Clooney lauds Biden for ‘saving democracy’

Hollywood star

George Clooney

— one of the first high-profile

Democratic activists

to urge

Joe Biden

not to seek reelection — on Tuesday announced his backing for

Kamala Harris

, while hailing Biden’s exit.
“President Biden has shown what true leadership is. He’s

saving democracy

once again. We’re all so excited to do whatever we can to support Vice President Harris in her historic quest,” Clooney said in a statement to CNN.
A major fundraiser for

Democratic candidates

and longtime Biden booster, Clooney broke ranks two weeks ago by openly calling on the 81-year-old president to give way to a younger candidate so that the party would have a better chance of beating

Donald Trump

in November.

“I love Joe Biden,” Clooney wrote in The New York Times, shocking many. “I consider him a friend, and I believe in him… But the one battle he cannot win is the fight against time.”
With Biden at the top of the ticket, the Oscar-winner said, Democrats “are not going to win in November,” will lose control of the Senate, and won’t gain a majority in the House of Representatives.

After days of mounting pressure, Biden on Sunday abruptly announced he was leaving the race and endorsed his vice president. Harris has rapidly garnered overwhelming support from party leaders and raked in a huge quantity of donations from voters.