Former President Barack Obama reportedly urged the Biden campaign to “move aggressively” against former President Donald Trump at a private lunch.
An “animated” Obama reportedly told President Joe Biden, formerly his vice president, as well as aides and allies that the president should employ more top-level decision makers or invigorate those in place to defeat Trump, three sources familiar with the talks said, according to the Washington Post.
How Obama held secret lunch meeting with Biden to urge him to be ‘more aggressive’ – as he ‘fears Trump is more formidable’ than president realizes https://t.co/G183FV2C9p pic.twitter.com/TBdQpfsRBk
— Daily Mail Online (@MailOnline) January 6, 2024
Obama did not name specific recommendations of people to hire at Biden’s Delaware headquarters, sources said. However, he reportedly mentioned David Plouffe, who managed Obama’s 2008 campaign, as a capable candidate for senior strategist, the outlet reported.
Biden invited Obama to the private lunch in recent months — which was unreported until now — for the purpose of discussing the president’s 2024 reelection bid, according to the outlet. Obama emphasized his successful campaign strategy in 2012, when key White House officials David Axelrod and Jim Messina left the Executive Office to manage Obama’s reelection from Chicago.
Obama explicitly told the Biden campaign it must move aggressively to effectively combat GOP frontrunner Donald Trump, according to the outlet. No specific moment was cited by sources as Obama’s primary concern for Biden’s reelection, but it was stated that Obama believes campaigns must be agile in competitive races, the outlet reported. (RELATED: Ted Cruz Says Dems Will ‘Parachute’ In Michelle Obama, ‘Jettison’ Joe Biden)
This is not the first time reports have surfaced regarding private lunches between Biden and Obama. The two met for what was described by aides as a regular “catch-up” session, in which Obama warned the president of Trump’s “iron-grip” on the Republican Party.