Remarkable success that he enjoyed in the context of his democratic his campaign for the democratic nomination for president. Senator sanders competed in every state across the country. And earned more than 10 million votes for his campaign. Thats a remarkable accomplishment and the president complimented him and congratulated him on his success. I think you could describe the conversation as friendly conversation. That was focused on the future. Part of that future conversation was about the importance of the upcoming general election. Youve heard the president say on a number of occasions how important it is to him personally that he be succeeded in office by a president who is committed to building on the remarkable progress that our country has made over the last 7 1 2 years. So that certainly was an important part of the conversation. But it went beyond that. There also was a conversation about the longterm future of the Democratic Party. And senator Sanders Campaign enjoyed so much success because he was able to inspire a lot of young people both democrats and independents to support his campaign and to be engaged in the political process. Thats a good thing. And president obama and senator sanders had an opportunity to talk about what work they could potentially do together in the future to ensure that the Democratic Party of the 21st century is diverse and vibrant and inclusive. Thats been a longstated goal of president obama and obviously president obama had his own success in building a coalition that involved a lot of Young Americans and not all democrats. Senator sanders built on that progress and theyre hopeful that theyll be able to Work Together in the future, not just at the National Level but also at the state and local levels as well. Did they make any requests of each other . Well, im going to do my best to try to protect their ability to have a private conversation. But i think what is clear is that theres a lot of agreement about the way forward. Obviously theres a lot of agreement when it comes to the future of the Democratic Party that i just described. Theres also a lot of agreement about the highest priorities that the next president will have to grapple with and so these priorities range from issues like addressing economic inequality and countering the influence of special interests in our politics. These are obviously issues that senator sanders discussed quite extensively on the campaign trail but these are also issues that president obama has had an opportunity to address and as you heard from senator sanders in the driveway a couple hours ago, there also was a discussion about other issues like expanding Economic Opportunity for the middleclass, making sure that we keep our commitment to our veterans, making sure that we give College Graduates in this country the opportunity to succeed and not just be weighted down with extraordinary debt, again, these are all issues that president obama has spent the last seven years fighting for and senator sanders has spent a significant amount of time talking about these issues, too, not just in the context of his president ial campaign but in the context of his decades in public service. And im sure the president gave the senator the courtesy of letting him know that he would be endorsing secretary clinton in the coming moments or hours. Could you just provide a little bit of how the president broke that to him . Im sure it was probably expected, and what was the response . And is the president disappointed that senator sanders did not go outside of the white house and in talking to reporters did not endorse clinton . Well, let me start by saying that, no. Senator sanders i think has been quite clear that he intended to compete for votes in the upcoming district of columbia primary thats scheduled for tuesday. So, i dont think anybody had the expectation that senator sanders was going to deviate from that plan. At the same time to go back to your first question, the president has had the opportunity to speak to senator sanders now three times in the last week. And as a result of those conversations i think its fair to say that senator sanders was not at all surprised by todays announcement. Okay . Roberta . Did the president show senator sanders the video . Again, im not going to get into the details of their interactions, but i assure you that senator sanders was not surprised. Look, senator sanders began his statement in the driveway in front of the white house today by saying that president obama and Vice President biden had made a commitment to him early in the process that they would not put their thumb on the scale, and senator sanders himself said how much he appreciated that president obama and Vice President biden kept that promise. When was the video recorded, and why was it decided that the endorsement would be done through video rather than having an event or some kind of other alternative . The video was recorded on tuesday. And i think secretary Clintons Campaign has already announced that there will be an event, and the president is very much looking forward to traveling to green bay, wisconsin, title town, with secretary clinton to appear with her in person at a Campaign Event and build support for her campaign in the state of wisconsin, a state that president obama won twice. And does he have other plans next week to do campaignrelated events for secretary clinton . Thats the only Campaign Event thats on the schedule at this point but i would anticipate that its only the first of many Campaign Events between now and november. Michelle . You mentioned in the meeting things that the president would like to see working together on those issues. Did sanders also have things that he wanted to see from the white house or did he have any particular asks . Ill let senator sanders characterize the points that he raised in their meeting and i think he did that again when he spoke to all of you a couple of hours ago. He was quite direct about his appreciation to the president by keeping his promise not to weigh in in the democratic process and give primary voters an opportunity to make a decision