Obama to Meet with Bernie Sanders in Oval Office Wednesday Amid Spat

President Barack Obama will meet with Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders in the Oval Office Wednesday, following a tumultuous couple of days between the two.

The White House announced the meeting would be at 11:45 a.m., coming just five days before the Iowa Caucus where Sanders is neck and neck with his Democratic opponent Hillary Clinton.

Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Bernie Sanders speaks during a media gaggle after speaking with workers from the United Steelworkers Local 310L in Des Moines, Iowa, Tuesday, Jan. 26, 2016. (Al Drago/CQ Roll Call)

In an interview published Monday, Obama all but endorsed Clinton for president, dismissing the Vermont senator as a “bright, shiny object” compared to former Secretary of State Clinton, who he said “can start here, day one, more experienced than any non-vice president has ever been who aspires to this office.”

The next day Sanders announced he would help block Obama’s nomination for commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration.

What’s unusual is that the meeting was announced on the president’s public schedule. Previous meetings between Obama and Clinton or Obama and Sanders at the White House were not listed on the White House schedule or made available to the press.

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