Oprah Winfrey is ‘intrigued’ about presidential run, says pal Gayle King

“CBS This Morning” co-anchor Gayle King, Oprah Winfrey’s longtime close friend, says that despite a grass-roots call Sunday for Winfrey to run for president, the media mogul has no plans to do so at this time.

King, 63, also said a comment Sunday by Winfrey’s partner of three decades, businessman and educator Stedman Graham, that suggested Winfrey “absolutely would do it,” was the result of miscommunication.

“Stedman says that he thought the reporter said to him, ‘would she make a good president’ and he said, ‘absolutely she would,’ ” King told fellow co-anchor Norah O’Donnell on the show Tuesday. “That’s how he interpreted the question, because . . . Stedman would never so cavalierly say ‘absolutely she would do it. It’s up to the people.’ He would never do that. I got emails from people yesterday that said ‘is Stedman being strategic or is he being supportive?’ He is nothing but supportive. He would never just throw it out there like that.”

Winfrey, regardless, is “intrigued” by the idea of a U.S. presidential run in 2020, King said. “I was up talking to her very late last night. . . . I do think she’s intrigued by the idea.” However, “I don’t think at this point she is actually considering it. But listen, there are people who have said they want to be her campaign manager, who want to quit their jobs and campaign for her. She loves this country and would like to be of service in some way, but I don’t think that she’s actively considering it.”

Following Winfrey’s impassioned speech focusing on press freedom and women’s workplace issues, an outpouring of support for the notion of a presidential campaign sprang up on social media, from entertainers and writers to groups such as the National Organization for Women and Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America.