Joe Biden aides told to prepare for 2020 presidential run against Trump ‘at moment's notice’

Joe Biden has been considering launching a massive 2020 presidential campaign in recent months, keeping tabs of potential talents to recruit for his team and “day-one endorsers” to help launch his candidacy if he officially decides to run.

Should the former vice president choose to run, he would join an ever-growing ring of Democratic candidates vying to take on Donald Trump in the upcoming general elections.

That’s according to the latest report surrounding Mr Biden’s potential candidacy, published on Tuesday in The Atlantic, featuring numerous sources close to the man seen as the current Democratic frontrunner.

Mr Biden, who has yet to formally announce his aspirations for the White House, has reportedly joked with friends about going to the gym more often recently to prepare himself for the race.

If he does decide to run in 2020, he will be up against a slate of progressive and popular lawmakers, including Kamala Harris, a former top prosecutor and California Democrat, Corey Booker, a New Jersey senator, and Kirsten Gillibrand, an outspoken New York lawmaker, among many others.

The former vice president and his aides have explored a presidential run in several discussions with John Anzalone, a Democratic strategist who worked for former president, Barack Obama, and former secretary of state, Hillary Clinton, as well as Anita Dunn, the former White House communications director under Mr Obama, the report said.

Mr Biden was said to be “trying to decode what appetite exists for a centrist who is unapologetic about wanting to work more with Republicans, and who will turn 78-years-old two weeks after Election Day 2020".

Those who have encouraged him to run are reportedly being told Mr Biden could pull the trigger any day now.

One source who has met with Mr Biden’s top aides recently said he needed to "be ready to go with a moment’s notice".

Another who has been in touch with his aides said Mr Biden was aware the campaign "isn’t going to be easy".

Mr Biden has appeared regularly in the public eye in recent months despite withholding a formal announcement on the 2020 race, lambasting the current White House administration while confessing his appreciation for lawmakers on either side of the political aisle.

“I read in the New York Times today that one of my problems is if I were ever to run for president is I like Republicans,” Mr Biden said last month at the US Conference of Mayors in Washington.

“OK, well bless me, Father, for I have sinned."