Former President Barack Obama endorsed his former vice president, Joe Biden, for president in a video message on Tuesday.
Biden campaign officials confirmed that the long-awaited endorsement was forthcoming.
“Joe gets stuff done,” Obama said in a live stream on Twitter, announcing his endorsement.
He continued to tout Biden’s agenda as “one of the most progressive” in history.
“We have to go further,” Obama said as he laid out several progressive policies he believes need to be implemented.
“Our country’s future hangs on this election, and it won’t be easy,” he added.
Watch the video below:
I’m proud to endorse my friend @JoeBiden for President of the United States. Let's go: https://t.co/maHVGRozkX
— Barack Obama (@BarackObama) April 14, 2020
Obama’s endorsement of Biden comes just a day after Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) offered his support of his former competitor, as IJR previously reported.
“We need you in the White House,” Sanders said, adding, “I will do all that I can to see that that happens.”
Throughout the campaign, Biden regularly touted his time as Obama’s vice president.
However, Obama held back his endorsement throughout the primary — as he did in the 2016 Democratic presidential primary.
President Donald Trump used the lack of an endorsement to attack Biden. He claimed that Obama did not endorse him because he “knows something” about Biden.
Trump’s campaign responded to news of the endorsement in a statement, “Barack Obama spent much of the last five years urging Joe Biden not to run for president out of fear that he would embarrass himself. Now that Biden is the only candidate left in the Democrat field, Obama has no other choice but to support him.”
“Even Bernie Sanders beat him to it. Obama was right in the first place: Biden is a bad candidate who will embarrass himself and his party. President Trump will destroy him,” the statement continued.
When asked why he had not been endorsed by his past running mate, Biden said, “He and I have talked about this from the very beginning. I have to earn this on my own.”
Biden maintained he did not need Obama’s endorsement, and instead, said he asked Obama not to endorse him during the primary.