Susan Rice threw her hat into the ring for Joe Biden’s veep position.
The former national security adviser to President Obama said he would “definitely say yes” if asked to become a Democratic candidate in the 2020 election.
“I feel humbled and honored to be among the most accomplished women who are reportedly being considered in that regard,” Rice to PBS on Thursday. “I know Joe Biden well. I have worked very closely with him. I know he will be the great president of the United States.”
Rice, 55, said she was “committed to doing everything” she could to help Biden take the White House this fall, vowing to help the former vice president in “whatever capacity” was needed.
Asked flatly whether he would accept an invitation to become Biden’s potential vice president, he did not hesitate.
“I would certainly say yes,” Rice told PBS Margaret Hoover.
“Wow,” Hoover answered.
“Should I say no?” Rice continued. “You know, I think everyone who was asked that question has given the same answer. So it’s not a surprise.”
But Rice insisted he was “not campaigning for anything,” saying he wanted to help Biden win in whatever way possible.
“Because I believe that is very important for the future of our country,” Rice said. “And this isn’t about me. It’s not about my ambitions.”
Biden, 77, has promised to choose a woman as his partner. Possible options reported include Sens Amy Klobuchar, Kamala Harris and Elizabeth Warren, as well as former Stacey Abrams representative and Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer.
GOP investigators in the Senate, meanwhile, reportedly “now take a closer look” at the January 2017 email Rice wrote to himself documenting a meeting he had previously held with President Barack Obama about Michael Flynn.
“President Obama began the talks by emphasizing his ongoing commitment to ensure that every aspect of this issue is handled by the intelligence and law enforcement community ‘according to the book,'” Rice wrote himself in connection with Flynn’s call to the Russian Ambassador’s call at that time for Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak
“The president stressed that he did not ask about, initiate or instruct anything from a law enforcement perspective. He stressed that our law enforcement team needed to proceed as the book normally does. “
