George Clooney Fires Back at Trump and Defends ‘Big Swing’ on Biden

George Clooney has an admission to make about that Joe Biden op-ed.

During his appearance on Jimmy Kimmel Live on Tuesday, Clooney said writing that op-ed in The New York Times “could have gone badly.”

“It’s very hard to let go of power,” Clooney said, as he praised Biden who “did something really extraordinary” by stepping aside and allowing VP Kamala Harris to seek the party’s nomination, rather than pursue a second term. “I think that that’s what should be focused on,” he said, rather than his very public calling out of the president, which preceded Biden’s decision.

In the op-ed, Clooney did not mince words, as he wrote, “We are not going to win in November with this president,” after Biden’s debate performance against Trump.

As many questioned Biden’s mental fitness at age 81, Clooney urged party leaders to “stop telling us that 51 million people didn’t see what we just saw.” As a powerful Democratic benefactor, Clooney’s words must have been like a punch in the gut—as he was the most high-profile figure to call for a change to the Democratic ticket at the time.

Kimmel said the letter had an “enormous impact” on the presidential election, to which Clooney tried to downplay. “I don’t know that that’s true,” he said. “There was an awful lot of people [asking Biden to step down].”

That said, if Biden hadn’t stepped down after his op-ed, Clooney admits that things probably would have gotten very awkward—and they potentially still could, he said: “It could still go badly.”

Kimmel jokingly called the Times op-ed “one of [Clooney’s] best pranks ever,” to which Clooney quipped, “You should have seen the stationary I put it on.”

They also briefly discussed Trump’s reaction to the op-ed on Truth Social, where he disparaged Clooney and suggested he get out of politics and “go back to television.” Clooney responded, “I will if he does. That’s a trade-off I’d do.”