The Biden campaign thinks former President Barack Obama is working behind the scenes to orchestrate calls for President Biden to quit the 2024 race, The Hill reports.

“One thing that we do have to underline here — just so viewers can follow what’s going on behind the scenes — is the Biden campaign and many Democratic officials do believe that Barack Obama is quietly working behind the scenes to orchestrate this,” said MSNBC host Joe Scarborough during a Thursday broadcast, adding that Biden is “deeply resentful of his treatment under not only the Obama staff but also the way he was pushed aside for Hillary Clinton” in 2016.

Co-host Mika Brzezinski chimed in – adding “I think Barack Obama has a lot of influence, and there’s a lot there.“

Watch:

BREAKING: MSNBC’s Joe Scarborough:

“What’s going on behind the scenes is the Biden campaign and many Democratic officials do believe that Barack Obama is quietly working behind the scenes to orchestrate this.”

pic.twitter.com/hbMKeiskSL

— Steve Guest (@SteveGuest) July 11, 2024

The report comes amid a growing contingent of top Democrats and left-leaning news outlets publicly calling for Biden to exit the race following last month’s disastrous debate performance against Donald Trump. 

On Wednesday, actor George Clooney – an ally of both Biden and Obama – published an op-ed in the NY Times calling for Biden to step aside. According to the report, Clooney and Obama discussed the op-ed beforehand.

As we noted earlier on Thursday, Democrats are now ‘quietly testing’ VP Kamala Harris’ viability against Trump, while Biden advisers are ‘discussing how to convince him to step aside.’

The Biden campaign, meanwhile, continues to dig in.

In a Thursday memo to campaign staff, Biden campaign chair Jennifer O’Malley Dillon and campaign manager Julie Chavez Rodriguez wrote: “In addition to what we believe is a clear pathway ahead for us, there is also no indication that anyone else would outperform the president vs. Trump,” adding “Hypothetical polling of alternative nominees will always be unreliable, and surveys do not take into account the negative media environment that any Democratic nominee will encounter. The only Democratic candidate for whom this is already baked in is President Biden.”