Bernie Sanders Not Endorsing Hillary Clinton: July 6 Interview Proves He Is Still Campaigning

Sadly, political headlines that are against Bernie Sanders have been working overtime to confuse his supporters over the issue of whether or not he is conceding to Hillary Clinton, endorsing her as the Democratic Party nominee for the 2016 presidential elections, quitting campaigning, or giving her his full support.

Headlines, like those from NY Times, are implying that Bernie Sanders is endorsing Hillary Clinton and their information could also revolve around a CNN interview between Bernie Sanders and Wolf Blitzer on July 6.

It was at this time that Wolf Blitzer asked Bernie Sanders several times if he would endorse Hillary Clinton as the Democratic presidential candidate. Each time that Bernie Sanders was asked this question directly, he did not answer with a direct confirmation that this information was actually factual.

Instead, Bernie Sanders talked about other things that related to campaigning and the responsibility he has to the American voters that are below certain income levels.

Part of the confusion for readers trying to negotiate what is real could be occurring because the interview from July 6 between Wolf Blitzer and Bernie Sanders on CNN was not a complete video clip when it was placed online.

The video posted by CNN on YouTube only covered about a minute of the interview, and focused on the fact that Bernie Sanders accidentally called Wolf Blitzer “Jake.”

https://youtu.be/-W9TIYDgbnc

The Latest News YouTube account posted the entire 15-minute interview between Wolf Blitzer and Bernie Sanders on CNN, and it was clear that Bernie Sanders never once said he was quitting his campaign or endorsing Hillary Clinton.

What Bernie Sanders did say is that Hillary Clinton is the “presumptive” candidate… which was not the same as endorsing Hillary Clinton or stating she will actually be the presidential nominee from the Democratic Party.

Bernie Sanders also went on to say – when asked why he did not go ahead and endorse Hillary Clinton because she is now mimicking Bernie Sanders’ presidential campaign platform about free college tuition – that “we are working on other issues.”

Bernie Sanders also opened the interview by answering Wolf Blitzer when he asked Bernie if he was still a presidential candidate, and Bernie said “we have 1,900 delegates and we are off to Philadelphia [for the DNC] in a few weeks.”

When given the statistics about the primaries that compared the number of delegates Bernie Sanders had compared to Hillary Clinton, Wolf Blitzer said “she won fair and square right?” To this, Bernie Sanders says “nope.” Wolf Blitzer then says “so it is over.”

Bernie Sanders then says “No… what’s over is … [what happens next is that] you go into the Democratic Convention. But what is over is that she has more delegates than I do. I am not arguing with anyone about that.”

When asked again why he does not outright start supporting Hillary Clinton and joining her campaign trail, Bernie Sanders replied with “because what I want to do is make sure… we have a Democratic platform… that supports middle class and working families.”

About the FBI investigating Hillary Clinton, Bernie Sanders said “we will see what happens.” Regardless, Bernie Sanders cautioned Wolf Blitzer against lambasting Hillary Clinton, but said that when it came to her “judgement,” he disapproved of her decision to vote for “the war.”

What Bernie Sanders absolutely wants for the democratic platform (whether he or Hillary Clinton take the nomination) is a carbon tax, to ban fracking, and a $15/hour federal minimum wage.

However, does all of this denial about dropping out of the campaign or endorsing Hillary Clinton mean there is big news for Bernie Sanders supporters on the horizon?

So far, Bernie Sanders has announced that he will hold a huge rally the night before the Democratic National Convention on July 24 at FDR Park in Philadelphia.

What will be interesting, in the opinion of this author, is to see if Bernie Sanders will use the opportunity on July 24 to speak to his supporters and ask them to endorse Hillary Clinton… or will he surprise everyone with information about potentially becoming the Democratic nominee?

Considering the fact that Hillary Clinton’s FBI investigation did not get her indicted but was nonetheless considered “serious” (by Bernie Sanders), this means there may be more to unravel as America gets ready for the Democratic National Convention held in Philadelphia between July 25 and 28.

If Bernie Sanders was potentially going to endorse Hillary Clinton, he might do it during or after the Democratic Party platform committee meeting that will take place in Orlando, Florida, on July 9 and 10.

[Picture by Mike Groll/AP]