NEW YORK: Actor George Clooney, one of the Democratic Party’s leading fundraisers, on Wednesday made an emotional and heartfelt plea for President Joe Biden to end his faltering reelection campaign.
Clooney — a member of the Hollywood elite that provides key support to the Democrats — joined a growing list of public figures calling for Biden, 81, to step aside after his terrible debate performance against Donald Trump last month.
“I love Joe Biden,” Clooney wrote in the New York Times. “I consider him a friend, and I believe in him... But the one battle he cannot win is the fight against time.”
A self-described “lifelong Democrat,” Clooney co-hosted a star-studded fundraiser with Biden in Los Angeles only last month featuring former president Barack Obama.
The Biden campaign said that the event brought in a record $28 million.
“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,” Clooney wrote, referencing a famous hot-mic clip from Biden’s vice presidency.
“He wasn’t even the Joe Biden of 2020. He was the same man we all witnessed at the debate,” Clooney said — a direct challenge to Biden’s claim that his poor debate showing was a one-off.
“The dam has broken” on Democratic lawmakers publicly calling for Biden to withdraw, Clooney said, asking for more to come forward.
“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.”
The Oscar-winner brushed aside worries that Biden’s exit would create chaos four months before an election in which the Democrats hope to keep Trump from power, and did not endorse a replacement candidate.
The party should hear from contenders such as Vice President Kamala Harris, Maryland Governor Wes Moore and others, “then we could go into the Democratic convention next month and figure it out,” he wrote.
George Clooney urges Biden to end campaign
https://arab.news/r2ew2
George Clooney urges Biden to end campaign
- Clooney — a member of the Hollywood elite that provides key support to the Democrats — joined a growing list of public figures calling for Biden, 81, to step aside
- George Clooney: I love Joe Biden. I consider him a friend, and I believe in him... But the one battle he cannot win is the fight against time
Ex-Syrian intelligence officer appears in UK court charged with crimes against humanity
LONDON: A former member of Syria's Air Force Intelligence attended a British court hearing via videolink on Tuesday charged with crimes against humanity and torture relating to the suppression of pro-democracy demonstrations in Damascus in 2011.
Salem Michel Al-Salem, 58, who now lives in Britain, appeared virtually at the hearing at London's Westminster Magistrates' Court from his home. He was wearing a breathing apparatus mask and the court was told he suffered from degenerative motor neurone disease.
Al-Salem is charged with three counts of murder as a crime against humanity relating to deaths in April and July 2011 "as part of a widespread or systematic attack against a civilian population with knowledge of the attack".
He is also accused of three charges of torture relating to incidents in 2011 and 2012, and one of conduct ancillary to murder as a crime against humanity. He did not speak during the hearing and there was no indication as to how he would plead.
His lawyer Sean Caulfield told the court that Al-Salem was too unwell to confirm his name.
The seven charges were brought under a British law that allows the prosecution of serious international crimes committed abroad. The Crown Prosecution Service said it was the first time it had brought charges of murder as crimes against humanity.
In 2005, Afghan warlord Faryadi Zardad was convicted by a British court of torture that had taken place in Afghanistan.
Al-Salem, who has sought indefinite leave to remain in Britain, was a colonel in the Syrian Air Force Intelligence department with oversight of the Information Branch in the district of Jobar, to the east of central Damascus, British prosecutors say.
He is accused of leading a group tasked with quelling the demonstrations, which mostly occurred during Friday afternoon prayers. Prosecutors say he gave his men orders to open fire on protesters, which led to the deaths of some individuals.
Prosecutors say he was also present at, or took part in, the torture of men at the Information Branch building.
Al-Salem was first arrested in central England in December 2021. His lawyer had sought an order to withhold his name, arguing it could pose a risk to his safety. England's Chief Magistrate Paul Goldspring rejected the application but ordered that his address not be made public.
He will next appear on Friday at London's Old Bailey court.
