U.S. President Barack Obama has announced plans to meet with Democratic presidential hopeful Bernie Sanders this week at the White House at the request of the Vermont senator, The Hill reported on Wednesday.
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At the meeting, scheduled for Thursday, Obama and Sanders will discuss “the significant issues at stake in this election that matter most to America’s working families,” according to a statement.
The news of the meeting comes as Obama thanked Sanders for “energizing millions” through his campaign to fight economic inequality and special interests in politics, The Hill reported, as numbers from the final primaries, excluding the District of Columbia, roll in.
In a statement, the White House said Obama “looks forward to continuing the conversation with Senator Sanders about how to build on the extraordinary work he has done to engage millions of Democratic voters, and to build on that enthusiasm in the weeks and months ahead.”
Obama also congratulated Clinton on locking up the nomination on Tuesday with her projected wins in New Mexico, South Dakota, and New Jersey and an early big lead in California. Sanders took North Dakota and leads in Montana though the state has not been called.
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The White House called Clinton’s run for the nomination “historic” in a statement as she secured the numbers to become the first woman candidate of a major U.S. party.
The president’s plans to endorse the former Secretary of State in the coming days went public before voters in California, the largest state in the union, and five other states even went to the polls on Tuesday.
The announcement came after Associated Press and NBC reported late Monday that Clinton had clinched the nomination without waiting for results from California, prompting cries of voter suppression from the Sanders campaign.
Sanders has vowed to take his campaign all the way to the Democratic National Convention in late July.