Joe Biden: I’d Like to See a Woman Elected President

Vice President Joe Biden hasn’t endorsed a candidate in this fall’s presidential election, but he said in a new interview that he “would like to see a woman elected.”

“This country is ready for a woman,” Biden said when asked in an interview with Mic about whether former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is being held to a higher standard on the campaign trail. “There’s no problem. We’re going to be able to elect a woman in this country.”

When the reporter pressed and asked the Vice President whether he would personally like to see a woman elected, he responded that he did.

“The President and I are not going to endorse because we both when we ran said, ‘Let the party decide,'” Biden added. “But gosh almighty, Hillary Clinton is overwhelmingly qualified to be President.”

Mic originally reported Biden’s staff attempted to cut off the interview after that question, though the Vice President continued. A staff member for Biden’s office later told TIME they were giving the reporter verbal cues because they had gone over the allotted time for the interview. An aide says the “cue had nothing to do with the nature of the question and everything to do with keeping to schedule.”