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Podesta Brushes Off Suggestions of White House Biden Endorsement

The chairman of Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign on Monday brushed off suggestions that the White House might endorse Vice President Joe Biden if he decides to run against Clinton for the Democratic presidential nomination.

White House press secretary Josh Earnest said on Monday that President Barack Obama might endorse a candidate in the Democratic primary. He also suggested that Obama’s selection of Biden as a running mate signaled his confidence in Biden’s ability to serve as president.

Taking question from reporters at the National Clean Energy Summit in Las Vegas on Monday, Clinton campaign chair John Podesta, a former Obama White House official, praised Biden but said he was confident in the state of the former Secretary of State’s campaign:

I‘ve worked with the vice president since I started on Capitol Hill in 1979. We all like him. It’s his decision to make about whether he’s going to get in, but I’m convinced that we have a strong campaign, that she’s the right candidate, that we’ll proceed with the plan that we have in terms of talking about the real issues that are facing the American public … If the vice president gets in, I’m sure there’ll be a good debate amongst the candidates. […]

The vice president’s worked very closely with the president, and he deserves credit for the achievements of the administration. My office was eight feet away from his in the White House and I enjoyed working with him. I think the president’s had a very good partner with him as vice president, but if Mr. Earnest was saying more than that was a great hire, that’s something for him to explain.