Report: Obama Schemes With Biden as Trump Fears Rise

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Former President Barack Obama is becoming more prepared to “eke it out” with President Joe Biden as concerns grow that the White House could be lost to former President Donald Trump, according to a White House source.

Biden has been making regular calls to Obama, but the former president has also been discussing strategy and giving advice through calls to White House chief of staff Jeff Zients and top Biden campaign officials, an aide, who was not authorized to speak publicly, told The New York Times, the publication reported Wednesday.

Biden and Obama, along with former President Bill Clinton, are to appear together at New York’s Radio City Music Hall for a major fundraising event Thursday night, while the aide commented that Obama has “always” been worried that his former vice president could lose to Trump.

Obama did not always support a Biden race for the White House. In 2015, Obama suggested to Biden that as his oldest son, Beau Biden, had just died, that he should remove himself from contention. At that point, he stepped aside for Hillary Clinton, who the Obama White House thought had a better chance of winning, but she lost to Trump.

Several of Biden’s aides from that time are with him in the White House now and believe that Obama sidelined him at a time when he could have defeated Trump.

Even when Biden ran in 2019, Obama withheld his endorsement until after the Democratic Party primary, but still allowed the Biden campaign to use their White House interactions in his promotions.

Obama and Biden have formed a partnership over the year, including with Biden using his Capitol Hill relationships to push through key Obama legislation, including the Affordable Care Act.

However, Biden disagreed with sending more troops into Afghanistan in 2009, including writing a memo that was later found among classified documents he had in his possession, but aides said their relationship became more family-like after the death of Beau Biden.

Biden, while speaking about the documents with special counsel Robert Hur, however, discussed the different views he and Obama had about his political future.

Now, White House officials say that any potential distrust is fading as they see an urgent need for Biden to defeat Trump. However, Democrats close to Obama say that Biden’s strong performance in the State of the Union address has helped to lessen some concerns about his chances in the election.