Here's What Sanders and Obama Talked About
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After a meeting with President Barack Obama at the White House, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) said that the most important thing in this election is to defeat Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump.
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Sanders met with Obama and Vice President Joe Biden on Thursday after vowing to continue his campaign despite Hillary Clinton clinching the nomination, CNN reports. He spoke to press at the White House garden, thanking the president and vice president for postponing an endorsement and remaining impartial.
"What they said in the beginning is that they would not put their thumb on the scales and in fact they kept their word and I appreciate that very much," Sanders said.
Sanders emphasized the importance of keeping Trump out of the Oval Office.
"Donald Trump would clearly, to my mind, and I think to the majority of Americans, be a disaster as president of the United States," he said. "It is unbelievable to me, and I say this with all sincerity, that the Republican Party would have a candidate for president who in the year 2016 makes bigotry and discrimination the cornerstone of his campaign."
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Sanders says he will work to defeat Trump, but he's not dropping out of the race yet, even though Clinton is the presumptive Democratic Party nominee.
"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. "I will of course be competing in the D.C. primary, which will be held next Tuesday. This is the last primary of the Democratic nominating process."
These statements suggest that Sanders will soon exit the campaign, although he did not say when, and he did not explicitly endorse Clinton. The Sanders campaign also plans to lay off at least half of its staff, according to The New York Times.
However, following the meeting with Sanders, Obama did endorse Clinton.
"I don't think there's ever been someone so qualified to hold this office," Obama said.
You can watch Sanders' full speech below in this PBS Newshour video.
