Former President Barack Obama believed that Hillary Clinton was the Democratic Party’s best bet in the summer of 2015. But he was careful not to tell Joe Biden that, according to the New York Times.

As his then-vice president weighed launching a 2016 presidential bid, Obama had already decided that Biden shouldn’t run, but he was careful not to actively discourage Biden from running and hoped his VP would arrive at the decision himself.

Eventually Obama had one of his strategists deliver the blow: the odds were not in Biden’s favor in 2016.

“The president was not encouraging,” Biden later said.

Read the full profile on Biden and Obama’s relationship here.