George Clooney has responded to former President Donald Trump's remarks regarding Clooney and his wife Amal's recent acquisition of French citizenship. Trump, in a post on Truth Social on December 31, 2025, described the news as "good," while also taking the opportunity to criticize the couple. Trump referred to George and Amal as "two of the worst political prognosticators of all time" and asserted that France is "in the midst of a major crime problem because of their absolutely horrendous handling of immigration, much like we had under Sleepy Joe Biden". He also referenced a July 2024 op-ed penned by Clooney for the New York Times, in which Clooney urged then-President Joe Biden to step aside.
Clooney, 64, issued a statement on January 2, 2026, in response to Trump's comments. Referencing the former president's well-known slogan, Clooney stated, "I totally agree with the current president. We have to make America great again".
The Clooneys, along with their eight-year-old twins, Alexander and Ella, officially became French citizens in December 2025. The naturalization decree was obtained and viewed by the French newspaper Journal officiel. Clooney has spoken about the benefits of living in France, particularly regarding the privacy it affords his family and the opportunity to raise his children outside of Hollywood. The family resides on a farm in France. Clooney has lauded French privacy laws for shielding his family from international media intrusion.
Trump's Truth Social post also claimed that Clooney "got more publicity for politics than he did for his very few, and totally mediocre, movies" and that he "wasn't a movie star at all, he was just an average guy who complained, constantly, about common sense in politics".
Prior to these comments, Clooney had described Trump as someone who "used to call me a lot" and recounted how Trump "tried to help me get into a hospital once to see a back surgeon". Clooney added, "I'd see him out at clubs and at restaurants. He's a big goofball. Well, he was. That all changed".
The French foreign ministry stated that the passport allocation for the Clooneys "meets the conditions set by law" for naturalization, having "followed a rigorous procedure including security investigations, regulatory naturalization interviews at the prefecture, and the payment of tax stamps".
While the news of the Clooney's citizenship comes before stricter language requirements for citizenship take effect in France, one junior member of French President Emmanuel Macron's government has criticized the decision, with Marie-Pierre Vedrenne telling France Info radio station that there is a feeling of a double standard among some French people.
Clooney has said, "I love the French culture, your language, even if I'm still bad at it after 400 days of courses". His wife, Amal, who is a dual UK-Lebanese national and an international human rights lawyer, speaks fluent French. The couple purchased the Domaine du Canadel, a former wine estate, near the Provence town of Brignoles, in 2021.
