Sen. Bernard Sanders said he doubts he’s going to be selected as Hillary Clinton’s running mate but said he’d like to see the “most progressive person possible” in the role.
Asked on ABC’s “Good Morning America” Wednesday if he’s open to being Mrs. Clinton’s running mate, Mr. Sanders said: “That issue has not been raised yet, and I doubt that that will happen.”
Mr. Sanders endorsed Mrs. Clinton at an event in New Hampshire on Tuesday — more than a month after Mrs. Clinton effectively clinched the Democratic presidential nomination.
Asked on NBC’s “Today” program if he’s talked with Mrs. Clinton about who he’d like to see as a running mate, he said he has spoken with Mrs. Clinton but the subject did not come up, nor has the issue of possibly serving in her administration.
“I am very, very happy and very proud to represent the state of Vermont in the United States Senate,” he said.
“We need somebody who is not attached to Wall Street,” Mr. Sanders said. “We need somebody who has a history of standing up and fighting for working families — somebody who believes that health care should be a right of all people, and that we should make college education, public colleges and universities tuition-free.”
“So I would like to see the most progressive person possible,” he said.
Mr. Sanders said on NBC that he suspects he will be speaking at the Democratic convention.
The senator was also asked about FBI Director James B. Comey’s statements that Mrs. Clinton was “extremely careless” with her email set-up and Mr. Comey’s statements poking holes in some of her past explanations about the situation.
“Hillary Clinton is not a perfect human being. Bernie Sanders is not a perfect human being. And you know, that’s the way life is,” he said.
“This is what I said yesterday in my remarks: It’s not Donald Trump as a person, not Hillary Clinton as a person,” he said. “It is the needs of the middle class and working families. Which candidate is going to do more for ordinary Americans?”
“And I think that the answer to that is very, very clear,” he said.
• David Sherfinski can be reached at dsherfinski@washingtontimes.com.
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