Sen. Bernie Sanders, with a collegial nudge from President Obama, pledged Thursday to join forces with rival Hillary Clinton and “work as hard as I can to make sure Donald Trump does not become president of the United States.”
“I look forward to meeting with [Clinton] in the near future to see how we can work together to defeat Donald Trump and to create a government that represents all of us and not just the 1 percent,” Sanders said after a private late-morning meeting with Obama at the White House.
The Vermont senator was mathematically eliminated from the Democratic race this week when Clinton secured enough delegates to claim their party’s presidential nomination. But Sanders said he is not ending his campaign quite yet.
Sanders said he will “of course” be competing in the Democratic primary in the District of Columbia on June 14, the very last contest in the nomination race that began with the Iowa caucuses on Feb. 1 and was, throughout, closer and more contentious than anyone expected when Sanders launched his campaign challenging the front-running Clinton last year.
Just about two hours after Obama fulfilled Sanders’ request for a meeting, the president announced his endorsement of Clinton.
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And Sanders, accompanied by his wife Jane as he spoke to White House reporters right outside the West Wing entrance, had already turned his sights squarely on Trump.
“Donald Trump would be a disaster as president,” said Sanders, adding that the bombastic businessman “makes bigotry and discrimination the cornerstone of his campaign.”