He also said he will fight for his signature issues – like college affordability, income inqeuality and taking on Wall Street – during the Democratic National Convention in July. Elizabeth Warren has Clinton’s back when it comes to presumptive Republican nominee Donald Trump, doubling down on Clinton’s Twitter jab at Trump Thursday. He and Obama walked together along the Rose Garden colonnade, smiling and laughing before entering the Oval Office.
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Obama’s endorsement will add to a growing chorus of Democratic leaders pushing Sanders to step aside so the party can focus on taking on Republican Donald Trump. But the White House says they’ve spoken more frequently in recent weeks.
Bernie Sanders thanked President Barack Obama for his “degree of impartiality” during the Democratic primary and said he looks forward to soon discussing party unity with Hillary Clinton after emerging from a meeting in the Oval Office on Thursday.
“Needless to say, I am going to do everything in my power and I will work as hard as I can to make sure that Donald Trump does not become president of the United States”, he said.
Sanders, accompanied by his wife, Jane, arrived at the White House late Thursday morning by motorcade, stopping first for coffee and a scone at a cafe nearby, his spokesman said.
Obama and Sanders huddled for more than an hour in a private meeting where they were expected to discuss the future of the Vermont senator’s presidential campaign now that Clinton has clinched the Democratic presidential nomination.
They want to avoid insulting or pressuring him to do before next Tuesday’s Washington, D.C., primary, however, fearful he could take his 12 million voters and sit out the general election.
He said the contested primary has been “a healthy thing for the Democratic Party”.
The former secretary of state also defended her family’s Clinton Foundation, saying she is “proud of the work it has done” and arguing that foreign countries’ contributions to the foundation do nothing to influence her political actions. “I thought that Bernie Sanders brought enormous energy and new ideas”, Obama said Wednesday during a taped appearance on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon.
However, the campaign is “undecided” on whether it will hold any more rallies, and Sanders did not mention Clinton once during his speech. The Vermont senator will meet with Reid, his Senate colleague, in the afternoon.
“Bernie’s going to do the right thing”, Grijalva said.
Obama is expected to tread softly, “hearing Sanders out”, according to a Democratic source familiar with preparations for the White House meeting and offering him a very public show of respect for his insurgent campaign. “But I’m going to support them”, Clinton said.
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“Hillary stayed in in 2008 until the last votes had been cast”, said a Sanders campaign adviser, who spoke on condition of anonymity to be candid.
