Hillary Clinton yesterday said she was ‘watching and waiting’ as she brushed off a question about whether she would be Mike Bloomberg’s running mate.
‘Should Bloomberg win the nomination would you consider being his running mate?’ The moderator asked at a Clinton Global Initiative event in Puerto Rico.
‘Oh no! [laughter] No. I’m just waiting and watching as this plays out.’ Clinton, 72, replied as she laughed off the question. ‘I will support whoever the nominee is, as for the all the reasons you can imagine … we need to have a new president for our country.’
Last week, the 2016 Trump challenger refused to rule out the possibility when speaking to Ellen Degeneres. Although Hillary conceded ‘that’s probably not going to happen,’ she told the host, ‘never say never.’
But in the last few days there has been rampant speculation that Bloomberg, 78, was considering Clinton after Matt Drudge of Drudge Report took the unusual step of putting his name on the story. Neither party, until yesterday’s markedly soft rejection in Puerto Rico, had made any attempt at denying the headlines.
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‘Oh no! No. I’m just waiting and watching as this plays out.’ Hillary, 72, replied as she laughed off the question at a Clinton Global Initiative event in Puerto Rico. ‘I will support whoever the nominee is … we need to have a new president for our country.’
‘We are focused on the primary and the debate, not VP speculation,’ Bloomberg Comms chief Jason Schechter said in a statement on Saturday.
Bloomberg is rapidly becoming the DNC’s favorite, appearing strongly in polling and in the betting markets as the only candidate offering a real challenge to the firebrand socialist Sen. Bernie Sanders.
Democratic presidential candidate former New York City Mayor Mike Bloomberg delivers remarks during a campaign rally in Nashville, Tennessee on February 12
Clinton and Bloomberg are both members of the New York elite and he gave her backing to her in 2016, saying the country must unite to ‘defeat a dangerous demagogue (Trump.)’
Indeed, a Big Apple bout between Bloomberg and Trump looks set to be even more vicious and brutal than Clinton’s lost battle in 2016 and both the former New York Mayor and former Secretary of State have personal vendettas against the president.
Adding fuel to the Bloomberg-Clinton fire, on Sunday it was reported that the former New York Mayor had recruited top Hillary ally, Capricia Marshall, for his 2020 campaign.
A source told PageSix that Marshall, who has worked under Bill and Hillary Clinton as well as former president Barack Obama, could help Bloomberg become more credible in numerous ways.
‘Capricia is very connected to the Democratic political orbit and will give Bloomberg a stronger link to the Dem establishment, and therefore more credibility,’ the source told the news site.
‘She will help convince them Mike is not a quasi-Republican after he heavily backed GOP candidates in the past.’
Hilary Clinton and Michael Bloomberg are pictured taking part in a New York City pride parade in 2006
Former Secretary of State of the United States, Hillary Clinton (C), smiles with Paola Pagan (L) and Walter Meyer (R), of the Free Solar organization, during her visit to the nonprofit health center Women Helping Mothers (MAM) located in Isla Verde resort in Carolina, Puerto Rico on Tuesday
According to the source, Marshall will also be able to help Bloomberg reach women and the African American community, ‘which remains unsatisfied with his apology over his stop-and-frisk policy as New York City mayor’.
It is unclear what position Marshall would be taking under the Bloomberg campaign.
‘Hiring Capricia is a very smart move. She’s a big deal,’ the source said. Marshall has previously served both Clintons and the Obama administration.
From 1997 to 2001, she worked as Bill Clinton’s White House social secretary. In 2006, she served on then-Senator Hillary Clinton’s re-election campaign. From 2009 to 2013, Marshall worked as the chief of protocol of the United States under Obama.
News of Marshall possibly joining the Bloomberg campaign comes just a day after it was reported that the former mayor may be considering making Hillary Clinton his running mate.
Polling found the Bloomberg-Clinton combination would be a formidable force to take on Trump in the race for the White House.
Bloomberg had endorsed Clinton over Trump in 2016, saying at the Democratic National Convention in July 2016 that though ‘there are times when I disagree with Hillary,’ the country must unite to ‘defeat a dangerous demagogue’. The allies are pictured here with Vogue Editor Anna Wintour
Former New York City Mayor Bloomberg is said to be considering even changing his official residence from New York to Colorado or Florida because the electoral college makes it difficult for a US president and vice-president to reside in the same state
Bloomberg is said to be considering even changing his official residence from New York to Colorado or Florida – where he also has homes – because the electoral college makes it difficult for the president and vice-president to reside in the same state.
Under the Twelfth Amendment to the US Constitution, which provides the procedure for electing the president and vice-president, it states that the two people could not both inhabit the same state as the elector.
Former first lady Clinton previously said she faced calls to run for president in 2020 after she lost out to Trump in the 2016 election, but she has repeatedly said she won’t join the race.
However, she stopped short of denying she was considering running for vice-president alongside one of the Democratic candidates earlier this month.
‘I never say never because I do believe in serving my country, but it’s not going to happen,’ she told Ellen DeGeneres.
In January, President Donald Trump made the strange claim that Clinton had promised Bloomberg the job of secretary of state should she be elected president in 2016, to keep him from running four years ago.
‘He had a deal with Hillary Clinton that he was going to become secretary of State. It was very simple. People knew that,’ Trump said during an interview on CNBC filmed on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.
The president then suggested Bloomberg would have been double-crossed.
‘Wasn’t going to happen. It was going to go to Terry McAuliffe,’ Trump said, name-dropping the former governor of Virginia who’s been a close Clinton friend.
‘I mean, so they were playing with Michael,’ Trump alleged. ‘And – it’s too bad, but he’s spending a fortune.’
Bloomberg had endorsed Clinton over Trump in 2016, saying at the Democratic National Convention in July 2016 that though ‘there are times when I disagree with Hillary,’ the country must unite to ‘defeat a dangerous demagogue’.
Former United States Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Michael Bloomberg pictured together in New York in 2017
‘Let’s elect a sane, competent person with international experience,’ Bloomberg said at the time.
Last week was a busy one for Bloomberg after he was forced to apologize for a recording that was leaked online of him talking bluntly about his stop-and-frisk policies.
‘Ninety-five percent of your murders – murderers and murder victims – fit one M.O. You can just take the description, Xerox it and pass it out to all the cops,’ Bloomberg is heard saying in the recording.
‘They are male minorities, 16 to 25. That’s true in New York. That’s true in virtually every city.’
‘And that’s where the real crime is. You’ve got to get the guns out of the hands of the people that are getting killed.’
Trump tweeted: ‘WOW, BLOOMBERG IS A TOTAL RACIST!’
On Thursday, Bloomberg apologized for endorsing the stop-and-frisk policy.
‘There is one aspect of approach that I deeply regret, the abuse of police practice called stop and frisk,’ Bloomberg said.
‘I defended it, looking back, for too long because I didn’t understand then the unintended pain it was causing to young black and brown families and their kids.’
‘I should have acted sooner and faster to stop it,’ he continued. ‘I didn’t, and for that, I apologize.’