Vice President Joe Biden this week praised Bernie Sanders' views on income inequality, while noting that Hillary Clinton was "relatively new" to the issue, before quickly rolling back his comments after they were interpreted as an endorsement of the Vermont senator.

Biden initially told CNN in an interview on Jan. 11 that Sanders' insistence on closing the growing gap between rich and poor Americans resonated with voters across the United States.

"Bernie is speaking to a yearning that is deep and real and he has credibility on it," the vice president said. "And that is the absolute enormous concentration of wealth in a small group of people with the new class now being able to be shown being left out."

"Bernie is pushing the envelope on this"

Clinton's focus, meanwhile, had long been elsewhere, the former Delaware senator seemed to suggest.

"It's relatively new for Hillary to talk about that," he said. "Hillary's focus has been other things up to now and that's been Bernie's. No one questions Bernie's authenticity on those issues.

"Even when income inequality wasn't as serious as it is today, it was his drumbeat," Biden said about Sanders. "[Clinton] is coming up with some very good ideas, but Bernie is pushing the envelope on this."

The Sanders campaign immediately promoted Biden's comments by linking to a story about the interview on their social media sites, USA Today noted. That, in turn, prompted the vice president to attempt to clarify his comments on NBC's "Today" show the next morning.

Clinton's focus was on diplomacy, Biden explains

"What I meant was, for the last five years, she's been engaged in foreign policy," Biden noted in reference to Clinton's four-year tenure as the nation's top diplomat.

"Income inequality, meanwhile, has been Bernie's mantra from the time he's gotten involved," he added. "Even when income inequality wasn't as serious as it is today, it was his drumbeat. And so that's what I meant."

Last October, the vice president had cited personal reasons in his decision not to compete with Sanders and Clinton for the Democratic 2016 White House nomination. So far, he has not formally endorsed either of the two candidates, nor former Maryland Gov. Martin O'Malley, a third candidate in the race.

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