WASHINGTON, July 1 (UPI) — Vice President Joe Biden said in an interview to air this weekend Sen. Bernie Sanders will endorse Hillary Clinton, though the candidate said he has made no such agreement yet.
Biden, speaking to NPR for an interview that will air on Weekend Edition, said he has spoken privately with both candidates and Sanders assured him he will endorse Clinton, his rival for the Democratic nomination.
“Oh, I’ve talked to Bernie, Bernie’s going to endorse her, this is going to work out,”Biden said in an interview with Rachel Martin, host of NPR’s Weekend Edition. “The Democrats are coalescing even before this occurs.”
Asked about Biden’s comments on MSNBC, Sanders said he spoke with Biden some time ago, but that nothing has changed and he has not endorsed Clinton’s campaign.
“I talked to Joe, I think it was three weeks ago,” Sanders said. “Look, on that issue we are trying to work with Secretary Clinton’s campaign on areas that we can agree.”
Though Clinton is the presumptive nominee after she amassed enough delegates to seal the primary victory, Sanders has thus far declined to end his campaign. He is now using the 1,900 delegates he won during the primary to leverage influence over the party’s platform and other concessions at the Democratic National Convention.
He has at previous points signaled his campaign is winding down. He admitted to C-SPAN he will not likely be the nominee and has said he will vote for Clinton in the general election. He has said repeatedly he will do whatever he can to help defeat Republican Donald Trump in November.
In the meantime, Sanders said he remains focused on influencing change in the Democratic Party, rather than endorsing Clinton.
“Right now my hope is that we can reach an agreement on some very important issues and I can go forward to the millions of people who supported me and say, ‘Look, this is the progress that you’ve made. This is where we’re gonna go as a country,'” Sanders told MSNBC. “So, I hope it happens. As of this moment, we’re not there quite yet.”
