Context:

At a June 2024 fundraiser, former President Joe Biden failed to recognize actor George Clooney, who hosted the event, highlighting concerns about Biden's cognitive decline. An upcoming book by Jake Tapper and Alex Thompson details this incident and suggests Biden's mental faculties have significantly diminished, contributing to his decision not to seek reelection after a poor debate performance against Donald Trump. The book describes how George Clooney, visibly shaken by the encounter, later penned an op-ed urging Biden to drop out of the race, despite advice from Barack Obama that it would only entrench Biden's determination to run. The book, based on over 200 interviews, alleges that Biden's inner circle attempted to conceal his declining abilities, which were evident during the fundraiser. The interaction left a lasting impression on Clooney, who faced backlash from Biden's aides after sharing his concerns with Democratic donor Jeffrey Katzenberg and others involved in the campaign.

Dive Deeper:

• The incident at the June 2024 fundraiser where Biden failed to recognize Clooney is depicted as a significant moment in the upcoming book 'Original Sin: President Biden’s Decline, Its Cover-Up, and His Disastrous Choice to Run Again', suggesting it symbolized Biden's cognitive decline.

• George Clooney, who had just returned from a trip to Italy, was taken aback by Biden's apparent failure to recognize him, despite their previous acquaintance, and this interaction is said to have deeply unsettled him.

• The book claims that Biden's cognitive and communicative abilities had been faltering, a fact allegedly concealed by his inner circle, and this decline became a factor in his decision to withdraw from the 2024 presidential race after a poor debate performance.

• Despite advice from Barack Obama to refrain from publicly criticizing Biden, Clooney proceeded with an op-ed calling for Biden to step down, believing this was necessary due to what he had witnessed at the fundraiser.

• There was internal conflict as Jeffrey Katzenberg, a major donor, disagreed with Clooney's assessment, citing jet lag as a possible explanation for Biden's behavior, and Biden's aide, Steve Ricchetti, responded with anger, viewing Clooney's actions as a betrayal.

• The book suggests that Biden's team employed various strategies to mask his declining health, which not only affected his campaign but also his personal interactions, as evidenced by the awkward encounter with Clooney.

• The incident highlights broader themes of aging and the challenges it presents, with Clooney acknowledging the harsh realities of age but standing by his observations and concerns regarding Biden's capability to lead.

• Former President Joe Biden did not recognize George Clooney at a June 2024 fundraiser, according to an upcoming book from CNN’s Jake Tapper and Axios’ Alex Thompson.

• The 64-year-old actor reportedly greeted the 82-year-old former President of the United States backstage before the fundraiser, arriving after a 3-day trip to Italy for the G7 conference.

• The president appeared “severely diminished, as if he’d aged a decade since Clooney last saw him in December 2022,” the authors wrote, as featured in an excerpt in the New Yorker.

• “You know George,” the assisting aide reportedly told the president, gently reminding him who was in front of him.

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• “Yeah, yeah,” the president said to George, who was the host of this lucrative fundraiser. “Thank you for being here.”

• “It seemed clear that the President had not recognized Clooney,” the authors wrote.

• The excerpt was published from their new book, Original Sin: President Biden’s Decline, Its Cover-Up, and His Disastrous Choice to Run Again, which will be released on May 20. The book is based on more than 200 interviews.

• Biden decided to drop his reelection bid after a disastrous debate performance against Donald Trump in June.

• “It wasn’t a straight line of decline; he had good days and bad. But until the last day of his presidency, Biden and those in his innermost circle refused to admit the reality that his energy, cognitive skills, and communication capacity had faltered significantly. Even worse, through various means, they tried to hide it,” the authors write in the book.

• The Clooney fundraiser took place on June 15, less than two weeks before the debate. The actor was “shaken to his core” by the interaction, the book claims.

• “It was not okay,” recalled a Hollywood insider who witnessed the interaction, according to the excerpt. “That thing, the moment where you recognize someone you know—especially a famous person who’s doing a f–king fundraiser for you—it was delayed. It was uncomfortable.”

• George released an op-ed less than a month later calling on Biden to drop out of the race.

• George reportedly also reached out to former President Barack Obama to tell him he was considering writing the op-ed, according to the book.

• “Obama advised that doing so would only make Biden dig in his heels deeper,” the book alleges.

• He shared a draft with Jeffrey Katzenberg, a major Democratic donor who organized the June fundraiser, and told Jeffrey to share it with Biden’s longtime aide, Steve Ricchetti, per the book.

• “Ricchetti read it and was furious,” the book claims. “Internally, he threatened to shut Clooney down — some of his colleagues thought he sounded like a Mob boss.”

• Jeffrey told George he did not agree with his assessment of Biden, because the president had been jet-lagged the night of the event, according to the book. He also wanted the actor to cut the line about Biden at the fundraiser being “the same man we all witnessed at the debate,” arguing that was George was saying was not fair.

• “You’re right, it’s not fair, Clooney agreed. Aging was awful. It really wasn’t fair. But, Clooney said, what he had written was accurate,” the authors wrote.

• Biden recently said why he takes responsibility for Trump‘s victory.