The hosts of ABC’s “The View” lashed out at actor George Clooney during Thursday’s broadcast, complaining about his decision to publish an op-ed calling on President Joe Biden to bow out of the 2024 presidential race. Joy Behar led the charge, arguing that if Clooney — who hosted a fundraiser for Biden recently — had concerns about Biden, he should have addressed them in private rather than splashing them across the pages of a newspaper. “President Biden is fighting right now for his political future,” she began. “Democratic National Committee Chair Jaime Harrison … is still in Biden’s corner, but he’s losing more high-profile support. George Clooney wrote an op-ed piece in The New York Times claiming that after he saw Biden’s condition at the recent fundraiser, he doesn’t think he’s up for the gig. George Clooney, couldn’t he tell them that in person, for God’s sake? He has to write an op-ed piece?” Behar went on to complain about comments from Jon Favreau, a speechwriter for former President Barack Obama, who said that there was no way to escape Biden’s declining health. WATCH: “I don’t think they understand what’s at stake yet,” Behar attacked the intelligence of the American people. She falsely claimed Biden “saved the economy.” “Why doesn’t George Clooney mention that in his op-ed piece?” pic.twitter.com/VqrcRksgrY — Nicholas Fondacaro (@NickFondacaro) July 11, 2024 “I don’t think they understand what’s at stake yet,” Behar said of the American people — and then chastised Clooney for not reminding everyone that Biden “saved the economy.” Cohost Ana Navarro joined in, lamenting the fact that Americans had been talking about Biden’s apparent cognitive decline for two weeks — since the disastrous debate against former President Donald Trump —and added, “I will be damned if I will use whatever little platform I have to demean and weaken our commander-in-chief and the one man standing between Donald Trump.” Sunny Hostin also lashes out at George Clooney for speaking out about Biden’s mental decline. “I don’t like that George Clooney did this and aired this dirty laundry to the world” she huffed. “This should be happening privately…This is the man who saved the soul of our country” pic.twitter.com/v8i5QKdzjL — Nicholas Fondacaro (@NickFondacaro) July 11, 2024 Sunny Hostin brought the conversation back around to Behar’s initial complaint, saying that she believed Clooney should have brought the matter to Biden privately instead. “I don’t like that George Clooney did this … and aired this dirty laundry to the world. … [T]his should be happening privately … This is the man who saved the soul of our country,” she said.

An Israeli man was “very surprised” to find he was sanctioned by the Biden administration on Thursday after he was confused for someone else with a similar name. Aviad Shlomo Sarid, an active Israel Defense Forces reservist serving on Israel’s northern border, was sanctioned in President Joe Biden’s latest batch of sanctions on Israeli civilians who are accused of violence in Judea and Samaria, also known as the West Bank. The sanctions were meant to target a man named Shlomo Sarid, and various other individuals and farms with which Aviad Shlomo Sarid is not affiliated. “While he is defending Israel, the American administration has imposed sanctions on him by mistake,” David Ben Zion, the deputy head of the Samaria Regional Council who is helping Sarid get free of the sanctions, told The Daily Wire. “It’s very unfortunate and especially disturbing.” “Every citizen of Israel should be afraid that his name is similar to someone who will enter the ‘black list,'” Zion added. Matthew Miller, the U.S. State Department spokesman, said the Biden administration is “deeply concerned about extremist violence and instability in the West Bank, which undermines Israel’s own security.” In addition to Sarid, Isachar Manne and Reut Ben-Haim are accused of being affiliated with Tzav 9, a group that has come under fire for protesting and disrupting the distribution of humanitarian aid to Gaza while Israeli hostages are still held captive. The five entities sanctioned include farms and outposts and Lehava, an anti-assimilation NGO that Miller accused of having members who “have engaged in repeated acts of violence.” The addresses of the sanctioned individuals were released by the U.S. Treasury Department. Iranians and Russians recently sanctioned have not previously had their addresses released, according to Jewish News Syndicate. Manne, who runs a farm in the south Hebron Hills, had one of its residents survive an attempted lynching in June 2022 by Palestinian rioters who beat him with rocks and clubs, according to Jewish News Syndicate. Zion said he fears that the sanctions against settlers living in outposts are only the first step before they target any Israelis living in Judea and Samaria and IDF soldiers serving there.  “The State of Israel is a state of law and order and manages to enforce the law on its own and without external assistance,” Zion said. “Today it is sanctions on social activists, tomorrow it will be a sanction on reservists and the day after that on public figures and politicians.” Israeli civilians and members of the Israeli Knesset have repeatedly condemned Biden’s sanctions for undermining its ally Israel’s legal system. “This is not acceptable behavior between friends, the people of Israel expect the U.S. government to act as partners,” Zion said. “We are in a war of existence, a war for our lives, in these moments all we need is assistance, support and a strong hug!” The Biden Administration has continued to impose sanctions on Israeli civilians since he issued Executive Order 14115, which allows the sanctioning of “persons undermining peace, security and stability in the West Bank.” The sanctions block all property and possession of the designated individuals in the U.S. and prohibit American citizens from contributing funds, goods, or services to the sanctioned individuals. “We strongly encourage the Government of Israel to take immediate steps to hold these individuals and entities accountable,” Miller states. “In the absence of such steps, we will continue to impose our own accountability measures.” In the first round of sanctions, individuals lost access to their Israeli banks who feared defying the sanctions until the Treasury Department clarified that they were not intended to cut off access to local assets, reported the Times of Israel.

