WASHINGTON DC (KDKA) — Vice President Joe Biden says Donald Trump beat the odds when he became the presumptive Republican nominee for president and that “we all make a mistake if we don’t take [Trump] seriously.”

Biden made those comments during a one-on-one interview with KDKA Politics Editor Jon Delano at the White House on Friday.

A group of local reporters were invited to Washington to interview the Vice President, who was pushing for hearings on the Obama Administration’s nominee for Supreme Court, Merrick Garland.

But it was clear that no subjects were off limits, and Jon questioned Biden about the presidential campaign.

Given the opportunity to criticize Trump, the Vice President didn’t. Biden was, according to Jon, surprisingly positive about Trump’s candidacy.

Biden told Jon he thinks Trump has the potential to make himself appear more presidential as the general election campaign gets underway.

Biden said he thinks Trump has the ability “to bring significant people around him on domestic and foreign policy and to do the policy pieces where people think that this guy could actually be president.”

The Vice President also said he had planned to run for President, but “life has a way of intervening,” citing the death of his son Beau.

“You should never run for President unless you can give every waking moment, all your passion and commitment,” Biden said.

Biden says he believes that the Democrats have two very good candidates and he’s optimistic.

He also offered up the advice he’d give to the presidential candidates who will soon be picking their running mates.

“First of all, I don’t have a lot of advice for Donald Trump,” said Biden. “It’s almost impossible in 2016 for a president to be able to handle everything of consequence himself. So, I would pick a woman or a man I thought had the capacity to be able to be given assignments as if they are a junior partner.”

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On a less serious note, Biden says he’s rooting for the Pittsburgh Penguins to win the series against the Washington Capitals and maybe even make it to the Stanley Cup final.

Apparently, this is a rivalry between Biden and his wife, Jill, who is a Philadelphia Flyers fan. Philadelphia lost to the Capitals in the first round of the playoffs.

Biden joked to Jon, “I can’t go home and sleep with her tonight if I didn’t root for the Pens.”