Joe Biden "Irritated" With Barack Obama As Pressure Grows Amid White House Race: Report

The United States President Joe Biden has become tired of certain Democratic allies pressuring him to withdraw from the 2024 presidential race. According to The New York Times, sources claimed that Mr Biden has become "irritated" with party leaders, particularly former President Barack Obama, who has reportedly been involved in discussions about the 81-year-old's withdrawal as the Democratic nominee.

Numerous lawmakers have come forward since the first presidential debate, pleading with the president to put an end to his campaign. However, Mr Biden's closest supporters, including Mr Obama and former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, have refrained from openly criticising the President, whose campaign has always maintained that he will remain in the White House race.

However, according to the NYT report, Mr Biden views Mr Obama "as a puppet master behind the scenes" regarding conversations on the President's campaign. Sources close to Mr Biden while speaking anonymously, said 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."

On July 19, former US president Barack Obama told allies that Joe Biden needs to reconsider his reelection bid, according to a report in the Washington Post. Mr Obama believes that Mr Biden's path to victory has diminished and that the 81-year-old should "seriously consider the viability of his candidacy," the newspaper said, citing people briefed on his thinking.

It said there was no immediate comment from Mr Obama, who was in office while Mr Biden was Vice President from 2009 to 2017 and who remains hugely influential in the Democratic party.

According to a CNN report, Ms Pelosi has also informed Mr Biden that polls indicate he will not be able to defeat Trump and that this might be detrimental to Democrats across the political spectrum. However, in a statement released on Thursday, the former speaker said that the "feeding frenzy" from unidentified sources "misrepresents any conversations" she had with Mr Biden.