Obama steps in to support flagging Biden again: Ex-president set to help Joe raise $25million at glitzy New York fundraiser alongside Bill Clinton… while Trump heads to wake of slain NYPD cop Jonathan Diller

Former President Barack Obama is set to lend a hand to President Joe Biden in his 2024 campaign, appearing at a glitzy New York City fundraising event alongside Bill Clinton on Thursday at Radio City Music Hall that will raise 25 millions of dollars.

The Democratic trio will rub shoulders with some of the wealthiest donors, be interviewed by CBS Late Show host Stephen Colbert, and The Office and The Mindy Project star Mindy Kaling will emcee.

Meanwhile, Biden’s 2024 rival Donald Trump will attend the wake of slain New York police 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 for the murder, has been arrested 21 times.

Democratic Party donors will be entertained by musical guests Lizzo, Queen Latifah, Ben Platt, Cynthia Erivo and Lea Michele.

And those willing to shell out more than $100,000 for Biden’s campaign can take a photo with all three presidents.

Obama’s early appearance on the campaign trail seemingly confirms reports that the 62-year-old former president has been sounding the alarm about Biden’s re-election prospects.

Time magazine cover story Last week he recounted two in-person meetings Obama had with Biden last year: one in June and then a follow-up in December, when the former president did not see the president’s campaign operation improve.

“He expressed concern that the re-election campaign was behind in developing its field operations and hampered by Biden’s insistence on relying on an isolated group of advisers clustered in the West Wing,” Time wrote, citing a Democratic source. .

A tracing story in The New York Times on Tuesday He said Obama regularly calls Biden, but also calls White House Chief of Staff Jeff Zients.

A senior adviser told the newspaper that Obama has “always” been worried about a Biden loss to Trump, so he is prepared to “make do” with his former vice president until Election Day in November.

Obama’s warnings are similar to what Clinton was saying behind closed doors before the 2016 presidential election, in which his wife, Democrat Hillary Clinton, surprisingly lost 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 his wife and campaign aides would take some support for granted.

He suggested that he go to communities that wouldn’t necessarily naturally vote Democrat just to show that he was making an effort.

“He knew there was some power in just showing up,” co-author Allen said in a 2017 interview with ABC News.

Obama has reportedly warned Biden that his field operations are moving too slowly, hampered by the president’s reliance on an “isolated group of advisers clustered in the West Wing,” Time said.

During Obama’s 2012 re-election campaign, which he successfully won against Republican Mitt Romney, he had hired more than 900 employees as of the summer.

The Biden campaign, which is based in Wilmington, Delaware, Biden’s adopted hometown, ended 2023 with about 70 paid employees, although the goal is to hire 350.

Biden’s team said the campaign also plans to rely on Democratic National Committee staff to help with the state-level effort.

And Obama is doing his part, as a powerful way to get donors to give money.

NBC reported Earlier this month, the Radio City Music Hall gathering is expected to raise $10 million for the Biden-Harris campaign.