Bernie Sanders Tells Colbert He Hopes to Move Biden ‘in a More Progressive Direction’ (Video)

“I will do everything that I can to make sure that Donald Trump is not re-elected,” Sanders pledged on “The Late Show” Wednesday night

Bernie Sanders suspended his presidential campaign on Wednesday morning, and on Wednesday night he gave his first postmortem interview to Stephen Colbert on CBS’ “The Late Show.”

Sanders had kind words for Joe Biden, whose path to the Democratic nomination for president is not completely clear, though he stopped short of offering an endorsement when pressed by Colbert. And Sanders offered some hope for his supporters, saying he’ll do everything he can to move Biden leftward on the political spectrum.

You can watch Colbert’s full interview with Bernie Sanders in the videos embedded in this post — “The Late Show” broke it into three videos for YouTube.

“It’s no great secret that Joe Biden’s politics are different than mine, but I have known Joe since I came to the Senate in 2006, worked with him when he was vice president in the Obama administration,” Sanders said. “And what I would say to people is that Joe is a very decent human being. I know his wife Jill, as well, as a wonderful person.

“And I hope to be able to work with Joe to move him in a more progressive direction. And I think Joe is a good politician and he understands that in order to defeat the president, in order to defeat Trump, he’s going to have to bring new people into his political world, and that he’s going to have to listen to their needs. Young people, working people. And maybe start moving in a different direction to some degree than he has in the past. ”

When Colbert asked if that statement could be construed as a full-on endorsement of Bid, Sanders responded by saying that only one thing really matters is the same thing that has always mattered to him in this election cycle: defeating Donald Trump.

“We’re going to be talking to Joe, and we are, and we’re talking to his team of advisers. But what I have said, I can tell you this, Stephen, what I said from the first day that I announced my intention to run for president, I will do everything that I can to make sure that Donald Trump is not re-elected,” Sanders said.

“Because I believe Trump has been the most dangerous president in the modern history of this country. And we’re seeing his narcissism his ignorance playing out, in terms of the pandemic we’re experiencing, in the White House. I will do everything I can. But I will say that we are talking to Joe and we’re talking to his team about how we can work together.”

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