By Alana Wise

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Actor and director George Clooney, a supporter of Hillary Clinton's presidential bid, broke ranks over campaign financing on Saturday to condemn the "obscene" sums of money in U.S. politics and praised Clinton's chief political rival in the process.

Clooney made the remarks in an interview with NBC News' "Meet The Press" the day after he and his wife, Amal, hosted a fundraiser on Democratic Party hopeful Clinton's behalf Friday night with a price tag of up to $353,400 per couple.

"We had some protesters last night when we pulled up in San Francisco and they're right to protest. They're absolutely right. It is an obscene amount of money," Clooney said in excerpts released on Saturday. The interview will air on Sunday.

Bernie Sanders, a U.S. Senator from Vermont and Clinton's rival in the race for the Democratic nomination to run for the White House in the Nov. 8 election, has pounced on former secretary of state Clinton over the big-ticket event and for accepting large sums of money for her campaign.

"The Sanders campaign when they talk about it is absolutely right. It's ridiculous that we should have this kind of money in politics. I agree completely," Clooney said.

In response to the dinner, the Sanders campaign on Friday evening sent out an email to supporters asking them to help reach their fundraising goals by chipping in $3.53 apiece, instead.

(Reporting by Alana Wise; editing by Grant McCool)