http://www.newsmax.com/Newsfront/Joe-Biden-donor-hillary-clinton-Louis-Susman/2015/07/30/id/659726/Newsmax
Growing Buzz Biden Will Challenge Hillary for Nomination
Thursday, July 30, 2015 09:06 PM
By: Cathy Burke
A meeting between Joe Biden's chief of staff and a big Democratic donor has reportedly put aides to Hillary Clinton on edge about the vice president's possible entry into the 2016 White House race.
Fox News, citing unnamed sources, reports Steve Ricchetti, Biden’s chief of staff at the White House, recently met for breakfast with major Democratic donor Louis Susman, a friend of Clinton who served as U.S. ambassador to the United Kingdom under President Barack Obama.
Afterward, there was speculation in the Clinton camp that Biden’s team appeared to be sounding out top fundraisers about whether Biden could raise the necessary cash to compete with the Democratic front-runner, Fox News reports.
Fox News notes Susman has raised money for the presidential bids of both John Kerry in 2004, and Obama in 2008.
But Susman told Fox News the breakfast was "strictly a personal meeting," and that Ricchetti had been a "friend of mine for years."
When Fox News asked if Susman might raise money for Biden, he replied: "I’m not planning anything."
"Hillary Clinton’s our candidate now," he added.
The Wall Street Journal reported last month it was the wish of Biden's late son, Beau, and his younger brother, Hunter, that their father make one more run for the White House.
But Biden has neither encouraged efforts to draft him into the race, nor ruled out a candidacy.
Beau Biden died in May from brain cancer.
"The Biden family is going through a difficult time right now," Biden spokeswoman Kendra Barkoff told Fox News. "Any speculation about the views of the vice president or his family about his political future is premature and inappropriate."
