hello. i'm wolf blitzer. 1:00 p.m. in washington. wherever you are watching from around the world thanks for joining us. >> this is cnn breaking news. >> we start with breaking news on the meeting between president obama and senator bernie sanders has just wrapped up. the two got together inside the white house to talk about the presidential race and what comes next for senator sanders and for his supporters. we are keeping a very close eye on the white house briefing room right now expecting reaction there at any moment from white

house officials. meanwhile, senator sanders came to the microphone in front of west wing a little while ago after the meeting wrapped up. here is some of what he said. >> donald trump would clearly to my mind and i think the majority of americans be a disaster as president of the united states. it is unbelievable to me and i say this in 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. in my view the american people will not vote for or tolerate a candidate who insults mexicans and latinos, who insults muslims, who insults

african-americans and women. 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. i spoke briefly to secretary clinton on tuesday night and i congratulated her on her very strong campaign. i look forward to meeting with her in the near future to see how we can work together to defeat donald trump and to create a government which represents all of us and not just the 1%. >> let's bring in our senior political reporter on capitol hill. he is monitoring these late breaking developments. senator sanders didn't say much at all about his discussion with the president. he did insist he is going to be competing next tuesday in the last contest of this primary season. the democratic primary in washington, d.c.

what are you hearing up on capitol hill from democrats about what is likely to happen after tuesday? >> democrats seem hardened about what bernie sanders said. those remarks appear to be prepared before he went in. white house producer got a picture of bernie sanders holding some prepared remarks. looks hike he had that prepared going in that last statement that he looks forward to working with hillary clinton to defeat donald trump is the kind of message that hillary clinton supporters on capitol hill have wanted to hear from bernie sanders saying he will be constructive and try to bring the party together and try to take it to donald trump, not saying to take it to the convention. it is something he did not really get into in the prepared remarks. so if you are a democratic on capitol hill, someone who wants

the party to get behind hillary clinton you are probably feeling pretty good about what bernie sanders says maybe after next tuesday starting to wrap up the campaign and not continue the campaign to the convention. >> that's what they all are hoping for. as you know next on the agenda is a meeting with harry reid on capitol hill. you spoke with the minority leader. what did he tell you about what he will say to senator sanders? >> senator reed has been mum about how he is going to approach this. he is very close to senator sanders. they are very close friends. they have been keeping close contact through the course of the campaign. one point harry reid urged senator sanders to quit. i have been told by a source familiar with thinking that he wants to listen to bernie sanders and does not want to strong arm him and willing to discuss whatever in order to help unify the party and help achieve what he wants to achieve. we will -- i just spoke to bernie sanders on capitol hill. that is jeff merkley y. asked

him specifically what do you think about the idea from some saying we want to overturn the will of the superdelegates and make bernie sanders the nominee at the convention. he pushed back. >> we have our nominee. the nominee is secretary clinton and i don't think it would be legitimate for superdelegates to overturn the decisions made by the state primaries and the state caucuses. >> so shows you if bernie sanders does continue after tuesday he will face a lot of pressure to pack it in which is one reason why perhaps bernie sanders is sounding this message of unity a little more today after the white house meeting. we will see what he has to say at 2:00 this afternoon. >> clearly he really wants the people, the democrats to have a chance to vote presumably why he is not stepping down.

thanks for that. let's talk more about the meeting over at the white house, the effect on the democratic party and the clinton campaign going forward. joining us now are cnn political director. so what is your reaction? on the words we just heard from senator sanders? >> i think this is clear it is a candidate who is unwinding from this process. look at what happened today. look where we are and how choreographed this is. you get the shot of the president of the united states, a walking along the colony with bernie sanders going into the meeting, fully having his sort of white house embrace moment there. then he goes to the microphones in the drive way of the white house to speak. if this was -- if he was about to rail on and say he is about and this is contested i don't

