to the administration.
Clooney’s public break from Biden marked a turning point in 2024, opening the floodgates for other Democrats to abandon the incumbent president and call for new leadership.
The movement ultimately ended with former Vice President Kamala Harris replacing Biden on the ticket.
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