Following Joe Biden’s poor performance at the first presidential debate, pressure continues to grow on the 81-year-old not to run for re-election.

Having initially appeared at a rally to support him, top Democratic fundraiser George Clooney has now called on the 46th president to drop out of the race.

He wrote in the New York Times, that it was “devastating to say it” but “this is about age. Nothing more. We are not going to win in November with this president."

Former President Donald Trump has lashed out in response to Hollywood star, calling him a “rat”.

But that didn’t stop the 45th president from using a movie clip of Clooney to “fire” the sitting commander-in-chief.

Trump’s team took a clip of Clooney from his 2009 comedy Up in the Air, in which the star plays a man whose job it is to fly around the US firing staff on behalf of employers.

In the footage shared on social media, his character Ryan Bingham tells President Biden: “So although I wish I was here with better news, the fact is that you and I are sitting here today because this will be your last week of employment.”

Clooney continues: “And this is not an assessment of your productivity. You’ve got to try not to take this personally.”

A clip of Biden in a recent interview simply replies: “Well I just had a bad night.”