Former President Barack Obama had a secret meetup with President Joe Biden about the 2024 presidential election. 

This is according to a new report from TIME magazine.

The meetup took place last June. The purpose of the meetup, according to the outlet, was for Obama to issue a warning to Biden about the election.

In doing so, Obama essentially gave Biden orders to follow. But, apparently, Biden didn't really do so - or, at least, what Biden did was not exactly to Obama's liking.

"Defeating Donald Trump would be harder"

This, according to the magazine, was the overarching message that Obama had for Biden.

The outlet reports:

Last June, Barack Obama slipped into the White House to deliver a warning to Joe Biden. The state of Biden’s re-election campaign was shaky, Obama told him over a private lunch, according to a Democrat briefed about the meeting. Defeating Donald Trump would be harder in 2024. The mood of the country was sour. Persuading unhappy voters was going to be difficult.

Accordingly, Obama told Biden that, if he wants to win in 2024, he needs "to move more aggressively to make the race a referendum on Trump."

Biden, however, struggled to put Obama's advice into effect. "The former President left believing the current one had gotten the memo. But over the next six months, Obama saw few signs of improvement," the outlet reports.

This, then, prompted Obama to meet up with Biden once again - this time in December.

The second meetup

At this meetup, Obama decided to be a bit more explicit with his orders for Biden.

TIME reports:

This time, Obama’s message was more urgent. 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, according to the same Democratic insider. Biden needed to get it together, or Trump would sweep the seven key battleground states in November, six of which Biden carried in 2020.

The magazine completes its report by essentially claiming that Obama is right about the 2024 election being an uphill battle for Biden and by criticizing Biden for not following Obama's advice more carefully.

Axios, in a recent report, suggests a reason why Biden may not be particularly eager to do everything Obama tells him to do. Per the outlet:

Biden often measures himself against the man he served as vice president, current and former aides say. It's a complex relationship in which there is a rivalry — particularly on Biden's side.

In other words, it appears that Biden might be trying to show Obama that he knows better. We'll find out whether or not this strategy works out for Biden later this year. But, it's probably safe to say that Obama is not too happy with the situation.