First Lady Jill Biden has given one of the clearest indications yet that President Joe Biden will run for a second term, telling The Associated Press in an exclusive interview on Friday, reports News max.
Although Biden has long stated that it is his intention to seek re-election, he has yet to make it official and has raised questions about whether he is too old to continue serving as president. Biden will be 86 at the end of his second term.
“How many times does he have to say it for you to believe it?” said the first lady in Nairobi, the second and final leg of her five-day trip to Africa, reports News Max.
Biden aides said an announcement was likely in April after the end of the first quarter of fundraising, which is around the time President Barack Obama officially launched his re-election campaign.
The first lady has long been described as a key figure in Biden’s orbit as he plans his future.
“Because I’m his wife,” she laughed, reports News Max.
She shrugged off questions about whether she has the deciding vote on the president’s re-election bid.
Of course he’ll listen to me, because we’re a married couple,” she said. But, she added later, “he makes up his own mind, believe me,” reports News Max,
The wide-ranging interview took place on the first anniversary of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and Jill Biden recalled her trip to the country last May to meet with the country’s first lady, Olena Zelenska.
They visited a school that was used to help migrants who had fled the fighting. Some families had been hiding underground for weeks before fleeing, Jill Biden said.
“We thought then, how long can this go on? And here we are, a year later,” she said. “And look at what the Ukrainian people have done. I mean, they are so strong and resilient, and they are fighting for their country,” Reports News Max.
Jill Biden also spoke widely for the first time about her skin cancer diagnosis, which led doctors to remove multiple basal cell lesions in January.
“I thought, oh, it’s just something on my eye, you know,” she said. “But then they said, no, we think it’s basal cell,” reports News Max.
Cancer screening awareness has been a cornerstone of her advocacy efforts for years, even before her son Beau died of a brain tumor nearly a decade ago. She often states that the phrase “You have cancer” is among the worst three words a person can hear, reports News Max.
When it was her turn to hear from a doctor, Jill Biden said: “It was a little harder than I thought,” reports News Max.
Education has been a flashpoint in American politics, particularly with conservative activists and politicians seeking to limit discussion of race and sexuality in classrooms.
She said: “I think the teachers and the parents can work together and decide what the kids should be taught,” reports News Max.
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