Former President Barack Obama was one of the central figures behind Sen. Bernie Sanders’ (I-VT) exit from the presidential race, according to a report from the New York Times.

While Obama failed to publicly support his former running mate throughout the primary race, he quietly worked behind the scenes to encourage the Vermont senator to exit the primary race, having several phone conversations with him over the last few weeks, according to the Times.

The former president reportedly made the first call to Sanders at the end of March, as the coronavirus pandemic worsened and Sanders’ campaign continued to falter, reportedly citing the need to “accelerate the endgame.”

According to the Times, Obama informed Sanders that he had, largely, accomplished his political goal in moving the party further to the left:

InBystanders sit in the shade at the scene of a shooting inside a Sikh temple in Oak Creek, Wis., Sunday, Aug. 5, 2012. (AP)

The fire chief in Oak Creek, Wisc. is praising his crews for their response to Sunday's shooting at the Sikh temple that claimed six lives. More than 60 paramedics and EMTs rushed to the scene in 22 fire trucks and ambulances, and several other units were standing by.

But that was during the day.

The Aurora, Colo. theater shooting took place at midnight last month. And while police were on the scene within minutes, some ambulances remained idle, and police were begging dispatchers for more units.

Scot Phelps, a professor of disaster science at the Emergency Management Academy, says the ambulance system in the U.S. is a public