Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton met on Friday with U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren, a leading progressive voice, to try to build party unity heading into her election campaign against Republican Donald Trump.
The two held talks at Clinton's Washington home a day after Warren endorsed Clinton's White House bid, adding support from the Democrats' liberal wing as Clinton seeks to move on from her protracted primary battle with Bernie Sanders.
Former secretary of state Clinton earlier this week secured the delegates needed to win the party nomination for the Nov. 8 presidential election. Party leaders are hoping Sanders will soon drop his presidential run.
The Warren meeting on Friday fueled speculation that the senator from Massachusetts might be under consideration as Clinton's running mate. Asked in an MSNBC interview on Thursday whether she had discussed with Clinton the prospect of being vice president, Warren said she had not, nor had she been vetted.
Having support from Warren would boost Clinton's ability to court highly motivated Sanders supporters who have been fired up against Clinton during the unexpectedly long primary battle. Warren and Sanders share views on issues such as reining in Wall Street excesses and fighting income inequality.
Sanders said on Thursday he would remain in the race through the final nominating contest in Washington, D.C., next week but would work with Clinton to defeat Trump.
Warren is also shaping up to be a no-holds-barred critic of Trump and they have had several spats on Twitter. Trump said on Friday that Warren was one of the "least productive U.S. Senators," adding in a tweet: "Hope she is V.P. choice."
President Barack Obama and Vice President Joe Biden also announced their support of Clinton on Thursday, handing her a trio of endorsements expected to boost her standing heading into the general election campaign.
But Clinton is dogged by the controversy surrounding her use of a private email server while secretary of state from 2009-2013.
Emails between U.S. diplomats in Islamabad and State Department officials in Washington about whether to challenge specific drone strikes in Pakistan are at the center of a criminal probe involving her handling of classified information, the Wall Street Journal reported on Thursday.
Republicans have consistently criticized Clinton over her email use. "We should not live above the law, and that is one of the cardinal sins that Secretary Clinton violated," House of Representatives Speaker Paul Ryan told radio host Hugh Hewitt on Friday.
Clinton has said she did not send or receive any information that was marked as classified and has accused the State Department and other government agencies of "over-classifying" her emails after a judge ordered them released to the public.
(Reporting by Megan Cassella and Doina Chiacu; Editing by Frances Kerry and Alistair Bell)