© Fox TVFormer Secretary of State and 2016 Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton threw her support behind former Vice President Joe Biden
In a virtual event Tuesday afternoon, the 2016 Democratic presidential nominee and former secretary of state said she had come to know Biden's ability to build coalitions over their two-decade friendship.
"I am thrilled to be part of your campaign, to not only endorse you, but also help highlight a lot of the issues at stake in this presidential election," Clinton said during the event, described as "a virtual town hall on the impact of COVID-19 on women."
Referring to President Trump only as the White House "occupant" and someone who pretends to "play one on TV," Clinton said she wished Biden was president "right now."
"Joe Biden has been preparing for this moment his entire life. I've been privileged to work with him over the last 25-plus years as the first lady, then for eight years in the Senate, where I watched him build coalitions and bring people together, then in the Obama administration, where I was secretary of state," she said.
Clinton playfully offered a hint about her appearance on Biden's livestream, tweeting out a picture of the two Obama administration alumni with the former commander-in-chief.
The former first lady remains a polarizing figure in Democratic politics, with both a constituency of loyal female supporters and a wide array of critics of both her establishment ties and her inability to defeat Trump in 2016.
Clinton and Biden have a long relationship going back decades in Washington. Both ran in the 2008 presidential election, during which time Biden was resentful of the attention Clinton got, according to the New York Times. It was Biden, however, who was chosen as the running mate of the eventual nominee, Barack Obama.
The Times reports that while the two became more friendly during their time together in the Obama administration, tensions developed when Biden considered challenging Clinton for the 2016 nomination.
"[Biden] really likes [Clinton] personally, but there's been always an undercurrent of resentment," a former top Obama adviser told Politico as the ex-VP was weighing his options.
"I think there's always been an element of — and Biden is by no means the only one who has felt this — 'Why does she feel entitled to [run] and I can't?'"
After Clinton's 2016 election defeat, Biden was not shy about his feelings on her performance as a candidate.
Speaking to the Los Angeles Times one month after her loss, Biden said Clinton didn't speak to people who felt left behind. He said he realized that she might not win while watching then-candidate Trump hold a rally near his childhood home in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania.
"Son of a gun. We may lose this election," he told the paper of his initial thoughts when seeing the rally.
"They're all the people I grew up with. They're their kids. And they're not racist. They're not sexist. But we didn't talk to them," he said of the rally attendees he witnessed.
Biden also said he worried that "a bit of elitism" had "crept in" to Democratic Party thinking.
A Biden spokesperson did not immediately respond to The Post's request for comment.
Comment: Do the Democrats really think they are going to shoehorn this creepy, dementia-addled clown into the presidential nomination? Or, as many have speculated, will there be a last minute bait-and-switch? The Wicked Witch has courted nearly every serious potential presidential candidate
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A word of warning to Biden: Former Clinton adviser: 'Hillary thinks God put her on Earth to be president'RT speculates on Killary's VP ambitions and reports on reactions to her endorsement of Biden. The sane among the electorate have responded with mockery and a collective 'God, no!':