think the white house would have arranged for him to do that on the drive way. he reasserted his speech and what he has been talking about. as critally important to note here he went on to say that he hopes to meet with secretary clinton in the near future. she has no public schedule today. near future could mean very near. he clearly stated that he was going to join this cause to make sure donald trump is not president and work with hillary clinton. that is not the -- that is not the language of someone who feels they are taking this fight on. that is the language of someone who is unwinding themselves from the process and coming to terms with how to move forward. >> how much pressure is senator sanders under right now not just to get out, not just to get out of this race but to go a step

further and endorse hillary clinton? we are showing live pictures outside his senate office. you see there a lot of reporters waiting in the hallway there. he is heading there meeting shortly we are told with harry reid. how much pressure is he under? >> one thing in talking to some folks in sanders world or in his circle he wanted to do this on his own terms. that is what we are seeing. he was the one to request the meeting with the president at the white house. this is what we saw unfold today. he wants to stay in until washington, d.c. he wants to take a further message to the convention in philadelphia. so i think that is what we are seeing. it is not really about -- it's not really that pressure anymore. he wants to orchestrate this in a way he wants to where he continues to get that message across, the one he has been fighting for for much of his career and this message, the

antitrump message that will once again -- elizabeth warren double down on later tonight. he came in there with a strategy, came in there with talking points that he wanted to deliver after this. this is sort of perfect for bernie sanders. this is a person who i think got into the race not knowing he would do as well as he did but seeing millions of people he was able to turn out, millions of dollars he was able to raise behind that message, he now wants real public ratification of his historic race and what he has been able to do in terms of moving the democratic party to the left. >> and david, we have video now of senator sanders when he left the white house he drove up pennsylvania avenue up to capitol hill. got out of that elevator and there you see him walking with aides and secret service detail

into a senate office. let's just listen a little bit. david, it is going to be fascinating to get the white house reaction now. we are standing by for a briefing in the west wing of the white house. white house press secretary. what are they going to say. reporters haven't gathered there yet. it will be interesting to hear how the white house reacts to this. we will have live coverage of that. >> it will be very interesting. as you know the white house tends to be tight lipped about private meetings, but this is one where i am sure that they are eager to characterize it in some way because they are invested so heavily as we heard from the president just last night when he recorded his

appearance on the jimmy fallon show in unifying the democratic party and the white house clearly sees the president at the pinnacle of that moment and to be able to unify the democratic party and take the fight to donald trump. it will be very interesting, you hear the language of how they characterized the meeting. i'm sure they will do nothing to characterize the sanders perspective. we heard from bernie sanders himself. we will hear more from senator sanders about his take away in the future. in terms of the president's side of the meeting i'm sure josh will give us some sort of sense. >> jeff zelany is on capitol hill. you are outside the office. give us the latest that you are seeing and hearing. >> i am in the senate office building where senator sanders has worked for many years. you can call this his day job.

he has been off campaigning. he walked in about eight minutes before 1:00 eastern time here with his wife, jane. he did not answer our questions as we asked how he was feeling, how he was doing. he is inside his office. some senate staff has been working all this time he has been running for president. this is a busy afternoon for senator sanders and important here on capitol hill. he will be meeting with harry reid coming up in about an hour's time. that meeting will be so important to see what he does going forward. there is one other reason for bernie sanders to play along here. should democrats take back control of the senate he will be the chairman of his committee. that is another reason to sort of play nice here not that he would have otherwise. this is a major shift from where he was in california. he said he is going to the convention and fighting on. today in washington his

colleagues believe he will bow out gracefully. you can see the line of people behind me. senator sanders is in this office and will be meeting with senator reid and other meetings we are told. private meetings with senators and others before he goes to a rally in washington, d.c. he, of course, is going to campaign for the district of columbia vote next tuesday before finally exiting this presidential race. >> that's the last contest of this entire primary and caucus season. we are going to get back to you. stand by. i want to show viewers live pictures out of white house. the briefing room. we will get live white house reaction to this important meeting. president obama just wrapped up a little while ago with senator bernie sanders. we will go there live. stand by for that. it will be fascinating to hear how the white house reacts to what we heard from senator sanders. donald trump is wrapping up his own meeting, a meeting with republican donors, political fundraisers. you see pictures of donald trump in new york.

