Sanders vows to help Clinton fight Trump

Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders on Thursday vowed to work with Hillary Clinton to defeat Donald Trump, but he didn’t end his presidential bid or endorse the presumptive Democratic nominee.

“The major political task that we face in the next five months is to make certain that Donald Trump is defeated and defeated badly,” Sanders said in a much-anticipated live-stream address. “And I personally intend to begin my role in that process in a very short period of time.”

Sanders did not offer details on how he plans to fulfill that role.

Much of the video amounted to a version of Sanders’ standard stump speech, and he encouraged his legions of followers to run for local office.

He once again pledged to take his bid all the way to the convention. And he described his differences with Clinton as “strong” but limited.

“It is no secret that Secretary Clinton and I have strong disagreements on some very important issues. It is also true that our views are quite close on others,” Sanders said. “I look forward, in the coming weeks, to continued discussions between the two campaigns to make certain that your voices are heard and that the Democratic Party passes the most progressive platform in its history and that Democrats actually fight for that agenda.”

The Vermont senator vowed to take his campaign’s “energy” into the Democratic National Convention next month. But Sanders campaign manager Jeff Weaver told Bloomberg News earlier Thursday that the campaign was no longer actively lobbying superdelegates.

Fight with DNC continues

Sanders’ presidential campaign is winding down – but his fight with the Democratic National Committee is just getting started.

The Vermont senator has called for the ousting of leadership from the convention committee level up to the top – publicly insisting that DNC Chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz be replaced. And his campaign wants two well-known Democrats removed from key posts at the national convention in Philadelphia next month.

“I do believe that we have to replace the current Democratic National Committee leadership,” Sanders told reporters in Washington Tuesday as the last Democratic primary voters went to the polls. “We need a person at the leadership of the DNC who is vigorously supporting and out working to bring people into the political process.”

Sanders has publicly clashed with Wasserman Schultz throughout the campaign, including a spat over the number of debates scheduled that led to one of his congressional backers, Hawaii Rep. Tulsi Gabbard, quitting her post at the DNC.

He also sent a letter last month to the committee calling for the removal of two Democrats from their convention leadership positions: Connecticut Gov. Dannel Malloy, who co-chairs the Platform Committee, and former Massachusetts Rep. Barney Frank, co-chairman of the Rules Committee.

Clinton, Sanders meet; Clinton wins D.C. primary

The DNC swiftly dismissed the request.

Frank has spoken out against Sanders, writing in July 2015 that Sanders’ campaign was a threat to Clinton’s chances in a general election and “wishful thinking is no way to win the presidency.” Malloy has been critical of Sanders’ record on gun control.

US Sen. Bernie Sanders speaks at a campaign rally in Chicago in March 2019. Sanders, an independent from Vermont, is the longest-serving independent in the history of Congress.

Sanders, right, leads a sit-in organized by the Congress of Racial Equality in 1962. The demonstration was staged to oppose housing segregation at the University of Chicago. It was Chicago's first civil rights sit-in.

Sanders takes the oath of office to become the mayor of Burlington, Vermont, in 1981. He ran as an independent and won the race by 10 votes.

Sanders, right, tosses a baseball before a minor-league game in Vermont in 1984. US Sen. Patrick Leahy, center, was also on hand.

In 1987, Sanders and a group of Vermont musicians recorded a spoken-word folk album. "We Shall Overcome" was first released as a cassette that sold about 600 copies. When Sanders entered the US presidential race in 2015, the album surged in online sales. But at a CNN town hall, Sanders said, "It's the worst album ever recorded."

Sanders reads mail at his campaign office in Burlington in 1990. He was running for the US House of Representatives after an unsuccessful bid in 1988.

In 1990, Sanders defeated US Rep. Peter Smith in the race for Vermont's lone House seat. He won by 16 percentage points.

Sanders sits next to President Bill Clinton in 1993 before the Congressional Progressive Caucus held a meeting at the White House. Sanders co-founded the caucus in 1991 and served as its first chairman.

Barack Obama, then a US senator, endorses Sanders' Senate bid at a rally in Burlington in 2006.

Sanders takes part in a swearing-in ceremony at the US Capitol in January 2007. He won his Senate seat with 65% of the vote.

