Phillip Faraone / Getty Images

Former Vice President Joe Biden expressed "regret" in a private conversation with Anita Hill, his 2020 campaign says.

Biden, who on Thursday officially announced he is running for president in 2020, spoke with Hill and "shared with her directly his regret for what she endured and his admiration for everything she has done to change the culture around sexual harassment in this country," a campaign spokesperson said, CNN's Manu Raju reports.

The spokesperson did not offer any other details about the conversation and did not specify when it occurred. Biden was the chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee when Hill accused then-Supreme Court nominee Clarence Thomas of sexual harassment in 1991, and he has faced criticism for his handling of the hearings, including for not calling more witnesses to testify and back up Hill's account.

Biden said in March that "to this day I regret I couldn't come up with a way to get her the kind of hearing she deserved." He also said in December, "I owe her an apology." But Hill noted in September 2018 that Biden had not apologized to her, telling Elle, "it's become sort of a running joke in the household when someone rings the doorbell and we're not expecting company. 'Oh,' we say, 'is that Joe Biden coming to apologize?'"