Obama allegedly suggested defeating Trump would be more difficult than 2020
Karl Rove: The outcome of the 2024 election will come down to 7 battleground states
Fox News contributor Karl Rove joined 'America's Newsroom' to discuss why he believes seven states will determine the outcome of the 2024 election and what key issues will be at the forefront.
Former President Barack Obama privately met with President Biden on at least two occasions and expressed concern that he could lose the 2024 election, according to a report.
A new report from TIME Magazine claimed that Obama met with Biden last June to deliver a warning about his re-election chances. Obama allegedly advised Biden to become more aggressive and make the upcoming presidential race a referendum on Trump.
During a private lunch, Obama told Biden his campaign was unstable, persuading unhappy voters would be a challenge and defeating Trump would be more difficult than 2020, according to a Democrat briefed on the discussion.
While he believed at the time that Biden had taken his advice to heart, Obama allegedly saw little improvement over the next six months.
President Joe Biden and former President Barack Obama. (Getty Images)
"This time, Obama's message was more urgent. He expressed concern the re-election campaign was behind schedule in building out its field operations and bottlenecked by Biden's insistence on relying upon an insular group of advisers clustered in the West Wing, according to the same Democratic insider," TIME noted.
Fox News Digital reached out to the Biden campaign for comment.
Without significant alterations to his presidential campaign, Obama told Biden Trump could sweep all seven battleground states. Should that happen, Trump would essentially be guaranteed victory. Biden won in 2020 by earning narrow victories in the swing states of Georgia, Arizona, Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin, all of which Trump won in 2016.
A recent report from Axios suggested that Obama and Biden have had a long-standing rivalry over their respective accomplishments and policies. The article also suggested that Biden has privately criticized Obama, a claim that White House Deputy Press Secretary Andrew Bates denied.
BIDEN PRIVATELY DEFIANT THAT HE DIDN'T BOTCH AFGHANISTAN WITHDRAWAL: BOOK
President Joe Biden speaks at the Washoe Democratic Party Office in Reno, Nev., Tuesday March 19, 2024. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)
Obama will reportedly join Biden for a virtual rally with activists on Saturday to commemorate the 14th anniversary of the signing of the Affordable Care Act, aka Obamcare, Politico reported. The event is intended to showcase what Biden advisers see as one of the president's strongest arguments for re-election.
The Obamacare anniversary event will include a digital ad blitz in swing states Biden will campaign heavily in, including, Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, New Hampshire, Nevada, North Carolina, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin.
Nikolas Lanum is an associate editor for Fox News Digital.
