Michelle Obama Finally Addresses Talks She'd Run For President
Michelle Obama has shut down rumors of a last-minute presidential run.
The former first lady's office made it clear she has no plans to join the 2024 presidential race, saying she will be backing Joe Biden's campaign.
"As former first lady Michelle Obama has expressed several times over the years, she will not be running for president," communications director Crystal Carson said in a statement to NBC News.
The statement continued, "Mrs. Obama supports President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris' re-election campaign."
Unnamed sources told NBC News that Obama's role in supporting Biden and Harris' campaign would be limited due to "her other commitments and her long-standing reluctance to re-enter the political fray full time."
This is not the first time that Obama has ruled out a presidential bid.
In a 2019 interview with The National, Obama said there was "zero chance" of her running for president.
She explained that she believes there are many ways for her to help the country, but "sitting behind the desk in the Oval Office will never be one of them."
Obama made similar comments last year in her interview special with Oprah Winfrey, "The Light We Carry."
She told Winfrey that she had "never expressed any interest in politics."
"Politics is hard. And the people who get into it -- it's just like marriage, it's just like kids -- you've got to want it. It's got to be in your soul because it is so important. It is not in my soul," the former first lady explained.
Obama's repeated refusals to run for office haven't stopped Democrats and Republicans from speculating about a potential candidacy.
Following the recent release of special counsel Robert Hur's report on Biden's handling of classified records, former Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy suggested to Fox News Digital that Democrats may decide to back the ex-FLOTUS instead of the current president.
The special counsel's report mentioned Biden's cognitive abilities, describing him as an "elderly man with a poor memory," the New York Post reported.
Texas Sen. Ted Cruz also predicted last year that Obama could be "parachuted in" at the Democratic National Convention, which will be held in her hometown of Chicago in August 2024.
Last month, Megyn Kelly described the former first lady as "more talented than Joe Biden" politically and "a powerful Democratic weapon."
The journalist also suggested on her podcast that Obama's interview on Jay Shetty's "On Purpose" would "lay the foundation for her emergence on the national scene in some political way."
