It’s safe to assume that Ocean’s Eleven is probably not on President Donald Trump’s watch list.
In a Truth Social post Sunday night, March 23, Trump, 78, made his feelings clear about George Clooney’s recent appearance on “60 Minutes,” where the actor promoted his Broadway debut and spoke about press freedom. Trump called the segment a “total ‘puff piece'” and described Clooney, 63, as a “second-rate movie ‘star'” and “failed political pundit.” The president didn’t hold back in his criticism, accusing Clooney of initially supporting Joe Biden’s presidential campaign before abandoning him.
“Why would the now highly discredited ’60 Minutes’ be doing a total ‘puff piece’ on George Clooney…” Trump wrote. “He fought hard for Sleepy Joe’s election and then, right after the Debate, dumped him like a dog. Later, I assume under orders from the Obama camp, pushed all out for ‘Kamala,’ only to soon realize that that was not going to work out too well.”
Trump also took aim at CBS’s flagship news program, accusing the network of “fraudulently inserting fake answers into her disastrous interview, aired just before Election Day, in one of the most embarrassing and dishonest events in broadcast history.” This references Trump’s ongoing $20 billion defamation lawsuit against CBS News and its parent company, Paramount Global.
Clooney’s interview on “60 Minutes” coincided with his Broadway debut in “Good Night, and Good Luck,” a drama chronicling journalist Edward R. Murrow’s pursuit of truth during Senator Joseph McCarthy’s anti-communist investigations in the 1950s. The actor, who co-wrote and directed the 2005 film of the same name, sees clear parallels between that historical period and today’s media landscape.
During the interview, Clooney specifically mentioned Trump’s legal battles with media organizations as examples of government attempts to intimidate the press. “When the other three estates fail, when the judiciary and the executive and the legislative branches fail us, the fourth estate has to succeed,” Clooney said. “ABC has just settled a lawsuit with the Trump administration. And CBS News is in the process… We’re seeing this idea of using government to scare or fine or use corporations—to make journalists smaller.”
The Oscar winner added, “Governments don’t like the freedom of the press. They never have. And that goes for whether you are a conservative or a liberal or whatever side you’re on. They don’t like the press.”
Clooney, a lifelong Democrat, also addressed his controversial New York Times op-ed from July 2024, in which he called on then-President Joe Biden to step down from the 2024 presidential ticket. The actor explained his decision to publish the piece, which many political analysts consider to have played a significant role in Biden’s eventual withdrawal from the race.
“I’ll make it kind of easy. I was raised to tell the truth,” Clooney explained on “60 Minutes.” “I had seen the president up close for this fundraiser, and I was surprised. And so I feel as if there were a lot of profiles in cowardice in my party through all of that,” the actor added. “And I was not proud of that. And I also believed I had to tell the truth.”
In his July op-ed, Clooney repeatedly mentioned Biden’s age as a cause for concern and wrote that the “fight against time” was “one battle” Biden couldn’t win. “None of us can,” he continued. “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.”
At the time of the op-ed’s publication, Trump responded on social media, dismissing Clooney as a “fake movie actor” who “never came close to making a great movie.” “What does Clooney know about anything?” the president asked. “Clooney should get out of politics and go back to television. Movies never really worked for him!!!”
After Biden announced he would not seek a second term, Clooney praised the decision as “the most selfless thing that anybody has done since George Washington,” highlighting what he saw as an act of true leadership.
In a recent appearance on Stephen Colbert’s show, Clooney took a more conciliatory tone toward the current administration, saying he hoped Trump would do well “because our country needs it,” and adding that “we will meet you in 3.5 years and see where we go next.”
The feud between Trump and Clooney comes amid ongoing settlement discussions between Trump’s team and Paramount Global over the president’s defamation lawsuit against the network. The lawsuit has reportedly raised concerns among staff at “60 Minutes” and CBS News, especially as many legal experts have characterized it as having little merit. The program has continued to air segments critical of Trump’s presidency, including recent coverage of the impacts of his executive order banning diversity, equity, and inclusion policies across the federal government.
