President Trump on Monday claimed that it’s “rather a big secret” why former president Barack Obama has not come out and endorsed his vice president, Joe Biden.
“How he doesn’t get President Obama to endorse him — there has to be some reason why he’s not endorsing him,” Trump said outside the Oval Office in an exclusive interview with The Hill.
“He was the vice president. They seem to have gotten along. And how President Obama’s not endorsing him is rather a big secret,” Trump said. “Then he goes and lies and said, ‘I asked the president not to endorse me.’ Give me a break.”
Trump said Biden is making that claim because he’s “embarrassed by the fact that Obama’s not endorsing him, so he goes out and says, ‘I asked President Obama not to endorse me.’ Well, he was trying to get that endorsement. So it could be that President Obama knows something, but there is something going on in that brain of his.”
Back in April, when Biden announced he would be running for the Democratic presidential nomination, Obama issed a statement through spokeswoman Katie Hill.
“President Obama has long said that selecting Joe Biden as his running mate in 2008 was one of the best decisions he ever made. He relied on the Vice President’s knowledge, insight, and judgment throughout both campaigns and the entire presidency. The two forged a special bond over the last 10 years and remain close today,” the statement said.
But the statement was notably lacking a formal endorsement.
Biden, though, said he had personally asked Obama not to issue an endorsement. “I asked President Obama not to endorse, and he doesn’t want to. Listen, we should — whoever wins this nomination should win it on their own merits,” he said when asked by reporters why Obama had not endorsed him.
Biden is still making sure people don’t forget his longtime bromance with Obama, however. In an Instagram post on the day he announced his candidacy, Biden included a snapshot of himself and Obama in the Oval Office.
And in a Twitter post that same day, Biden highlighted the similarities he shares with Obama.
“Serving as @BarackObama‘s Vice President was a privilege and an honor. We share the belief that America is a place where ordinary people do extraordinary things and anything is possible,” the candidate wrote in a video ad posted on Twitter.
Trump was also asked in The Hill interview his take on Biden, who the president has taken to calling “Sleepy Joe.”
“I think he’s off. He’s different. We’ve all known him a long time. I’ve seen him for a long time. Frankly, he looks different, he sounds different, and he thinks different. Other than that, I hope he does very well,” Trump said.
Still, Trump has said he’d like to face off head to head with Biden, who he thinks would be a far easier foe to defeat than former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.
“I actually think that Hillary Clinton was a great candidate. She was very smart. She was very tough. She was ruthless and vicious,” Trump said during Sunday interview on NBC News’ “Meet The Press.” “[Biden’s] sleepy. She was not sleepy.”