'No chance' Michelle Obama will be Biden's running mate, Valerie Jarrett says

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There’s “no chance” former first lady Michelle Obama will be former vice president Joe Biden’s running mate, Valerie Jarrett, a senior adviser in the Obama administration, said, according to a report.

Speculation has swirled that Mrs. Obama – who is one of the most popular figures in the Democratic party, likely eclipsing her husband – could be a strategic choice for Biden.

But Jarrett, who was the longest-serving adviser to former President Obama and a longtime friend of the couple, said it's not happening.

“The reason why I'm being so unequivocal is that there just simply has never been a time when she's expressed an interest in running for office,” she told The Hill. “She’s not demurring here. She’s not being hard to get. She doesn’t want the job.”

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In a presidential debate last month, Biden promised to choose a female running mate and Monday he told KDKA-TV in Pittsburgh he would take Michelle Obama “in a heartbeat” but added he didn’t think “she has any desire to live near the White House again.”

“Of course he would take her. That’s not the question,” Jarrett told The Hill. “The question is, is this the way in which she wants to continue her life of service?”

The former first lady’s popularity may be due in part to often staying out of the political fray.

“There is a difference between being a public servant and being a politician, and she has no interest in being a politician,” Jarrett told The Hill. “Her husband was interested in being both. She’s only interested in the service component.”

Former President Obama endorsed Biden last week, and the former first lady is now talking with Biden’s team about rolling out her endorsement and what role she would play in the campaign, which could include video fundraising appearances along with get-out-the-vote and voter registration efforts.

In 2018, she started a campaign called “When We All Vote,” which includes celebrities like Lin-Manuel Miranda and Tom Hanks.

Howard Gutman, who worked in the Obama administration, told The Hill Biden's team would take anything it can get from her, but “It’s a question of how much [she and her family] want her to be out there in the crossfire.”

Biden told James Corden on his show early Wednesday morning that his team is launching a committee of advisers to help narrow down VP prospects to two or three by July.

“The most important quality [for a vice president] is someone who — if I walked away immediately from the office for whatever reason — that they can be president...tomorrow,” Biden told Corden when asked about the qualities he's looking for in a running mate.

He added that he hoped his pick would help him in areas where he is weak and vice versa as he said he and former President Obama did.

He facetiously told Corden he planned to pick comedian Julia Louis-Dreyfuss, who played fictional Vice President Selina Meyer on the HBO comedy "Veep."

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Other women who have been floated as possible vice presidential picks include, Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, Stacey Abrams, Sen. Amy Klobuchar, Sen. Elizabeth Warren and Sen. Kamala Harris.