‘Step aside’: Joe Biden gets stern warning from Democrat George Clooney to ‘wake up’ voters in the party’s favour

Amid concerns over Joe Biden's health condition and disaster during the first presidential debate against Republican nominee Donald Trump, actor George Clooney has asked him to leave the campaign for a second term in the White House.

Clooney, a life long democrat and a high-profile Joe Biden supporter, who co-hosted a fundraiser last month, is among the firsts to ask the President to opt out from the race.

The development comes amid Biden's refusal to end his re-election bid after his weak debate performance.

“This isn’t only my opinion; this is the opinion of every senator and congress member and governor that I’ve spoken with in private,” AP reported quoting Clooney.

Clooney argued the party should pick a new nominee at its convention next month, saying the process would be “messy” but “wake up” voters in the party’s favor.

"Top Democrats -- Chuck Schumer, Hakeem Jeffries, Nancy Pelosi -- and senators, representatives and other candidates who face losing in November need to ask this president to voluntarily step aside," Clooney wrote in The New York Times, reported AFP.

In his opinion piece, Clooney wrote: "It’s devastating to say it, but the Joe Biden I was with three weeks ago at the fund-raiser was not the Joe 'big F-ing deal' Biden of 2010. He wasn’t even the Joe Biden of 2020. He was the same man we all witnessed at the debate," Clooney wrote.

Democrats in Congress remain deeply divided over whether to fall in line behind Biden or to urge him to step aside because of persistent questions about his health and acuity. Biden has said he is fit to serve but understands the questions.

Some have expressed concern that Biden continuing at the top of the ticket could cost the party the White House and both houses of Congress in November, reported Reuters.