Gayle King downplays report Oprah would ‘absolutely’ run for president- says she’s “intrigued”

Jan 9, 2018

Gayle King is shooting down the rumors that Oprah Winfrey wants to be the next President of the United States, after the media mogul’s powerful speech at the Golden Globes stirred speculation.

On Tuesday morning on CBS, King tried to walk back the hype, speaking specifically to Stedman Graham’s comment to the LA Times that Oprah “would absolutely do it.”

King claimed that Graham misunderstood the question: “He thought the reporter said to him, ‘Would she make a good president?'”

But then King’s co-host, Norah O’Donnell, pointed out that Stedman’s answer said that it was “up to the people” and that “she would absolutely do it,” which doesn’t exactly sound like an answer to the question King posed.

Nevertheless, King doubled down and added that she doesn’t think Oprah is “considering” a presidential run.

.@GayleKing on @Oprah considering running for president in 2020? "I absolutely don't think that her position has changed… I do think she's intrigued by the idea. I also know after years of watching the Oprah show, you always have a right to change your mind." pic.twitter.com/w1enMPGT9C

— CBS Mornings (@CBSMornings) January 9, 2018

“I absolutely don’t think that her position has changed. I don’t,” she said. “I was up talking to her very late last night… I also know that after years of watching The Oprah Winfrey Show, you always have the right to change your mind. I don’t think at this point she’s actually considering it.”

She did, however, admit that Oprah was “intrigued by the idea.”

When TMZ caught up to King after her CBS show, she stayed on-message, insisting that she didn’t think Oprah was actively pursuing that option and that Graham had thought he was answering a different question entirely.

She insisted that “Stedman would never just throw that out so cavalierly.”

But, she said, “I personally think ‘President Winfrey’ has a good ring to it.”

“But you’ve got to convince her. And I know she’s not convinced.”

Oprah’s Golden Globes speech

King also insisted on CBS This Morning that Oprah was the one who wrote her Golden Globes speech that gained her such notoriety. “She knew exactly what she wanted to say, and she knew exactly how she wanted to say it,” King said.

“Those were all her words,” she said.

“Being in that room was electrifying,” she added. “It was the right person giving the right speech at the right time.”