he went to that meeting, left trump tower and went to four seasons hotel not that far away. we will have details of that and a whole lot more. lots of news happening. we will be right back. need th to do one thing & another. only at&t has the network, people, and partners to help companies be... local & global. open & secure. because no one knows & like at&t. ♪ the sun'll come out for people with heart failure, tomorrow is not a given. but entresto is a medicine that helps make more tomorrows possible. ♪ tomorrow, tomorrow... ♪ i love ya, tomorrow in the largest heart failure study ever. entresto helped more people stay alive and

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following, the race for the white house. i will show you live pictures of the white house briefing room. reporters will gather very soon to hear the white house press secretary give official white house reaction to the very important meeting that wrapped up a little while ago between the president of the united states and democratic presidential candidate bernie sanders. bernie sanders came out and said he is still in the race. he is going to compete next tuesday in the last contest of this election season. the primary season in the district of columbia, washington, d.c. he went back up to capitol hill to his office in the senate side on capitol hill getting ready for another important meeting he is about to have with senate minority leader who happens to be a friend of his. we will have coverage of that. let's go to jeff zelany.

you were out in california when senator sanders was out there. he was disappointed. he didn't win the california democratic primary. what was your reaction when you heard him say he wants more votes to come in because he thinks the hillary clinton win won't be as vast as it seems to be? >> reporter: i think that is an indication of how seriously senator sanders is taking his role in history here. he has won 22 states in this long democratic presidential campaign but is interested in the margin in california. as we know since democrats assign delegates proportionally it does make a difference what the margin of defeat or victory is. bernie sanders spent 18 straight days in california campaigning so hard across the state as though he was like a local candidate for office. he wants to be validated and make sure all votes are counted to see what the final score is. he was not expecting such a big

defeat, a double digit defeat. that is why senator sanders he wants votes counted. supporters have been saying online that they believe that the system may be rigged against them. i think that this is -- no evidence of that but senator sanders is saying he wants votes to be counted here for as much of a historical record. should be pointed out that secretary clinton won majority of raw vote. she is about 3 1/2 million more votes than that. he wants to make sure he can stay as even as that goes. i was struck by something nancy pelosi said. she is a democrat from california. she still was saying she should give and democrats should give bernie sanders some space to make up his mind. >> that is why they run and so

the question is what is the purpose going forward? i think bernie sanders has done a great job. now, what is the next step? that is up to him. he deserves the right. >> this really is a big day for senator sanders in terms of taking not necessarily the victory lap but seeing him walk with the president at the white house, seeing him back here on capitol hill. there is a lot for democrats to congratulate him on. he has controlled much of the agenda and discussion point. i am told he will be having other meetings in washington including with vice president. vice president biden has not yet weighed in on the campaign. the senator thanked him for staying on the sidelines. so one source is telling me that he will be meeting with him later this afternoon completing

full circle here except for the meeting with his he said he looks forward to doing so. >> can we assume that that meeting between senator sanders and hillary clinton won't take place until after next tuesday's democratic primary in the district of columbia? >> it's really unclear. i can see it happening before then. we don't know the exact timing. she is not in washington at least not scheduled to be in washington today. she is at home. she will be coming here tomorrow to give a speech and to meet with donors. he will be in vermont. the scheduling here in the final days of meetings is often fluid. remember, very well eight years ago this week when barack obama met privately with hillary clinton in senator dianne feinstein's house, you talked about that with her yesterday. that was a secret meeting.

senator obama's plane full of reporters flew to chicago. he went on his own to meet with secretary clinton. these meetings can happen quickly. we do know they will meet and begin unifying the party. there is no sign from bernie sanders that he wants to do anything other than help defeat donald trump. that may come as a bit of a disappointment to some supporters. bernie or bust movement is alive and real. the question here is will senator sanders send a signal to support skprz faer supporters. these things have a way of working themselves out. that is why the clinton campaign is giving senator sanders the space that he wants and needs.

