Update (1225ET): Apparently, Wednesday's "erroneous" report that Bernie Sanders was suspending his campaign wasn't the product of the sometimes unreliable Washington rumor mill, but a genuine mistake on behalf of one of America's most trusted newswire services.

Wow. Axios reported that Bernie Sanders is suspending FB advertising. Bloomberg then reported that he's suspending his campaign, citing Axios. Sanders comms director @cascamike tweeted that it is "absolutely false" that Sanders is suspending his campaign. — Peter Sterne (@petersterne) March 18, 2020

The suspicion is that the story that was initially "sourced" to Axios by Bloomberg headline writers was actually a report about the Sanders campaign suspending its Facebook advertising, and that the headline writers and editors missed the last two words in the headline.

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Update (1200ET): Sanders' campaign spokesman has denied the Axios report.

Hope we didn't get your 'Berxit' hopes up.

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The prayers of millions of Democrats hoping for party unity in a time of crisis have been answered.

Bernie Sanders has decided to suspend his campaign, Axios reports.

Bernie Sanders will move to "assess his campaign" after Joe Biden's sweep of the Florida, Illinois and Arizona primaries, his campaign manager, Faiz Shakir, said in a statement Wednesday. The big picture: Sanders trails Biden by almost 300 delegates, making it statistically improbable that he can catch up in the primary race, according to the New York Times. Only around 40% of the delegates available in the race for the Democratic nomination remain. What they're saying: Shakir said Sanders is currently focused on the federal government's response to the coronavirus pandemic "and ensuring that we take care of working people and the most vulnerable."

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