George Clooney juices Dems' rebellion against Biden

• Speaker Emerita Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) shook Congress Wednesday by saying she's waiting for Biden to make a final decision on running — despite Biden insisting, time and time again, that he's staying in the race.
• Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) is privately signaling to donors that he's open to a Democratic ticket that isn't led by Biden, despite declaring that "I'm with Joe" in public, Axios first reported.

Driving the news: Clooney, who just last month hosted the largest fundraiser in Democratic Party history with Biden in attendance, delivered a piercing blow to the heart of Biden's defense about his shaky debate performance on June 27.

• "It's devastating to say it, but the Joe Biden I was with three weeks ago at the fundraiser was not the Joe "big F-ing deal" Biden of 2010," Clooney wrote in the New York Times on Wednesday.
• "He wasn't even the Joe Biden of 2020. He was the same man we all witnessed at the debate."

The big picture: Clooney's words were unsparing, but other, more subtle signals from top Democrats on Wednesday seemed to confirm his message about their private angst.

• Sens. Tim Kaine (D-Va.), Peter Welch (D-Vt.), Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.) and others echoed Pelosi's language about waiting for Biden to make a decision — a clear sign that they don't consider the matter to be closed.
• Welch ended the day becoming the first Senate Democrat to call for Biden to drop out, joining eight House Democrats.
• New York's Lt. Gov. Antonio Delgado and swing-district Rep. Pat Ryan (D-N.Y.) also both called on Biden to withdraw, as private polling emerged suggesting deep-blue New York could be competitive in November.
• ABC's George Stephanopoulos, who has interviewed Biden dozens of times, including last Friday, apologized after a video surfaced of him saying he doesn't believe Biden can serve another term.
• Republicans are reveling in the chaos, with the GOP-led House Oversight Committee issuing subpoenas for three senior White House aides Wednesday to testify about Biden's health, Axios scooped.

Zoom in: Clooney, unburdened by the political, financial and strategic calculations constraining most elected Democrats, has helped revive a rebellion that Biden's campaign had hoped to quash.

• "This isn't only my opinion; this is the opinion of every senator and Congress member and governor that I've spoken with in private. Every single one, irrespective of what he or she is saying publicly," Clooney wrote.

• When Biden campaign co-chair and Hollywood mogul Jeffrey Katzenberg learned of Clooney's bombshell op-ed, he led a "full-court press" to persuade the actor not to publish it, according to the Times.

Between the lines: Democrats across the country are deeply anxious that Biden's weakness could cost them control of the White House, House and Senate, handing total power to an emboldened, unfettered Donald Trump and his allies.

• NBC News reports that the Biden campaign has already suffered a huge blow to its fundraising — and is bracing for the situation to worsen.
• CNN reports that organizers have canceled at least one Chicago fundraiser scheduled during the Democratic National Convention, and that other donors are hitting pause until the situation clears up.

What to watch: Senate Democrats will have a special caucus lunch Thursday with three top Biden officials, including campaign chair Jen O'Malley Dillon, to discuss the path forward.

• Biden also is set to deliver a solo press conference after the NATO summit on Thursday, and will sit for an interview with NBC's Lester Holt on Monday.
• Pelosi revealed on MSNBC's "Morning Joe" that she had told some Democratic colleagues to "hold off" on publicly voicing their position until after this week, given the importance of the NATO summit.