about who should represent the party in the general election. And, you know, senator sanders i think, again, as i when i spoke to the president briefly about his conversation with senator sanders, i think both men are pretty enthusiastic about the opportunity that lies ahead, not just in advance of the general election but over the course of a generation to ensure that the future of the Democratic Party looks as diverse and vibrant and inclusive as our country is. Did the president ask sanders to step out of the race sooner rather than later and did he want him to step out before the d. C. Primary . Well, listen, as i mentioned yesterday when i folk tospoke t group of you, senator sanders has more than earned the right to make his own decision on his own time frame about the future of his campaign and the president certainly respects the important work that senator sanders has done on the campaign trail. He certainly respects the strong support that hes built in all 50 states and that means that senator sanders gets to decide when what the future of his Campaign Looks like. Ill just point out, again, when senator sanders spoke to all of you after meeting with the president , senator sanders reiterated how critically important it is for president obama to be succeeded by a president who shares our values and is committed to building on the progress this country has made under president obamas leadership. That certainly was part of the conversation in the oval office and senator sanders when he folk to all of you made clear that that was a priority. What was the point and the outcome of this meeting . Like, what was decided between the two of them . Look, i think the point was for president obama and senator sanders to continue the conversation that theyve been having over the course of this week and, look, in some ways this is a conversation that dates all the way back to january or february whenever it was that senator sanders was here at the white house much earlier in the campaign. And so, again, i dont think there was any expectation either on the part of senator sanders or president obama that senator sanders was going to make some abrupt change into abrupt change to his campaign strategy, which at this point has included competing in the d. C. Primary thats scheduled for tuesday. So, why release it on twitter and why have it come from clinton instead of the president . The well, i think obviously the it makes i think theres some intuitive decisions about why its important to give secretary clinton the opportunity to make this news. Obviously, you know, i saw some of the early comments from her campaign that she was deeply appreciative of the president s endorsement. And the president was pleased to have the opportunity to share it. But it certainly is the decision for secretary clinton and her team to make about how best to use this material to advance her campaign. And speaking of twitter, you see a lot of sanders supporters now putting out their continued support for sanders, many of them saying, well, its bernie or nobody, you know, it wont be clinton. How what do you think is going to be the president s best approach now that he is going to be on the trail in a matter of days to winning over those people . Well, listen, first of all its going to be secretary clintons responsibility to win over those people and im confident that she will have a very forceful case to make about the values that she represents and so i think shell have a strong case to make but thats ultimately a case she will make but president obama certainly has a lot of credibility with those voters. I think that is true. President obama over the course of the last seven years has fought very hard for many of the principles and priorities that senator sanders has been talking about over the course of this campaign. Senator sanders has devoted extraordinary an extraordinary amount of time to making sure that wall street doesnt run amok and trample on middleclass families. And the i can recite you, ill probably spare you at least right now, a long recitation of all of the things that president obama has done by implementing wall street reform to make sure that taxpayers are not on the hook for bailing out big banks that make risky bets and also make sure were focused on expanding Economic Opportunity for the middleclass. Thats entirely consistent by a message spread by senator sanders and his campaign that clearly deeply resonated with voters young and old, democrat and independent all across the country, so president obama has a lot of credibility with those voters. And look, heres the last thing, senator sanders obviously has a lot of credibility with those voters and you heard senator sanders say to all of you a couple of hours ago how critically important it is that president obama be succeeded by somebody who shares our values and is dedicated to those progressive priorities. So, there are any number of people. Secretary clinton, senator sanders and president obama who can make a very forceful case to those who were enthusiastic supporters of senator sanders in the primary. Okay . John . Josh, you mentioned that the president we obviously know wont be out next week with secretary clinton and intends to be out many other times, how eager is he to get out there on the campaign trail again . Is this like one more campaign for him . The president is very enth e enthusiastic about the opportunity he will have over the next couple of months to make a strong case in support of secretary clinton. I think thats evident from the comments that president obama made in elkhart, indiana, last week. The stakes in this election are high particularly if you take a look at the u. S. Economy. Weve made enormous progress over the last seven years digging out of the ditch created by the worst economic downturn since the great depression. The private sector is what led that recovery, but the private sector would not have succeeded without the important policy decisions that were made in the first couple of months of president obamas presidency. For those voters focused on the economy weve got a pretty strong case