George Clooney: Harris presidential candidacy 'a mistake'

George Clooney, the Hollywood actor and Democratic donor who pushed former President Biden to end his 2024 reelection bid last summer, said it was a “mistake” for former Vice President Kamala Harris to step in as his replacement.

In an interview with “CBS News Sunday Morning,” Clooney said he doesn’t regret writing the New York Times op-ed last July calling for Biden to step aside because of the former president’s age, his declining stamina and his slim chances of winning reelection.

“Yes,” Clooney said, when asked if he’d write the op-ed again. “We had a chance. 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.”

Clooney said, however, that Harris was not the best candidate to run in place of Biden.

“I think the mistake with it being Kamala is that she had to run against her own record. And it's very hard to do, if the point of running is to say, ‘I'm not that person,’” Clooney said. “You know, it's hard to do.”

“And so, she was given a very tough task,” he continued. “I think it was a mistake, quite honestly. But we are where we are.”

Clooney was among the first prominent Democrats to call on the then-president to drop out. Within two weeks, Biden announced he was ending his reelection bid and endorsing Harris in his stead. Clooney thanked the former president “for saving democracy once again” in response, and endorsed Harris.

Clooney, in the latest interview, suggested it was still better that Harris run in place of Biden, even if she did not defeat Trump.

“We were going to lose more House seats, they say. So, you know, I don't know,” he said. “To not do it would be to say I'm not going to tell the truth.”

Biden’s son, Hunter, lashed out at Clooney over the pressure campaign.

Clooney said he saw Hunter Biden’s remarks, noting he “could spend a lot of time debunking many of the things he said, because many of the thing he said were just outright lies.”

“But the reality is, I don't think looking backwards like that is helpful to anyone, particularly to him. I 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,” Clooney said.

“I have many personal opinions about it, but I don't find it to be helpful to have a public spat with him,” he added.