Former President Barack Obama is set to lend President Joe Biden a hand with his 2024 campaign, appearing at a glitzy New York City fundraiser alongside Bill Clinton Thursday at Radio City Music Hall that is set to raise $25million.
The Democratic trio will hobnob with some of the richest donors, will be interviewed by CBS Late Show host Stephen Colbert and The Office and The Mindy Project star Mindy Kaling is set to emcee.
Meanwhile Biden’s 2024 rival Donald Trump will attend the wake of slain NYPD officer Jonathan Diller at the Massapequa Funeral Home on Long Island.
Diller was shot and killed in the line of duty in Queens on Monday. Guy Rivera, the suspect arrested in the slaying, has been arrested 21 times.
Donors at the Democratic bash will be entertained by musical guests Lizzo, Queen Latifah, Ben Platt, Cynthia Erivo, and Lea Michele.
And for those willing to fork over $100,000 to the Biden campaign, they can have their picture taken with all three presidents.
The early emergence of Obama on the campaign trail seemingly confirms reporting that says the 62-year-old ex-president has been sounding the alarm about Biden’s reelection prospects.
Former President Barack Obama is set to lend President Joe Biden a hand with his 2024 campaign, appearing at a glitzy New York City fundraiser alongside Bill Clinton Thursday at Radio City Music Hall that is set to raise $25million
President Joe Biden has been receiving warnings from former President Barack Obama about his reelection prospects against former President Donald Trump. Obama twice came to the White House last year to express worries about Biden’s campaign operation
Time Magazine’s cover story last week chronicled two in-person meetings Obama had with Biden last year – one in June and then a follow-up in December, when the ex-president didn’t see the president’s campaign operation improve.
‘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,’ Time wrote, citing a Democratic insider.
On Wednesday, an NYPD spokesperson confirmed rumors that Trump was planning to attend the wake Thursday at the Massapequa Funeral Home in New York
On Monday, officer Diller was shot and killed in Queens during a routine traffic stop – he leaves behind a wife and one-year-old son
Thousands of law enforcement officers observed the arrival of Diller’s body to the upstate New York funeral home, where his service will be held Thursday
A follow-up story in The New York Times Tuesday said that Obama is regularly dialing Biden – but he’s also phoning White House Chief of Staff Jeff Zients too.
A senior aide told the paper that Obama has ‘always’ been worried about a Biden loss to Trump, and so he’s prepared to ‘eke it out’ alongside his former VP through Election Day in November.
Obama’s reported warnings are similar to what Clinton was saying behind closed doors ahead of the 2016 presidential election, which saw his wife, Democrat Hillary Clinton, shockingly lose to Trump, who had never held elected office.
In the book Shattered: Inside Hillary Clinton’s Doomed Campaign authors Amie Parnes and Jonathan Allen detailed how Bill Clinton feared that his wife and her campaign aides were taking some support for granted.
He suggested she go into communities that wouldn’t necessarily naturally vote for the Democrat just to show she was making an effort.
Former Presidents Barack Obama and Bill Clinton will take the stage with President Joe Biden at New York City’s Radio City Music Hall (pictured) for a discussion moderated by CBS Late Show host Stephen Colbert
‘He knew there was some power just in showing up,’ co-author Allen said in a 2017 interview with ABC News.
Obama has reportedly advised Biden that his field operations are being built out too slowly – bottlenecked by the president’s reliance on a ‘insular group of advisers clustered in the West Wing,’ Time said.
During Obama’s 2012 reelection campaign – which he successfully won against Republican Mitt Romney – he had hired 900-plus staffers by summer.
The Biden campaign, which is headquarted in Biden’s adopted hometown of Wilmington, Delaware, ended 2023 with just around 70 paid employees, though there’s a goal to hire 350.
Biden’s team said that the campaign is also planning to rely on staff at the Democratic National Committee to aid the state-level effort.
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