- an intervention that led to Joe Biden dropping out. In an expletive-filled interview with the YouTube outlet Channel 5 with Andrew Callaghan, the younger Biden accused Clooney of exaggerating the former president's frailty.

After meeting Biden at an LA fundraising event last summer, Clooney became one of the first major Democratic figures to call on Joe Biden to drop out of the race. Less than a fortnight later, the elder Biden announced he would step aside for the eventual Democratic nominee, Vice-President Kamala Harris.

The contest in November was ultimately won by Harris's opponent, Republican Donald Trump. Clooney inserted himself into the presidential campaign via a New York Times opinion article in July 2024 headlined "I Love Joe Biden. But We Need a New Nominee". The actor expressed support for the president's agenda but pointed to worries over his disastrous debate against Trump in which he stumbled over his words.

In the interview, the younger Biden blamed it on a gruelling travel schedule and taking the drug Ambien, also known as zolpidem, which is used to treat sleep problems. "They give him Ambien to be able to sleep. He gets up on the stage and he looks like he's a deer in the headlights," he said. In the New York Times article, Clooney said the meeting with Biden at the charity event showed he was "the same man we all witnessed in the debate".

He added: "We are not going to win in November with this president." More details about the encounter at the fundraiser were revealed in a recent book by journalists Jake Tapper and Alex Thompson, who reported that the president "appeared severely diminished" and didn't recognise the actor. During the interview released last Monday, Hunter Biden's first lengthy comments since the election, the former president's son denied that account and said Clooney had "attempted to cut the knees out from a sitting president". Asked why Clooney intervened in the race, Hunter Biden responded with a succession of profanities about the actor. (BBC/Getty Images)