Back in 1992, Jerry Brown and Bill Clinton pretty much hated each other

Bill Clinton and Jerry Brown were not close during his presidency.

(Image credit: Kevork Djansezian/Getty Images)

last updated 31 May 2016

If someone told California Gov. Jerry Brown (D) back in 1992 that he'd someday endorse Hillary Clinton for president, he likely wouldn't have believed it. As evidenced by this video of Bill Clinton and Brown debating each other during the 1992 Democratic presidential primary, Brown and the Clintons used to really, really dislike each other:

Back then, Brown criticized the Clintons for allegedly funneling public money into Hillary's law firm and said that Bill put his corporate loyalties ahead of environmental safety. Bill wasn't much friendlier. He hit Brown right back, accusing him of reinventing himself "every year or two" and being nothing more than somebody's "mouthpiece."

The threat of a Donald Trump presidency, however, has proved enough for the former combatants to bury the hatchet. On Tuesday, Brown endorsed Hillary ahead of California's state primary on June 7. With Trump as the presumptive Republican nominee, Brown wrote in an open letter Tuesday, "this is no time for Democrats to keep fighting each other."