President Obama endorses Hillary Clinton in first campaign joint appearance

President Obama has endorsed Hillary Clinton when they made their first joint appearance of the 2016 presidential campaign.

Mr Obama's praise came just hours FBI director James Comey announced he was not recommending charges be brought against Mrs Clinton for her controversial email practices at the State Department.

The President joined Mrs Clinton in North Carolina for the pair's first campaign appearance.

“I’m here for a simple reason,” Mr Obama said. “I’m here today because I believe in Hillary Clinton, and I want you to help elect her to be the next president of the United States of America! That’s why I’m here.”

Mrs Clinton said of her time as secretary of state that the President asked her to serve and she accepted because "we both love our country" and "we put coming interest ahead of self-interest.”

Mr Obama made repeated references to Donald Trump's campaign.

He said: “Everybody’s got an opinion, but nobody actually knows the job until you’re sitting behind the desk,” Obama says, before an aside clearly directed at Donald Trump.. “Everybody can tweet, but nobody actually knows what it takes to do the job until you’ve sat behind the desk.”