President Joe Biden, who is facing pressure from Democrats to drop out of the 2024 race because of concerns about his age and health, has not held a full Cabinet meeting in over nine months and left its members in the dark about his condition, according to a new report. CNN broke the story on Thursday as Biden attempts to reassure supporters that he is capable of leading effectively and run for a second term after a debate performance against President Donald Trump late last month in which he appeared confused and lost his train of thought. The report noted the last full Cabinet meeting took place more than half a year ago on October 2, 2023, and cited one unnamed secretary who said members of the Cabinet were uncertain of how 81-year-old Biden was doing because they hardly ever get to see the commander in chief. Sources told CNN that before closed-door Cabinet meetings — when they had been taking place — it was routine for them to submit questions and talking points to White House aides in advance, leaving one to say the gatherings were “not free-wheeling, and pretty well-orchestrated.” CNN reported the White House shared a statement from Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack saying that what the story described about the Cabinet meetings was “standard practice for any administration” because “there should not be surprise in Cabinet meetings.” House Republicans have pressed Vice President Kamala Harris to get a majority of the Cabinet to remove the president from office using the 25th Amendment since at least February, following the release of a special counsel report that spoke about Biden exhibiting memory problems. They cranked up the pressure on the White House on Wednesday when Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer (R-KY) subpoenaed three of Biden’s staffers following reporting from Axios that suggested they were seeking to cover up Biden’s apparent declining cognitive state. NBC News chief political analyst Chuck Todd said on his podcast this week that a Cabinet official, whom he did not name, questioned whether the president would be capable of seeking a second term in the White House — sometime in the first half of Biden’s administration. “I’m not gonna out the Cabinet secretary, right?” the former moderator of “Meet The Press” said on “The Chuck Toddcast,” adding, “But I had a Cabinet secretary two years ago… all out of the blue ask me, ‘Do you really think he’s gonna — he can’t run again like this?'” He continued, “This is a pretty senior cabinet secretary. And this was two years ago.” Todd went on, “This is one of those, you know, it’s the classic open secret, a non-versation, right? It’s the story everybody knows and no one was — everybody was afraid to talk about.”

Former Red Hot Chili Peppers guitarist Josh Klinghoffer is being sued for wrongful death in connection with an incident when a man was killed after being struck by a vehicle. Per a new report obtained by TMZ, a 47-year-old man named Israel Sanchez was hit by a black GMC Yukon in Alhambra, CA in March while he was in a crosswalk. Sanchez was dragged across the pavement and died hours later from blunt force trauma to the head. A video of the incident shows the driver pulling over after striking the pedestrian, looking at the body, and then getting back into the vehicle, the outlet noted. No arrests were made yet, the lawsuit says. The lawsuit was filed Wednesday by Ashley Sanchez, the daughter of the victim. The filing alleges that Klinghoffer was using a cellphone while driving, as evidenced by the video footage that appears to show the driver holding an object above the steering wheel.  The lawsuit also states that the large grassy median should have provided plenty of space for the driver to see Sanchez walking.  “My dad was known for being a great chef, the most talented of his family, the greatest grandpa always full of love and joy,” Sanchez said in a news release, per The Guardian. “His smile was so infectious. His life was taken by a careless act of a person who didn’t bother to look where he was driving.” Klinghoffer was part of the popular rock band from 2009 until 2019. TMZ reported that the guitarist was the youngest inductee into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2012. The rocker left the Red Hot Chili Peppers and toured with several other mainstream bands, including Jane’s Addiction and Pearl Jam. Klinghoffer’s attorney Andrew Brettler shared the following statement with TMZ: “It was a tragic accident. After Josh struck this pedestrian in the intersection, he immediately pulled over, stopped the car, called 911 and waited until police and the ambulance arrived. Obviously, he’s cooperating with the police throughout the traffic investigation. This was purely a tragic accident.”

'couldn’t bring themselves to be quite so blunt'

'Civic Media disagrees with the team’s judgments in the moment'

'He doesn't have to answer to anybody'

'We are in dangerous territory'

'Needs to be addressed soon'

Biden Campaign Reportedly Testing Kamala-Trump Matchup Behind Closed Doors