WASHINGTON ― Former President Joe Biden did not recognize George Clooney at a Los Angeles fundraiser the actor hosted for the president during the 2024 presidential campaign, according to an upcoming book that details Biden’s decline before he ended his reelection bid.
The moment that shook Clooney “to his core” ‒ reported in “Original Sin,” by CNN’s Jake Tapper and Axios’ Alex Thompson ‒ occurred at a backstage reception as he and actress Julia Roberts, another co-host of the June 15 fundraiser, were posing for pictures with attendees.
As Biden entered the room, he appeared “severely diminished, as if he’d aged a decade since Clooney last saw him, in December, 2022,” and the president took tiny steps as an aide guided his arm, an excerpt of the book published by The New Yorker reads.
“You know George,” the assistant guiding Biden told the president, trying to remind him who was in front of him ‒ one of the world’s most famous actors and the host of the lucrative event Biden was attending.
“Yeah, yeah,” Biden said. “Thank you for being here.”
As the exchange continued, the book says, “It seemed clear that the President had not recognized Clooney.”
“George Clooney,” the aide clarified to Biden at the fundraiser.
“Oh, yeah!” Biden said. “Hi, George!”
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The Hollywood fundraiser, which raised more than $30 million, was a pivotal moment ahead of Biden’s decision one month later to withdraw from the election. Biden’s state at the fundraiser was a sign of things to come 12 days later when the president struggled to complete sentences and convey coherent thoughts during a disastrous June 27 debate performance against Donald Trump
The fundraiser took place during a particularly busy stretch for Biden. The president flew to the event from Italy, where he was for two days for a Group of Seven nations summit. He had just returned to Europe after being there days earlier honoring of Allied veterans in France on the 80th anniversary of D-Day. In between the European trips, Biden had swung back to the United States to be at home in Wilmington, Delaware, for the verdict of his son Hunter Biden’s guns case trial.
The book describes an alarmed crowd at the fundraiser ‒ which featured Biden, former President Barack Obama and talk show host Jimmy Kimmel on stage ‒ over Biden’s apparent diminishment, frail presentation and meandering answers to mostly soft-ball questions from Kimmel.
At the end of the 30-minute discussion between the three men, Biden gave a blank stare to the crowd as he began to walk off stage. Obama turned back and grabbed Biden’s arm, guiding him backstage.
Among those who watched in astonishment at the fundraiser were New Hampshire Democratic U.S. Rep. Annie Kuster and California U.S. Rep. Julia Brownley.
“They’d seen him in the photo line, and Kuster could tell it was a struggle for the President to engage. It reminded her of being with an aging grandparent, worryingly thinking, Oh, my gosh, what’s going to happen next?” the book says.
Less than one month after the fundraiser, Clooney ‒ a onetime ardent Biden supporter ‒ stunned the political world by calling for Biden to drop out of the race in a New York Times op-ed, writing: “The one battle he cannot win is the fight against time. None of us can.”
Clooney initially chalked up the Biden he witnessed in Los Angeles to jet lag from the president’s back-and-forth trips across the Atlantic Ocean but “then the debate confirmed all the fears that he’d shoved aside,” according to the book.
After Biden kept digging in after his debate performance ‒ refusing to step aside ‒ Clooney told Obama he was considering writing an op-ed calling for Biden to drop out. Obama told the actor that would only push Biden to dig in deeper, the book says.
Clooney ultimately decided to write the New York Times op-ed, sending a copy to film producer Jeffrey Katzenberg, a major Biden fundraiser, and senior Biden aide Steve Ricchetti, before its publication.
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Ahead of the May 20 release of “Original Sin” and other books about his presidency, Biden has sat down for several interviews in an apparent attempt to rehabilitate his public image.
“They are wrong. There’s nothing to sustain that,” Biden told ABC’s The View when asked about the books questioning his cognitive abilities. Biden said he believes he would have defeated Trump had he not dropped out of the race, which paved the way for his vice president, Kamala Harris, to be party’s new nominee.
A Biden spokesperson told USA TODAY in a statement: “We have not reviewed the book, and the authors did not fact-check the book with us, despite it being a common practice to do so. So we are not going to respond to every bit of this book they choose to release via select leaks in the reporters’ efforts to make a profit.
“We continue to await anything that shows where Joe Biden had to make a presidential decision or where national security was threatened or where he was unable to do his job. In fact, the evidence points to the opposite – he was a very effective president,” the spokesperson added.
Reach Joey Garrison on X @joeygarrison.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Joe Biden didn’t recognize George Clooney at fundraiser, new book says
