George Clooney hails 'selfless' Joe Biden for stepping aside from the race for the White House

George Clooney yesterday said that all credit belonged to President Joe Biden for stepping aside from the race for the White House.

Clooney, whose op-ed in the New York Times appeared to be one of the prompts for Biden to quit running, said: ‘The person who should be applauded is the President, who did the most selfless thing that anybody has done since George Washington, and that’s true.

‘All the machinations that got us there, none of that is going to be remembered, and it shouldn’t be.

‘What should be remembered is the selfless act. It’s very hard to let go of power, we have seen it around the world.

‘For someone to say: ‘I think there is a better way forward’ - all the credit goes to him. All the rest will be forgotten.’ He added: ‘I’m very proud of where we are in the state of the world right now which many people are surprised by, and I think we are very excited for the future.’

George Clooney (pictured at the Venice Film Festival) said: ‘The person who should be applauded is the President, who did the most selfless thing that anybody has done since George Washington'

The current US President Joe Biden. Clooney's op-ed in the New York Times called for President Biden to step aside for a new nominee. It appeared to be one of the prompts which caused Biden to quit the race

In the op-ed, titled, I love Joe Biden but we need a new nominee he wrote: ‘I’m a lifelong Democrat; I make no apologies for that. I’m proud of what my party represents and what it stands for. As part of my participation in the democratic process and in support of my chosen candidate, I have led some of the biggest fund-raisers in my party’s history. Barack Obama in 2012. Hillary Clinton in 2016. Joe Biden in 2020. Last month I co-hosted the single largest fund-raiser supporting any Democratic candidate ever, for President Biden’s re-election. I say all of this only to express how much I believe in this process and how profound I think this moment is.

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.’