Joe Biden: Obama offered me money to pay for dying son's treatment

President Obama told Vice President Mr Biden: "Promise me you won't sell your house."

President Obama made Mr Biden promise not to sell his house to pay for medical bills (AP)

When Vice President Joe Biden considered selling his home to support his late son Beau and his family after Beau began to suffer serious health problems, it was none other than President Barack Obama who offered to step in with financial assistance.

In an interview with CNN this week, Mr Biden said Beau feared being forced to resign as Delaware’s attorney general following a mild stroke in 2010.

At the time, Mr Biden told Mr Obama that he and his wife, Dr Jill Biden, planned to sell their home to make up for Beau’s lost earnings. The President “got up and he said, ‘Don’t sell that house. Promise me you won’t sell the house,’” Mr Biden recalled. “He said, ‘I’ll give you the money. Whatever you need, I’ll give you the money.’”

In fact, Beau was able to serve out his term, but shortly after leaving office last year he was diagnosed with brain cancer. When he died in June, aged 46, Mr Obama delivered a eulogy at his funeral.

“The President and the Vice President have developed the kind of personal relationship that transcends their professional responsibilities,” White House spokesman Josh Earnest told CNN.

In his interview the Vice President, who declined to enter the 2016 presidential race in part because he is still going through the grieving process, also praised Democratic candidate Bernie Sanders for his record on income inequality.

The Vermont Senator “has real credibility,” Mr Biden said, adding: “no one questions Bernie’s authenticity on those issues.”

By contrast, the subject of inequality was “relatively new” to Hillary Clinton, Mr Biden said, though he acknowledged that she had “come forward with some really thoughtful approaches to deal with the issue.”

Mr Biden and Ms Clinton, the former Secretary of State, were often thought of as rivals when both were senior members of the Obama administration.

Though Ms Clinton remains the favourite for the Democratic presidential nomination, she faces a growing challenge from Mr Sanders in the early primary states of Iowa and New Hampshire. The Vice President’s comments will undoubtedly be seen as unhelpful to her campaign.