Sanders chats with Dr. John Matthew, director of The Health Center in Plainfield, Vermont, in May 2007. Sanders was in Plainfield to celebrate a new source of federal funding for The Health Center.

Sanders speaks to reporters in 2010 about the Obama administration's push to extend Bush-era tax cuts. Three days later, Sanders held a filibuster against the reinstatement of the tax cuts. His speech, which lasted more than eight hours, was published in book form in 2011. It is called "The Speech: A Historic Filibuster on Corporate Greed and the Decline of Our Middle Class."

Sanders and US Rep. Jeff Miller, chairman of the House Committee on Veterans' Affairs, walk to a news conference on Capitol Hill in 2014. Sanders was chairman of the Senate Committee on Veterans' Affairs.

In March 2015, Sanders speaks in front of letters and petitions asking Congress to reject proposed cuts to Social Security and Medicare.

In July 2015, two months after announcing he would be seeking the Democratic Party's nomination for President, Sanders spoke to nearly 10,000 supporters in Madison, Wisconsin. "Tonight we have made a little bit of history," he said. "You may know that some 25 candidates are running for President of the United States, but tonight we have more people at a meeting for a candidate for President of the United States than any other candidate has."

Seconds after Sanders took the stage for a campaign rally in August 2015, a dozen protesters from Seattle's Black Lives Matter chapter jumped barricades and grabbed the microphone from the senator. Holding a banner that said "Smash Racism," two of the protesters -- Marissa Johnson, left, and Mara Jacqueline Willaford -- began to address the crowd.

Sanders shakes hands with Hillary Clinton at a Democratic debate in Las Vegas in October 2015. The hand shake came after Sanders' take on the Clinton email scandal. "Let me say something that may not be great politics, but the secretary is right -- and that is that the American people are sick and tired of hearing about the damn emails," Sanders said. "Enough of the emails, let's talk about the real issues facing the United States of America."

Sanders embraces Remaz Abdelgader, a Muslim student, during an October 2015 event at George Mason University in Fairfax, Virginia. Asked what he would do about Islamophobia in the United States, Sanders said he was determined to fight racism and "build a nation in which we all stand together as one people."

Sanders waves while walking in a Veterans Day parade in Lebanon, New Hampshire, in November 2015.

Sanders sits with rapper and activist Killer Mike at the Busy Bee Cafe in Atlanta in November 2015. That evening, Killer Mike introduced Sanders at a campaign event in the city. "I'm talking about a revolutionary," the rapper told supporters. "In my heart of hearts, I truly believe that Sen. Bernie Sanders is the right man to lead this country."

Comedian Larry David and Sanders appear together on "Saturday Night Live" in February 2016. David had played Sanders in a series of sketches throughout the campaign season.

Sanders and his wife, Jane, wave to the crowd during a primary night rally in Concord, New Hampshire, in February 2016. Sanders defeated Clinton in the New Hampshire primary with 60% of the vote, becoming the first Jewish candidate to win a presidential primary.

Sanders speaks at a campaign rally in Ann Arbor, Michigan, in March 2016. He won the state's primary the next day, an upset that delivered a sharp blow to Clinton's hopes of quickly securing the nomination.

Sanders speaks at a campaign event in New York's Washington Square Park in April 2016.

Sanders speaks at a rally in Santa Monica, California, in June 2016. He pledged to stay in the Democratic race even though Clinton secured the delegates she needed to become the presumptive nominee.

Sanders endorses Clinton at a rally in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, in July 2016.

Sanders addresses delegates on the first day of the Democratic National Convention in July 2016.

Sanders brings a giant printout of one of Donald Trump's tweets to a Senate debate in January 2017. In the tweet, Trump had promised not to cut Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid.

Sanders thanks supporters after winning re-election to the Senate in November 2018.

Sanders looks at his notes as he watches President Trump deliver the State of the Union address in February 2019. That month, Sanders announced that he would be running for president again.

Sanders hugs a young supporter during a campaign rally in Los Angeles in March 2019.

Sanders addresses the audience at a CNN town hall in Washington in April 2019.

Sanders speaks next to former Vice President Joe Biden at the first Democratic debates in June 2019.

Sanders raises his fist as he holds a rally in Santa Monica, California, in July 2019.

Sanders grabs the hand of US Sen. Elizabeth Warren during the Democratic debates in Detroit in July 2019.

