COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) As they witnessed President Joe Biden take the oath of office on Wednesday, House Majority Whip Jim Clyburn said former Republican President George W. Bush lauded him as a savior for helping get Biden elected.

The South Carolina Democrat is largely credited with giving Biden the endorsement he needed to shoot to the top of 2020s large Democratic field and win his partys nomination.

Clyburn, on a call with reporters, said Bush told him, you know, youre the savior, because if you had not nominated Joe Biden, we would not be having this transfer of power today. He said Bush added that Biden was the only Democratic candidate he felt could have defeated President Donald Trump .

Bush, who has largely stayed out of politics since leaving the White House, chose none of the above in the 2016 presidential election but has not revealed how he voted in 2020.

In a statement issued following Bidens victory, he wrote, Though we have political differences, I know Joe Biden to be a good man and added, I offered him the same thing I offered Presidents Trump and Obama: my prayers for his success, and my pledge to help in any way I can.

Bush spokesman Freddy Ford downplayed Clyburns remarks.

Lets not make this into more than it is, he wrote on Twitter, adding that the former president was saying Clyburn helped saved Bidens nomination ... nothing Biblical here.