>> i remember that very, very vividly. they want to show senator sanders the respect that he deserves. very, very strong, a lot better than most people gave credit for. stand by. we will get back to you. we are standing by to hear from the white house. we will get white house reaction and live coverage. the briefing room you see the picture. let's see what is going on with the republicans where the republican national committee playing a prominent role trying to bring together trump campaign with important republican fundraisers. there are fears that big money donors could sit out this presidential race with deep concerns over donald trump, fears among top republicans. politics reporter is over at the four seasons hotel where the

meeting just wrapped up. pictures of donald trump moments ago leaving that meeting. is trump pitching himself to donors? what is the latest you are hearing? >> reporter: wolf, it certainly seems that way. the campaign has been pretty mum as far as what exactly is going on behind closed doors here. we doknow power brokers were here today, folks who could be a bridge between donald trump, his campaign and the kind of republican establishment donor class. rnc chairman reince priebus was in here. we are waiting for him to come out. we saw walking into this building. donald trump was in there for about 35 minutes and then walked out and didn't make comments to the press on his way in or out. all of this comes while in the background donald trump is still trying to reassure republicans, nervous republicans after making comments about the federal judge in the trump university case when donald trump accused of being biassed because of mexican

heritage. part of this meeting was about reassuring donors, calming frayed nerves. >> hold on. one of the press secretaries for senator sanders is briefing reporters. >> i can tell you the president and senator sanders had discussion of important issues and how we can all work together to create an economy that works for all people and not just one percent. >> i don't have any information beyond that. >> why was it important for senator sanders to meet with president obama? >> he has been a good friend of the president pfsh. they served together in the senate. he was interested in his input and thinks he is one of the smartest people he knows and is happy to have his good counsel.

>> will senator take questions today? how is his mood? >> he is in a great mood. always in a great mood. >> coming back to capitol hill he still has a day job here. if democrats win control of the senate he would have a very important job. is he thinking about that now? >> we are trying to figure out comes next, sure. >> what does he tell supporters who urged him to stay in this race and fight to the convention? how will headdress concerns? >> he is going to be looking at some issues that he talked about this morning with the president and has been talking about on the campaign trail for the last year and a half and hopes that those are issues that get discussed at the democratic convention this summer. hopes that the democrats welcome his supporters and millions of people and working families that he brought back into the process into the party and looking forward to that happening. >> campaign hasn't commented on

it. >> i will -- >> what oz. >> what does he do to encourage those reporters yet in the effort to defeat donald trump? will he -- >> he said he will do everything he can to keep donald trump from becoming president. that would be terrible for our country and that he believes that we all have obligation to tell all the people in the country what we can do to help working families. >> do you have plans to sort of use his e-mail list or call his reporters? >> we are working on that. >> debbie wassermann schultz come up at all in the meeting? >> i wasn't in the meeting. >> thanks everybody. >> thank you. >> and you just heard -- >> you have the press secretary

for senator sanders briefing reporters, not offering a lot of new information. jeff zeleny we heard him asking important questions. very popular guy on capitol hill, well known to journalists. he has been very busy over the past year especially. go ahead and update, what did you glean from that exchange? >> wolf, michael brigs is long time communications director, veteran of capitol hill. he did confirm that senator sanders will be meeting with vice president biden this afternoon which we reported earlier. he said he had no meetings scheduled with elizabeth warren and had no meetings scheduled today with his rival or almost former rival, the former secretary of state presumptive nominee, hillary clinton. michael brigs talked about what senator sanders is going to do going forward. it is issue focussed how he is going to keep promoting issues that he talked about throughout

his campaign and that is what animated supporters so much. i did ask how he plans to alert supporters and followers to the fact that he is no longer keeping pledge to fight to the convention. he said he will be in touch with them and will talk to supporters. that is the key question going after this. bernie sanders leaves with winning 22 states and ten million votes. what his supporters do here is key. we are watching what senator sanders does in that regard. he is still in this race. he says he is fighting for the district of columbia which votes next week. that is the central question here. senator sanders will be meeting really in about 30 minutes or so with harry reid, the senate democratic leader. it will be a private meeting. he will be meeting with chuck schumer. that is important. senator sanders still is a full and active member of the united states senate and if democrats win control of the senate he

could have chairmanship of the committee. he is on the veterans affairs committee. it is one of the reasons that senator sanders is not creating a stir here like some supporters wanted. bernie or bust has been the battle cry for some supporters. he is going back to senator sanders, his day job, i guess, if you will. >> got a very important day job on capitol hill. stand by. i want to show viewers live pictures from the white house briefing room. we are expecting to get reaction from the white house to the meeting that the president had with senator sanders in the oval office. we will have live coverage of that and a whole lot more. donald trump says he is disappointed and surprised by the criticism from some within his own republican party. will critics get on board with hillary clinton? the focus of the trump campaign. i will speak strategy coming up next. you pay your car insurance premium like clockwork. month after month.

