After months of campaigning for the Democratic presidential nomination, Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders said on Friday morning that he plans to vote for rival Hillary Clinton come November.
Speaking on MSNBC's "Morning Joe," Sanders confirmed he would vote for the presumptive presidential nominee.
"Are you going to vote for Hillary Clinton in November?" the host asked.
"Yes, yeah I think the issue right here is, I'm going to do everything I can to defeat Donald Trump," Sanders said. "I think Trump in so many ways would be a disaster for this country if he were to be elected president."
The senator criticized Trump, who is the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, for his harsh tone on the campaign trail, among other things.
"We do not need a president whose cornerstone of his campaign is bigotry, is insulting Mexicans and Latinos and Muslims; who does not believe in the reality of climate change when virtually every scientist who has studied this issue understands that we have a global crisis," he said. "This is not somebody who should become president."
Sanders said he is now focused on making sure the Democratic platform is as strong as possible, "and that means a platform that represents working people -- that stands up to big money interests."
It is the first time Sanders has pledged support for Clinton, with whom he's fought tooth-and-nail for the Democratic presidential nomination.
"The Democratic Pary has a choice," he said in a statement released in May. "It can open its doors and welcome into the party people who are prepared to fight for real economic and social change -- people who are willing to take on Wall Street, corporate greed and a fossil fuel industry which is destroying this planet. Or the party can choose to maintain its status quo structure, remain dependent on big-money campaign contributions and be a party with limited participation and limited energy."
Neither the Clinton nor the Trump campaign immediately reacted to Sanders' statement Friday.
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