By Brandon Drenon, BBC News, in Washington
Actor George Clooney has penned an article in the New York Times calling on Joe Biden to quit the race. Photo: AFP
George Clooney has issued a damning call for Joe Biden to quit the US presidential race, hours after senior Democrat Nancy Pelosi swerved questions about whether he should continue.
The Hollywood actor and prominent Democratic Party fundraiser said that the president had won many battles in his career, "but the one battle he cannot win is the fight against time".
His comments came hours after Pelosi, the former House Speaker, joined growing disquiet in the party, saying that time was "running short" for Biden to decide whether to stay in the race against Donald Trump after a disastrous debate late last month.
Clooney wrote in The New York Times that it was "devastating to say it" but the Biden he met at a fundraising event three weeks ago was not the "'Joe 'big ****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," Clooney said.
Joe Biden on the campaign trail in Madison, Wisconsin. Photo: AFP / Scott Olson
The fundraising event, held in Los Angeles, brought in a single-night record of roughly $US30 million ($NZ38m) for the Biden campaign.
"Our party leaders need to stop telling us that 51 million people didn't see what we just saw."
"This is about age. Nothing more," he continued. "We are not going to win in November with this president."
Clooney added that his concerns matched those of "every" member of Congress he had spoken to.
Public dissent, meanwhile, continues to grow within Biden's party as he faces scrutiny while hosting the Nato summit in Washington.
Pelosi, a former House Speaker and still one of the most powerful Democrats on Capitol Hill, on Wednesday appeared to disregard Biden's insistence that he was determined to continue.
US President Joe Biden presents the Presidential Medal of Freedom to US Representative Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) in the East Room of the White House in Washington, DC, on May 3, 2024. Photo: AFP / Andrew Caballero-Reynolds
When asked if he should stay in the election race, she told MSNBC's Morning Joe: "I want him to do whatever he decides to do."
"It's up to the president to decide if he's going to run. We are all encouraging him to make that decision, because time is running short."
Around a dozen elected Democrats have suggested he abandon his campaign since his 27 June debate with Trump.
On Tuesday, Michael Bennet of Colorado became the first Democratic senator to publicly dissent.
Although he did not call for Biden to quit outright, he said Trump would win the election, possibly by a "landslide".
Others have been more direct. Mikie Sherril, a congressman for North Jersey, said in a statement: "I am asking that he declare that he won't run for re-election."
Acknowledging the demands on the president, Pelosi told MSNBC: "I said to everyone - let's just hold off.
"Whatever you're thinking, either tell somebody privately, but you don't have to put that out on the table until we see how we go this week. But I am very proud of the president."
Pat Ryan, a congressman from New York, later wrote on X: "For the good of our country, for my two young kids, I'm asking Joe Biden to step aside."
Overall support from elected Democrats remains robust, however.
The Congressional Black Caucus, a group of roughly 60 politicians, and newer House members like Alexandria Ocasio Cortez, have publicly backed him.
On Tuesday, Chuck Schumer, the leading Democrat in the Senate, said: "I'm with Joe."
- BBC.