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look at live pictures of the white house right now press briefing in the press briefing room expected to get started momentarily. look at the official white house reaction to the very important meeting that president obama had with senator bernie sanders earlier in the oval office. it lasted for more than an hour. also, senator sanders is back up on capitol hill right now in his senate office building. just got news he will be meeting with senator chuck schumer and will be meeting with joe biden later today. you are looking at live pictures from capitol hill.

we will update you on all of this. we are standing by for this white house briefing, very important briefing coming up. we have full coverage. donald trump says he is disappointed. he is surprised, he says by the recent criticism from fellow republicans. he also says he understands that they feel compelled to speak out about controversial comments about federal judge he criticized in part of his mexican heritage. peter king is joining us now. thanks for joining us. trump says members of his own party, your party, republican party who have a problem with comments about heritage of this federal judge should just in his words get over it. do his comments bother you? >> they do. i have endorsed donald trump. i'm not one who say i'm not endorsing him now. the fact is he needs to realize that was a terrible mistake. it was wrong. it was racist remark to talk

about a judge's ethnic background and also it was wrong politically because there is no reason why he should be talking about private litigation. he is running for president of the united states. he has to realize that everything he says has impact. i was at a diplomatic reception last night. there were adams there from all over the world. he is no longer donald trump, the guy from new york. he is running for president of the united states. and for him to be upset that republicans are mad at him, he has to realize he has to clean up his act and has to get this together. all of this week should have been a victory for donald trump. he had a jobs report coming out of the obama administration. that is what he should have been driving home, not talking about the ancestry of a judge. as you know some fellow conservatives think maybe it's not too late. they would like the rules

committee going into the republican convention to revise rules, have contested convention and maybe take the nomination away from donald trump. is that at all doable from your perspective? >> i don't see how that is realistic at all. what it would do is if it succeeded it would hand election to hillary clinton. whether we like it or not donald trump is going to be the nominee and to be talking about trying to stop it at the convention, unless something else happens the fact is he is going oo be a nominee. to me it almost plays into the hand for those who say the game is fixed. i don't see how it can be done right now. again, if they had so much to say they should have done it during primary season. we had our shot and lost.

i supported jeb bush and marco rubio. i didn't have a lot invested in donald trump. he did win. i have spoken with him. again, he has to straighten out. he can't do the same he did last week. he has to get a better organization behind him. having said that the alternative is hillary clinton. personally, i get along very well with secretary clinton. her views on supreme court, failed foreign policy, we have an opportunity here to advance republican agenda and i think make victories in foreign policy. again, it is important for people to stop talking about uprising at the convention. >> thank you for joining us. >> peter king of new york. take a look at live pictures from the white house. we are standing by for that. the press briefing any minute now. we will be right back. [beekeeper] from bees to business expenses,

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you are looking at live pictures from the white house, press briefing expected to start fairly soon, meeting getting official white house reaction to the meeting that the president had with senator bernie sanders, a very important meeting that lasted more than an hour earlier today. we are monitoring capitol hill where senator bernie sanders will be meeting with harry reid. the two are said to have a close trusting relationship. they have been friends for years. later this afternoon sanders will meet with senator chuck schumer of new york and vice president joe biden. meetings continue. we will have a lot more on that. very big day for senator bernie

