Sanders about to endorse Hillary Clinton, Biden says

VP says he spoke with Vermont senator, who has been withholding support in bid to change Democratic party platform

By AP 1 July 2016, 2:29 am Edit
Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vermont, addressing supporters in New York, June 23, 2016. (AP/Craig Ruttle, File)
Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vermont, addressing supporters in New York, June 23, 2016. (AP/Craig Ruttle, File)

US Vice President Joe Biden says Sen. Bernie Sanders, who is still technically running for president as a Democrat, will soon back Hillary Clinton.

Biden told National Public Radio on Thursday that he has “talked to Bernie. Bernie is going to endorse her.”

Sanders has said he’s going to vote for Clinton, but he has not formally endorsed her. The former secretary of state has locked up the delegates required to become the first woman to win a major party’s presidential nomination. Sanders was holding out for changes to the Democratic party platform.

Sanders’s endorsement would be another sign that the Democratic Party, split for more than a year between Sanders’s populist surge and Clinton’s second bid for the presidency, is mending.

Democratic presidential candidates Sen. Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton shake hands before the start of a presidential debate in Miami, Florida, on March 9, 2016. (AP/Wilfredo Lee)
Democratic presidential candidates Sen. Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton shake hands before the start of a presidential debate in Miami, Florida, on March 9, 2016. (AP/Wilfredo Lee)

Asked on MSNBC about Biden’s comments later Thursday, Sanders demurred and repeated his contention that his campaign and Clinton’s campaign are working on coming together on various issues and that he hopes they can reach an agreement at some point.

Sanders was more direct when it comes to Republican candidate Donald Trump’s assertion that Sanders actually hates Clinton. On that point, Sanders told MSNBC that Trump “is lying as he always does.”

Vice President Joe Biden speaks at the Cancer Moonshot Summit at Howard University in Washington, Wednesday, June 29, 2016. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)
Vice President Joe Biden speaks at the Cancer Moonshot Summit at Howard University in Washington, Wednesday, June 29, 2016. (AP/Carolyn Kaster)

Clinton plans to hold her first campaign event with Biden next week in his hometown of Scranton, Pennsylvania, for the state Democratic Party.

Biden endorsed Clinton earlier this month and the former secretary of state is scheduled to make her first joint appearance with Obama in Charlotte, North Carolina, on Tuesday. President Barack Obama endorsed Clinton earlier this month.

Biden, the former Delaware senator, put out his first fundraising email Wednesday night for Clinton, calling her “a force of nature.” He was born in Scranton and lived there for 10 years before moving to Delaware.

Clinton has her own Scranton ties: She often notes that her grandfather worked in a lace mill there and her late father, Hugh Rodham, grew up there.

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