George Clooney criticizes Hillary Clinton over failed presidential campaign

In a recent interview, George Clooney opened up about Hillary Clinton and made a few surprising remarks about the former secretary of state.

Clooney was a staunch Clinton supporter during the 2016 election and even donated money to her campaign, along with a slew of other Democratic operations, and held a fundraiser for her. But during the interview with The Daily Beast, the star was a bit critical of the former secretary of state. He echoed a common criticism of Clinton's race for the Oval Office, saying that he "never really saw her elevate her game." Clooney also said that while Clinton was qualified for the job, "being qualified for the job does not necessarily mean you're the right person to be president."

He added: "She was more qualified than even her husband was when he was elected president, but she’s not as good at communicating things. That’s simply true. When she got up and gave a speech, it didn’t soar."

>> Read the full interview here (WARNING: Profanity)

While he did take time to toss a few barbs at Clinton, Clooney was also intensely critical of President Donald Trump. Clooney remarked that growing up poor in Kentucky, he knew what it was like to struggle.

"People in Hollywood, for the most part, are people from the Midwest who moved to Hollywood to have a career," Clooney said. "So this idea of 'coastal elites' living in a bubble is ridiculous. Who lives in a bigger bubble? He lives in a gold tower and has 12 people in his company."

The 56-year-old actor and director also criticized Trump's response to the violence in Charlottesville, Virginia.

"Well, think about it this way: If I was president of the United States and David Duke is praising me and the white nationalists were talking about how I was on their side, the first thing I would do is I would come out and say, '[Expletive] these guys. Anyone who believes this is not in my camp, I don’t believe it, and I completely reject it,'" Clooney said.

At one point in the interview, the star laid into Trump's former adviser Steve Bannon, saying, "Steve Bannon is a little wannabe writer who would do anything in the world to have had a script made in Hollywood."

– The Cox Media Group National Content Desk contributed to this report.

Cox Media Group