sanders. he is saying he will compete in next tuesday's final contest in washington, d.c. donald trump meanwhile has been meeting with republican political fundraisers. they have wrapped up a meeting in new york. let's bring in our cnn political director and cnn political reporter. let me play some clips, speaker of the house, newt gingrich, former speaker of the house speaking about donald trump. >> do i think these antics are distracting and give us a campaign that we cannot be part of? yeah. i have spoken clearly about it. i think and hope and believe that he can fix this to the point where he can run a campaign where we can be proud of. >> not just running for nomination but the nominee is a much tougher league and you have to be more careful and you have

to think through what you are trying to say. i think he will do fine. >> so is the republican establishment moving on beyond the very controversial comments that donald trump made about the federal judge in california? >> there is no real moving beyond. this is the conundrum that republican leaders find themselves in all the time. we know that donald trump has proven to be unconventional and you can't really expect that any one day is how he will repeat behavior the next day. in fact, he is priding himself on being unpredictable. that is one thing that he touts as a key characteristic of his. what you have here is that creates paul ryan who one day gets out publically to slam donald trump for comments he says are racist and have no place belonging in the presidential election campaign and then the next day going before republican members behind closed doors in the house and saying we have to unite as a

party and do everything we can to defeat hillary clinton. that is how they are going to have to live through the next five months because they want to keep donald trump on a course all about defeating hillary clinton. we know that donald trump veers off course and then they have to deal with ramifications as leadership of the party. i think that pattern is likely to be the pattern of the next five months. >> you also heard donald trump telling republican critics get over it. that's not necessarily what the establishment wants to hear from him. >> that's right. i agree with david. there is no getting over it. because everything that donald trump has said is on video. it was here on the interview in california. already just in my in box priorities usa has cut part of that interview into an ad.

this is a $35 million ad by part of a digital ad buy. two ads out about donald trump and comments about this judge. it really is in some ways reminiscent of mitt romney, the 47% remark that ended up being a gaff that cut into very effective ads for democrats. i think that makes so many republicans so nervous in some of these ads that this superpack is releasing. they are using republicans own words against donald trump. it features paul ryan calling those remarks racist. so it is a very hard situation that republicans are in. if you talk to advisers who are around donald trump in his inner circle, they can't really predict what donald trump will do from minute to minute and they are worried about that. they wish the campaign was much

more professional going after hillary clinton much more than it is instead of always on clean up duty when donald trump says something. even he often doesn't want to go on cleanup duty. this is a real concern for not only trump advisers but republicans just worried. you heard peter king there saying whether we like it or not, donald trump is our nominee. that is not exactly the kind of ringing endorsement that you would expect to hear about a nominee. presumptive nominee. >> nia, david, stand by. we are standing by, ourselves. we are getting more information from capitol hill right now. senator bernie sanders is meeting with some of his senate colleagues, including harry reid and chuck schumer. also, we are standing by for the white house briefing, the official white house reaction to the meeting the president had with senator bernie sanders in the oval office. a live picture of the briefing room. we'll be right back.

we are getting very important breaking news coming in to cnn right now. this from a democrat, from a democrat close to the white

house. president obama will endorse hillary clinton later today, and i'm quoting now from the source. with sanders, the sanders meeting out of the way, he's going to endorse the president of the united states. will formally endorse, in fact, presumably to come into the white house briefing room momentarily to make it official that the president of the united states will endorse hillary clinton for the democratic nomination for president of the united states. let's bring in david chalian, nia-malika henderson is with us, as well. i guess the president was waiting to have the formal meeting with senator sanders to let him know of his intention to endorse hillary clinton not a surprise. the question was the timing. right? >> that's right. in fact, i'm watching this video that hillary clinton's campaign just posted with president obama on it, actually giving his remarks that he wants to add his

name to the list of names who are supporting her and joining the effort. so, yes. as we were saying earlier in this show, wolf, this is carefully sequenced and choreographed giving bernie sanders his moment, walking in the white house with him, that picture out there and bernie sanders restate the causes of his campaign on the white house driveway. bernie sanders now goes on to meet with the big democratic leadership in the senate and the vice president. he gets a victory lap through washington today and the democratic establishment. but it was as soon as that sort of box was checked, president obama's made no bones about the fact how eager he is to get into the campaign, how he wants to join the fight against donald trump. he's been doing it more and more lately. now that the presumptive nominee has been declared and that is hillary clinton, he's now getting on board with that. they wanted the waste no time. >> they're not wasting any time

