Manchin still not closing door on endorsing Biden, but says he’s gone ‘too far left’

West Virginia Sen. Joe Manchin (D) indicated Friday he was not fully closing the door on voting for President Biden this year, but said he has gone “too far left.”

“I want Joe Biden to be the Joe Biden I’ve known forever, okay?” Manchin said in an interview with MSNBC’s Katy Tur. “Always working a deal, always wanting to bring people together, which is how he campaigned in 2020.

“I think his staff is taking him too far left,” the staunch centrist senator said. “I don’t believe that’s where — that he needs to be. I don’t believe that’s where he is, internally, never has been, and love to see him come back to that.”

Tur then asked Manchin if he’s “waiting for” Biden to back away from the left wing to give him his endorsement, to which Manchin responded by noting the criticism that the president has faced around the issue of the southern border.

“I’m begging him now, if this can’t be fixed in Congress, to… basically do and declare a national emergency, because the border is of a national concern and a national emergency,” Manchin said.

Manchin also said that he can’t “for the love of my country, endorse or support [former President Trump],” but when pressed by Tur if he would “sit on the sidelines” in November, he responded that he has “never” does so.

“So, we’ll have to just wait and see how it goes,” he said.

Manchin made similar comments about a potential presidential endorsement in February, stating that he didn’t “intend” to endorse anyone at the time.

“I’m not endorsing anybody right now,” Manchin said when asked if he would endorse Biden. We’re going to see what all happens.”

“We still got plenty of time here,” he continued. “I’m going to do everything I can to help move them back to the middle and show them where the strength of this country lies, where the voting bloc of the country lies.”

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