President Barack Obama will meet with surging Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders on Wednesday, just days before the Iowa caucuses.

White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest announced Tuesday that the meeting will take place in the Oval Office and was first discussed when the Vermont senator attended the Congressional Holiday Ball last month.

Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has had a number of private meetings with Obama, including one in December that Earnest described as “mostly a social occasion.”

The Obama-Sanders sit down comes after the president made comments that seemed to suggest support for his former Cabinet member.

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“If Bernie won Iowa or won New Hampshire, then you guys are going to do your jobs and, you know, you’re going to dig into his proposals and how much they cost and what does it mean, and, you know, how does his tax policy work and he’s subjected, then, to a rigor that hasn’t happened yet, but that Hillary is very well familiar with” Obama said in an interview with Politico.

“You’re always looking at the bright, shiny object that people don’t, haven’t seen before. That’s a disadvantage to her,” Obama added.

This article first appeared on NBCNews.com.