at all. the president we anticipate, it's possible, he'll actually himself go into the white house briefing room and make the announcement. jeff zeleny, i take it you're getting immediate reaction from the clinton campaign? >> reporter: we are, indeed, wolf. hillary clinton sent out a tweet moments ago saying this. president obama endorses hillary. i don't think there's ever been someone so qualified to hold this office. in this video that was september out by the clinton campaign, president obama is in. are you? so, wolf, the clinton campaign, moving so fast here this afternoon and the president offering his formal endorsement here sent out in a video message blasted across the clinton campaign's facebook streams and other types of social media, the president fully engaged in the campaign because the meeting with senator sanders went very well, i'm told. he left the office here in the dirksen senate office building on the way over to the u.s. capitol to meet with harry reid,

the democratic leader, following that, meeting with chuck schumer, the incoming democratic leader of the senate. wolf, meeting with vice president biden this afternoon. this is an example of how quickly campaigns close and move on. he didn't talk to reporters a few moments ago here and seen momentarily with senator reid and hearing from him later on, wolf. the president giving a strong endorsement, this race now changes in a major way. wolf? >> all right. we have some video now. here's the president of the united states on video endorsing hillary clinton. watch this. >> for more than a year now, across thousands of miles and all 50 states, tens of millions of americans have made their voices heard. today, i just want to add mine. i want to congratulate hillary clinton on making history as the presumptive democratic nominee for president of the united states. look. i know how hard this job can be.

that's why i know hillary will be so good at it. in fact, i don't think there's ever been someone so qualified to hold this office. she's got the courage, the compassion and the heart to get the job done. and i say that as somebody who had to debate her more than 20 times. even after our own hard-fought campaign, in a testament to her character, she agreed to serve our country as secretary of state. and from the decision we made in the situation room to get bin laden, to our pursuit of diplomacy and capitals around the world, i have seen her judgment, i have seen her toughness, i have seen her commitment to our values up close. i've seen her determination to give every american a fair shot at opportunity no matter how tough the fight was. that's what's always driven her and it still does. i want those of you who have been with me from the beginning of this incredible journey to be the first to know that i'm with her.

i am fired up and i cannot wait to get out there and campaign for hillary. i also want to thank everybody who turned out to vote and worked so hard for our candidates. this has been a hard-fought race. i know some say the primaries left the democratic party somehow smr divided. they said that eight years ago, as well. just like eight years ago, there are millions of americans, not just democrats, who cast their vault l ballots for the very first time. and a lot of that is thanks to senator bernie sanders who's run an incredible campaign. i had a great meeting with him this week and i thanked him for shining a spotlight on issues like income inequality and the outsized influence of money in our politics and bringing young people into the process. embracing that message is going to help us win in november. but more importantly, it will make the democratic party stronger and it will make america stronger. secretary clinton and senator

sanders may have been rivals during this primary, but they're both patriots who love this country and they share a vision for the america that we all believe in. an america that's hopeful, an america that's big hearted, an america that's strong and fair and gives every child the same chance that we had. those are the values that unite us as democrats. those are the values that make america great. those are the values that are going to be tested in this election. and if we all come together in common effort, i'm convinced we won't just win in november. we'll build on the progress we have made and win a brighter future for this country that we love. >> very strong statement from the president of the united states. formally, publicly endorsing hillary clinton for president of the united states. this is a video released by the

hillary clinton campaign, only a little while after that important meeting that the president had in the oval office with senator bernie sanders. so you have now heard officially from the president. there had been some anticipation to come in to the white house briefing room to make the announcement. we're told he will not do that. the president makes the official announcement on video as you heard. senator cardin is joining us. you must be excited. what is your reaction? >> wolf, people were asking whether the democratic party will be united. i think president obama answered that. we are not only united, we are eager for this campaign. we are very proud of our candidates in the primary. they had more that united us than divided us and we are united to make sure we win in november. i am very excited by the president's comments. >> we're also getting word, another tweet that hillary clinton, senator, just put out. quot