CNN: Formal Talks Underway That 'Could' End Clinton's Presidential Run

Bottom line up front, both the Hillary Clinton campaign and the Barack Obama campaign are denying the accuracy of the report by CNN which claims that formal talks are underway that "could" end Clinton's campaign for presidency.

CNN does not cite any specific source but as you can see from the video attached to this article, they are reporting formal talks between the Clinton campaign and the Obama campaign as well as listing three possible scenarios, one of which is by exiting gracefully and running on the ticket as Barack Obama's vice president. The CNN report stresses, twice, this "could" end Hillary Clinton's presidential run while reporting news that might or might not be accurate. According to Talking Points Memo, they contacted both campaigns and got adamant denials of CNN's report. Hillary Clinton's spokesman, Howard Wolfson said:

1) There have been no discussions with the Obama campaign

2) The only scenario being discussed by this campaign is Senator Clinton's nomination as President

3) The report is 100% false

Barack Obama's spokesman, Bill Burton said:

This is something that I agree with Howard on 100%.

Suzanne Malveaux was the person reporting for CNN and she claims that the Clinton campaign was outlining three possible scenarios. The first scenario was that Obama would choose someone else as his running mate to which the CNN reporter says the Clinton campaign would find that “completely unacceptable" and that Clinton would find that dismissal so insultingly offensive that it could kick off a “civil war within the party.” The second scenario is that Obama would offer the vice presidency to Clinton, as a courtesy, with the understanding that she would turn it down. According to Malveaux, Obama insiders are hesitant about that scenario because after striking a deal, Clinton could break it by publicly accepting the offer despite any previous agreement. The third scenario involves Obama and Clinton getting together to what can be done to make her comfortable bowing out, which might include Obama supporting efforts for Clinton to become the Senate majority leader. Malveaux claims the information for this report, which if true would be a tremendous scoop, came from Clinton's inner circle.