U.S. President Barack Obama has endorsed Hillary Clinton, just two days after his former secretary of state became the Democratic Party's presumptive nominee for president.
"I want to congratulate Hillary Clinton on making history as the presumptive Democratic nominee for president of the United States," Obama said Thursday in a video released on Clinton's campaign website. "Look, I know how hard this job can be, that's why I know Hillary will be so good at it," he added.
Obama was effusive in his praise of Clinton as he announced his endorsement, which came on the same afternoon Obama met with Clinton's Democratic challenger, Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders. "I don't think there's ever been someone so qualified to hold this office. She's got the courage, compassion and the heart to get the job done," Obama said.
The endorsement energizes Clinton's campaign as she turns her attention to presumptive Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump. The president's endorsement could also end concerns about party unity after a long and intense battle between Clinton and Sanders.
After meeting with President Obama on Thursday, Sanders addressed reporters outside the White House, saying he hopes to meet with Clinton soon. "I look forward to meeting with her in the near future" to discuss how to defeat Trump.
Sanders added that Trump would "be a disaster of a president of the United States. It is unbelievable to me that the Republican Party would have a candidate who in the year 2016 makes bigotry and discrimination a corner stone of his campaign."
Although Clinton amassed enough delegates this week to secure the Democratic Party nomination for president, Sanders said he will continue campaigning. He said his campaign would be fully engaged in the Washington, D.C., primary election next week, the final of the primary season.