U.S. first lady Jill Biden gave one in all the clearest indications yet that President Joe Biden will run for a second term, telling The Associated Press in an exclusive interview on Friday that there is “just about” nothing left to do but determine the time and place for the announcement.
Although Biden has long said that it’s his intention to hunt reelection, he has yet to make it official, and he’s struggled to dispel questions on whether he’s too old to proceed serving as president. Biden could be 86 at the top of a second term.
“How again and again does he need to say it so that you can imagine it?” the primary lady said in Nairobi, the second and final stop of her five-day trip to Africa.
She added, “He says he is not done. He is not finished what he’s began. And that is what’s vital.”
Granddaughter Naomi Biden, who’s on the trip, cheered the primary lady’s comments after the interview.
“Preach nana,” she said on Twitter.
Biden aides have said an announcement is prone to are available April, after the primary fundraising quarter ends, which is across the time that President Barack Obama officially launched his reelection campaign.
The primary 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.
She brushed off the query about whether she has the deciding vote on whether the president runs for reelection.
“After all he’ll hearken to me, because we’re a married couple,” she said. But, she added later, “he makes up his own mind, imagine me.”
The wide-ranging interview took place on the anniversary of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, and Jill Biden recalled her trip into the country last May to satisfy the besieged country’s first lady, Olena Zelenska.
They visited a college that was getting used to assist migrants who fled the fighting. Among the families, Jill Biden said, had hid underground for weeks before making their escape.
“We thought then, how long can this go on? And here we’re, a 12 months later,” she said. “And have a look at what the Ukrainian people have done. I mean, they’re so strong and resilient, and so they are fighting for his or her country.”
“We’re all hoping that this war is over soon, because we see, on a regular basis, the damage, the violence, the horror on our televisions,” the primary lady added. “And we just cannot imagine it.”
Jill Biden also spoke extensively for the primary time about her skin cancer diagnosis, which led doctors to remove multiple basal cell lesions in January.
“I assumed, oh, it’s just something on my eye, you realize,” she said. “But then they said, no, we expect it’s basal cell.”
Then doctors checked her chest, she said, and so they said “that is definitely basal cell.”
“So I’m lucky,” the primary lady said. “Consider me, I’m so lucky that they caught it, they removed it, and I’m healthy.”
Raising awareness about cancer screening has been a cornerstone of her advocacy efforts for years, even before her son, Beau, died from a brain tumor almost a decade ago. She often says the worst three words anyone can hear are “you’ve gotten cancer.”
When it was her turn to listen to a physician say that, Jill Biden said, “it was a bit harder than I assumed.”
Now, she said, she’s “extra careful” about sunscreen, especially when she’s on the beach, which she described as “one in all my favorite places on this planet.”
Jill Biden is the one first lady to proceed her profession along with her ceremonial duties, teaching writing and English to community college students. At 71 years old, she said she’s not able to take into consideration retirement.
“I do know that I’ll know when it’s enough,” she said. “But it surely’s not yet.”
She said she left detailed lesson plans for a substitute teacher while she was on her trip, and he or she’s been texting with students as she was traveling. She plans to be back within the classroom at 8 a.m. on Tuesday morning, after arriving home from Africa around 3 a.m. Monday.
Education has been a flashpoint in American politics, especially with conservative activists and politicians attempting to limit discussion of race and sexuality in classrooms.
“I don’t think in banning books,” she said.
She added: “I feel the teachers and the parents can work together and judge what the children must be taught.”
Through the interview, Jill Biden reflected on the legacy of former President Jimmy Carter, who recently began home hospice care. The Carter Center, which the previous president founded after leaving the White House, was key in helping to eliminate the Guinea worm parasite in African countries.
“That is the right example,” she said. “He’s such a humble man. He didn’t exit and shout, ‘Look what I’ve done.’ He just did the work.”
Jill Biden recalled Carter and his wife, Rosalynn, reaching out on the eve of Joe Biden’s inauguration two years ago.
“They called and said congratulations,” she said. “And it meant a lot to me and to Joe.”
She also talked about visiting the Carters at their home in Plains, Georgia, early in Biden’s presidency.
“It isn’t just that listed here are two presidents. It’s listed here are two friends,” she said. “Actually 4 friends, who’ve really supported each other over time.”