to make about the wisdom of the decisions made by president obama and the commitment to by secretary clinton to those principles. But i also think it was pretty evident from that video and from his appearance on the tonight show with jimmy fallon that will air tonight at 11 30 thats a free plug there, peter, for your network. Appreciate it. But i think anybody who has an opportunity to watch that interview will see the president is quite enthusiastic about this election and about the prospect of being succeeded in office by secretary clinton. I noticed in that video he seems to give secretary clinton some credit for the bin laden decision. Its mentioned in the video. But that was really his decision alone he said in the past, right . What role did she have during that critical stage . I think that point of the video where the president talks about her courage and her compassion and her heart and how her service to the country are critically important to were critically important to his decision to endorse her in this campaign. And i think the point that hes making in the video is that he chose to have secretary clinton by his side for the first four years of his presidency as he was making difficult decisions that had enormous consequences for the United States and our citizens. [ inaudible question ] well, shes certainly in that picture where that decision is being executed. And she certainly was an important architect of the kinds of Foreign Policy decisions and Strategic Decisions that president obama had to make over the first four years of his presidency. I dont know if you have been tracking her twitter feed up there i have not. It may not surprise you that donald trump has tweeted. I am not surprised. Obama just endorsed crooked hillary, he wants four more years of obama but nobody else does. Yeah. Is that what he wants, four more years of obama . No. I think there have been a number of occasions over the last several months where you all have pointed out to me some differences between secretary clinton and president obama. So, they do not have they do not have the same opinion on every issue. But i think, again, just to go back to this video that was released today, the president said unequivocally that he does not believe at least he cant remember somebody who has been more qualified, a candidate thats been more qualified to hold this office, and after getting to know her personally, working closely with her in the first four years of this administration and spending more than a year on the campaign trail competing against her in the 2008 president ial election, the president s had the opportunity to watch secretary clinton perform up close. And hes seen her tenacity, her dedication, her commitment to a set of principles that they share. And thats why the president s quite enthusiastic about her campaign. Okay . Lets move around. Thanks, josh. Could you at this point confirm that the president did vote for secretary clinton during the illinois primary a few months back . I did not ask the president about which box he checked on his ballot. But im not aware that he changed his mind at any point over the course of the primary. Okay. And now that the endorsement is officially out, i want to sort of revisit a question that you were asked a couple days ago about the first lady. Shes going to be doing an event the state of women i believe next week. Can we expect to see her now that we have our first woman nominee sort of make the case for secretary clinton on the campaign trail as well . Well, listen, that event youre referring to is one thats been in the works for months now here at the white house. Its not a Campaign Event, its an event to talk about issues important to americas women and americas families and there are a wide range of issues theyll discuss. Part of that event includes a conversation that the first lady will have with Oprah Winfrey so i dont know if it will come up in the context of that conversation. But this is an event planned independent of any consideration of secretary Clintons Campaign. That said, i think it is entirely fair for you to interpret president obamas remarks in the video that was released today as consistent with the first ladys views of the campaign. The first lady is enthusiastic about secretary clintons cam feign, and you could certainly interpret that video as a joint endorsement. And at some point, i dont know exactly when that will be, but at some point im confident that the first lady will have an opportunity to share her own views in her own words about why she believes its important for secretary clinton to succeed president obama. You know, i will ill end by reminding you that there are a number of occasions where mrs. Obama has discussed her deep admiration for secretary clintons public service, her career. Shes been a trail blazer. And mrs. Obama deeply respects what secretary clinton has done and the issues that shes fought for over the course of her long career. One more. Yesterday the president at the fundraiser said that he was concerned about the ability of democrats to do sort of the hard work of the ground game of turning out young voters, lowincome voters like he did in 2008, 2012. Is that sort of a tacit criticism of the Clinton Campaign, she hasnt been able to reach those voters so far . No, its not. The president was making a point similar to the point that he made in south florida at the end of last week, where he talked about how important it is for democrats to run scared, to not be complacent about what the polls say. The stakes in this election are high, and the republican nominee has certainly defied conventional wisdom in the past. And his campaign is one that democrats should should take seriously. And the president certainly intends to devote a lot of time and energy to making sure that voters all across the country, democrats, independents and republicans, understand the high stakes and the president will certainly make a strong and clear case for the candidate that he believes is at least as qualified as any other candidate to seek the office of the presidency in our nations history. Okay . April .