Joe Biden ‘Irritated’ With Barack Obama Amid Wave of 2024 Pressure

President Joe Biden is reportedly fed up with some of his Democratic allies who are pushing him to drop out of the 2024 presidential race.

According to people who spoke with The New York Times, Biden, while recovering from COVID-19, has grown “irritated” with party leaders, including former President Barack Obama, who sources said has been involved in talks about Biden stepping aside as the Democratic nominee.

Since the first presidential debate, dozens of lawmakers have come forth asking the president to end his campaign. But Biden’s closest allies, such as Obama and former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, have not come out publicly against the president, whose campaign has remained adamant that he is staying in the race.

Still, per the report from the Times, Biden sees Obama “as a puppet master behind the scenes” of discussions regarding the president’s campaign. Citing people close to Biden, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss internal matters, the Times reported on Friday that the president “has been around politics long enough to assume that the leaks appearing in the media in recent days are being coordinated to raise the pressure on him to step aside.”

The Associated Press (AP) reported on Thursday that Obama was “expressing concerns to allies” about Biden’s chances in November. The report, which was based “in part on information from almost a dozen people who insisted on anonymity,” said that the former president has told allies “that Biden needs to consider the viability of his campaign but has also made clear that the decision is one Biden needs to make.”

CNN reported on Wednesday that Pelosi has also recently told Biden that polling shows he will not beat Trump and that it could hurt Democrats up and down the ticket. As AP reported, however, the former speaker said in a statement Thursday that the “feeding frenzy” from anonymous sources “misrepresents any conversations” she had with Biden.

Author and investigative journalist Carl Bernstein, who famously covered the Watergate scandal as a Washington Post reporter along with Bob Woodward, echoed during an appearance on CNN Friday night that sources to whom he has spoken describe the president as “angry” over the pressure from his own party.

“He feels abandoned—the word abandoned was used several times in discussions that I’ve had with people in the White House,” Bernstein said.

He also reported that Biden had moved from being “contemplative about his situation to recognition that it is very unlikely that his candidacy can be sustained.” Two people familiar with the president’s thinking told the Times that as of Friday afternoon, Biden had not changed his mind about remaining in the race.

Democratic Representative Gerald Connolly of Virginia told the Times that he imagines the criticism against Biden must be “very painful.”

“I think it just shows the cold calculus of politics,” the congressman added.

Many of the lawmakers who have called on Biden to drop out of the race have also publicly praised the president’s first four years in office. New Mexico Senator Martin Heinrich released a statement on Friday, saying that Biden “would secure his legacy as one of our nation’s greatest leaders” by stepping aside and allowing the party “to unite behind a candidate who can best defeat Donald Trump and safeguard the future of our democracy.”

Senator Jon Tester of Montana also released a statement Friday, saying that “while I appreciate his commitment to public service and our country, I believe President Biden should not seek reelection to another term.”

When reached for comment on the growing number of calls for the president step down, Biden’s campaign directed Newsweek to a comment that Campaign Chair Jen O’Malley Dillon made on MSNBC’s Morning Joe on Friday morning: “You have heard from the president directly time and again: He is in this race to win, and he is our nominee, and he’s going to be our president for a second term.”

Newsweek reached out to Biden’s campaign again late Friday night for comment on the Times report.