FORMER President Joe Biden reportedly couldn’t recognize an A-list actor and popular Democratic Party supporter at a fundraiser.
A new book giving insight into Biden’s 2024 presidential campaign is exposing the former president for his mental slips.
The book, Original Sin, by CNN’s Jake Tapper and Axios’ Alex Thompson, accused the president of forgetting who a major Democratic Party player was.
According to an excerpt from a book shared by The New Yorker, President Biden allegedly could not remember who George Clooney was during a fundraising event hosted by the actor, benefiting Biden’s campaign for re-election.
The book claimed that the president needed to be reminded by an aide about the actor’s identity.
The authors described Biden as looking “severely diminished, as if he’d aged a decade since Clooney last saw him in December 2022.”
When Biden approached Clooney, who he’s known for nearly two decades, his assistant reportedly told him, “You know George.”
Tapper and Thompson described the former president as looking confused as he greeted the actor.
“Oh, yeah! Hi, George,” Biden replied.
Biden had last seen Clooney in December 2022 at the Kennedy Center Honors.
“Mentors—he mentors these—those historic kids from Parkland on their march and their lives—against gun violence,” Biden said at the event.
“I met with every one of those kids, and they really appreciate what you did, George. Not a joke.”
The actor continued defending the then-president until Biden’s disastrous performance at the first presidential election on June 27, 2024.
During the debate, Biden stumbled over his words and looked disassociated while arguing with Donald Trump.
The former president went on an interview with George Stephanopolous to try and amend the situation, but it only made matters worse.
Days after the fiasco, on July 10, Clooney wrote a New York Times op-ed letter calling for Biden to drop out of the election.
“The Joe Biden I was with three weeks ago at the fund-raiser was not the Joe ‘big F-ing deal’ Biden of 2010,” Clooney wrote.
“He wasn’t even the Joe Biden of 2020. He was the same man we all witnessed at the debate.”
Timeline of Biden’s failed re-election bid
After facing weeks of mounting pressure to step down, President Joe Biden finally announced on July 21 his decision not to contest in the 2024 presidential election. Below are significant events that influenced his withdrawal.
June 27: Biden’s poor showing in a debate with Donald Trump intensified calls for him to step aside. His voice was noticeably hoarse, and he lost his train of thought multiple times. This followed existing concerns over his age and mental acuity, which were fueled by a string of mistakes at public gatherings.
July 2: Polls after the debate indicate that Trump is pulling ahead. Texas Representative Lloyd Doggett was the first Democratic congressman to publicly urge Biden to drop his bid for re-election, and big Democratic donors issued the same call a day later.
July 5: Biden does a live TV interview with George Stephanopoulos where he tries to quell fears about his age and debate performance. He called the debate “bad night” and said he was under the weather and “exhausted.”
July 10: Vermont Senator Peter Welch becomes the first senator to call for Biden to drop out.
July 11: Biden refers to Ukrainian President Zelensky as President Putin at a NATO event.
July 13: Trump is shot at a campaign rally by a wannabe assassin. His popularity and favorability rating soared after he was seen bloodied on stage but walked off with a fist in the air, telling the crowd to “fight!”
July 17: California Representative Adam Schiff and a series of other Democrats call for Biden to step aside. Even former President Barack Obama tells allies that Biden’s path to victory has “greatly diminished.” Biden tests positive for Covid-19 hours after saying he would consider ending his bid if he were diagnosed with “some medical issue.”
July 19: Biden insists he will continue campaigning in his first statement since Obama’s U-turn, despite reports that he would decide to drop out by the weekend.
July 21: Just before 2 pm, Biden announces he is stepping aside in the 2024 election and endorses Vice President Kamala Harris.
The actor wrote that Biden’s interview with the ABC host “only reinforced” the fact that the candidate was not fit to be president.
“The one battle he cannot win is the fight against time.
“None of us can,” Clooney concluded.
On July 21, Kamala Harris replaced Joe Biden as the Democratic nominee for president.