Sanders campaigns at the University of New Hampshire in September 2019. A few days later, he took himself off the campaign trail after doctors treated a blockage in one of his arteries. Sanders suffered a heart attack, his campaign confirmed.

US Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez introduces Sanders at a New York rally after endorsing him for president in October 2019.

In a tense and dramatic exchange moments after a Democratic debate, Warren accused Sanders of calling her a liar on national television. Sanders responded that it was Warren who called him a liar. Earlier in the debate, the two disagreed on whether Sanders told Warren, during a private dinner in 2018, that he didn't believe a woman could win the presidency.

Sanders laughs during a primary-night rally in Manchester, New Hampshire, in February 2020. Sanders won the primary, just as he did in 2016.

A triumphant Sanders raises his fist in San Antonio after he was projected to win the Nevada caucuses.

Sanders and former Vice President Joe Biden talk before a Democratic debate in Charleston, South Carolina, in February 2020.

Sanders addresses supporters during a campaign rally in Grand Rapids, Michigan, in March 2020.

Sanders speaks to reporters in Burlington, Vermont, a day after Super Tuesday II. Sanders said it "was not a good night for our campaign from a delegate point of view" but that he looked forward to staying in the race and taking on Joe Biden in an upcoming debate.

Biden greets Sanders with an elbow bump before the start of a debate in Washington in March 2020. They went with an elbow bump instead of a handshake because of the coronavirus pandemic.

In photos: Former presidential candidate Bernie Sanders

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A spokeswoman for the DNC said the committee has not received any further requests from either campaign over personnel, and a spokeswoman for Malloy said the governor has not heard any more about the matter.

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“They have already tried this and it was ruled out of order,” said Leigh Appleby, communications director of the Connecticut Democratic Party. “Gov. Malloy looks forward to chairing the committee in a fair manner and putting forward a platform that stands in stark contrast to Trump and his hateful, divisive policies.”

Frank, for his part, downplayed the significance of the spat, saying he believes the animosity will calm down.

“I think that that has sort of faded,” Frank said.

But he did say the convention would include “healthy debate” more than in previous cycles.

“I think there has been more differences here than in previous ones, but I think with Donald Trump being himself so dangerous, that the focus will be more on getting together to in in November,” Frank told CNN. “There will be issues, there probably will be more debates, three or more platform debates and this issue of superdelegates.”

READ: Elizabeth Warren’s VP prospects: The good and the bad

Still, Sanders is giving no indication that he’s letting up the pressure.

Asked if the campaign stood by the request to remove Malloy and Frank and if they would raise the issue with the Clinton campaign, Sanders spokesman Michael Briggs simply said “yes.”

And Sanders on Tuesday used his news conference in Washington to spell out a list of his demands for the DNC platform and reforms.

“We are going to fight as hard as we can to create a Democratic Party which represents the working families and the low-income people in this country,” Sanders said. “The time is long overdue for a fundamental transformation of the Democratic Party.”

Among the demands he made publicly on Tuesday were opening primaries to independent voters, same-day registration and doing away with super delegates that aren’t bound by voters’ ballots. And several points of conflict are expected to emerge between Sanders’ and Clintons’ camps on the platform, including on the minimum wage, fracking, trade and Wall Street regulation.

Clinton and Sanders met Tuesday night in Washington as well. The two campaigns put out very similar statements after the meeting, saying the candidates and their aides met to talk about unifying the party, beating Trump and “progressive” ideas.

The senator is likely to call for a roll call vote at the convention, according to a person close to the campaign, and on Tuesday he ignored a question from CNN’s Jeff Zeleny on Tuesday about whether he’d place Clinton’s name into nomination as she did for Barack Obama in 2008.

A veteran of the primary process said lingering hard feelings are nothing unusual for the end of a campaign. But former Obama adviser and CNN contributor Dan Pfeiffer said that it’s up to the candidates to set the tone going forward.

“It takes a long time for bad blood to go away,” Pfeiffer said. “A lot of Obama and Clinton folks harbored resentments until well after the election was over. But both the President and Secretary Clinton sent pretty clear signals that they wouldn’t tolerate any bad behavior, and pretty quickly the urgency of winning the general election forces everyone to put that aside.”

CNN’s Jeff Zeleny and Elizabeth Landers contributed to this report.