If you have noticed Michelle Obama’s absence on the campaign trail for President Joe Biden, you’re not alone, as a new report details some possible contention between the Biden family and former first lady.
According to a report from Axios, Obama has privately expressed frustration over how the Biden family has largely exiled her close friend and ex-wife of Hunter Biden, Kathleen Buhle, resulting in her reluctance in campaigning for President Biden.
Axios cited people familiar with the relationship, noting that the former first lady’s disdain for partisan politics is another reason she has been absent from Biden’s re-election campaign efforts.
Former President Obama noted at a Hollywood fundraiser for Biden this month that she told their daughters they “would be crazy to go into politics.”
As one of the most popular voices amongst Democrats, the absence of Obama has been noted by many even though she was present for Biden’s 2020 bid.
However, the report shared that she was even reluctant to campaign for Biden the first time around.
In fact, the report goes as far as to say the relationship between the Obamas and Bidens began to strain in 2015 when then-President Obama discouraged then-Vice President Biden from running for president.
Despite the behind-the-scenes tension, former President Obama has appeared at fundraisers and in videos for Biden’s re-election effort, though his wife has been missing.
Many have noted that the former first lady was absent at a state dinner for Kenya’s president at the White House in May, her lack of posting about Biden’s re-election campaign on social media, and her sole focus on the non-partisan voter registration group, When We All Vote, CNN reported.
While she hasn’t been present, her name has been thrown around a lot, with conspiracy theories popping up that she would eventually replace Biden as the Democratic nominee for the upcoming election.
In a statement to NBC News in March, Crystal Carson, the director of communications for the first lady’s office, addressed the growing theories.
“As former First Lady Michelle Obama has expressed several times over the years, she will not be running for president,” Carson said. “Mrs. Obama supports President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris’ re-election campaign.”
As for her relationship with the Bidens, Axios reports that Obama and Buhle had become friends while President Obama was in office and that she felt the Biden family had wronged her after her divorce in 2017.
The report highlighted Hunter Biden’s drug use and infidelity, which played a role in their marriage’s downfall. However, it noted that the Biden family seemed to use her as a scapegoat, something Obama did not agree with.
But while she has been absent from Biden’s campaign efforts, there is still time for her to make an appearance in support of the president.
According to sources familiar with the matter, Axios reports that Anita Dunn, a top White House aide, and Melissa Winter, a Michelle Obama aide, recently had lunch to discuss how she could campaign for Biden.
However, it has not been made clear if the former first lady will speak at the upcoming Democratic National Convention, which is being hosted in her hometown of Chicago.