The View host Ana Navarro slams George Clooney for 'dragging' his 'friend' Joe Biden after he drops out of presidential race

Ana Navarro has slammed Hollywood actor George Clooney for publicly calling on Joe Biden to step down in his scathing op-ed for the New York Times and claimed the President has been 'dragged relentlessly' for the past three weeks.

During Monday's episode of The View, the panel - led by moderator Whoopi Goldberg - weighed in on Biden's shock decision to eliminate himself from the 2024 Presidential race, and Navarro, 52, did not hold back when it came to sharing her thoughts. 

The Republican political strategist admitted: 'I was sad. You know, as I've said here many times, I love Joe Biden and I'm full of gratitude to Joe Biden today. So, Joe Biden, thank you for everything, over 54 years of career... So I was sad in the way that when you see a champion athlete retire, leave it all on the field and walk away into the sunset, that made me sad, it gave me nostalgia.

'I was also mad because he's been dragged relentlessly for three weeks by some people who supposedly were his friends. I hope that a lot of those donors that went out and said all sorts of things about him come back with a big check now!'

Pointing the finger directly at the Ocean's Eleven actor, she then said: 'George Clooney, contigo!' which means 'with you' in Spanish as the live studio audience laughed at her blunt comment.

Ana Navarro has slammed George Clooney for publicly calling for President Joe Biden to step down

The View's Ana claimed that Biden, 81, has been 'dragged relentlessly' for the past three weeks

Navarro then continued her praise for the President and said: 'I'm grateful to his staff, I am grateful to Jill Biden, they have taken a lot of incoming in the last three weeks, a lot of attacks. They have been part of a very stable and steady administration.

'I will always be thankful. They took us out of the hell that was COVID and they took us out of the hell that was Trump, for that, grateful until the end of my days,' she added.

Earlier this month, Clooney turned on Biden and demanded he step aside from the 2024 race after his disastrous debate and widespread concerns about whether he can serve four more years.

The Hollywood megastar, who has hosted fundraisers for the 81-year-old, said Biden couldn't win the 'battle against time' in his first-person piece and also condemned Democratic party leaders for ignoring 'every warning sign' of Biden's declining physical and mental health, and for trying to defend his car-crash performance against Donald Trump. 

He added that Democrat voters 'collectively hold our breath or turn down the volume whenever we see the president, who we respect, walk off Air Force One or walk back to a mic to answer an unscripted question.'

Clooney wrote in The New York Times: '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.

'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,' he said. 

Clooney added: 'Joe Biden is a hero; he saved democracy in 2020. We need him to do it again in 2024.'

Sara Haines defended Clooney when Sunny Hostin (right) claimed people were 'forcing' Biden out

Clooney pictured here at his $28 million fundraiser in June with Biden, Julia Roberts, and former President Barack Obama

The New York Times article came just three weeks after Clooney hosted a record-breaking $28 million fundraiser for the president on June 16.

The View panel have also been huge supporters of Biden, and during the discussion on Monday's show, Sunny Hostin admitted: 'I wasn't comfortable with the notion that people were forcing him out.'

She added: 'I wasn't comfortable with the cannibalization that I saw in the Democratic Party, but I am comfortable if he made this decision with his inner circle, with Dr. Jill Biden, with his family, and decided to do it on his own.'

However, Sara Haines also spoke up and said: 'I am also grateful and I thank Biden for his decades of service, but I do push back a little on Ana and Sunny's take on the party imploding.

'There is room for criticism when you're talking about the biggest job in the world, and I don't think those people that are friends, even George Clooney's op-ed was really touching and beautifully written saying, "This is hard to say out loud." A lot of those people were torn themselves.'