Bernie's Latest Baby Steps: Sanders Says He's Voting for Hillary Clinton – But Stops Short of Officially Endorsing Her

Bernie Sanders says he will vote for Hillary Clinton in order to defeat Donald Trump this November

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Looks like Bernie Sanders will be supporting his rival this November.

Friday morning on MSNBC’s Morning Joe, Sanders was asked whether he will vote for Clinton in the election, to which he responded, “Yes.”

“Yes. Yes, I think the issue right here is I am going to do everything I can to defeat Donald Trump,” Sanders said. “I think Trump in so many ways will be a disaster for this country if he were to be elected president.”

“What I am trying to do right now,” Sanders added, “is to make sure that the Democratic Party becomes a party that represents working people, not Wall Street, that is prepared to have an agenda that speaks to the need of creating millions of jobs, raising the minimum wage to 15 bucks an hour, dealing with climate change, dealing with pay equity.”

In another interview Friday, the senator once again declined to formally endorse Clinton’s campaign, explaining to CBS This Morning that he was reluctant to do so “because I haven’t heard her say the things I need to hear said.”

After acknowledging on Wednesday that he will not be the Democratic nominee, the Vermont senator said that did not mean he had given up on his campaign. “Why would I want to do that when I want to fight to make sure that we have the best platform that we possibly can, that we win the most delegates that we can and that we transform – the goal of our campaign was to transform this nation.”

Sanders said he will continue to push for a liberal agenda as we approach the Democratic National Convention at the end of July, when Clinton’s nomination is expected to be confirmed.

In the meantime, he has gingerly tap danced all around the question of throwing his support – and asking his millions of loyalists to do the same – fully behind Clinton. Earlier this month, after meeting privately with Clinton, Sanders told his supporters he looked “forward to working with Hillary Clinton.” But on CBS’s The Late Show on Thursday, Sanders told host Stephen Colbert that the words “I endorse Clinton” are unnecessary, suggesting that Sanders voters will just naturally turn to Clinton.

“My supporters are smart enough to know that we don’t want a bigot to be president of the United States,” Sanders said.

The senator has made his frustration with Trump’s campaign clear, previously stating, “We do not need a president whose cornerstone of his campaign is bigotry, who is insulting Mexicans and Latinos and Muslims and women, who does not believe in the reality of climate change.”