Michelle Obama addresses recent absences from political events and divorce rumors
Former first lady Michelle Obama discussed stepping back and making time for herself on a podcast released Tuesday, addressing her recent absences from political events and rumors of marital troubles.
Speaking of her life eight years out of the White House with two adult children, Obama said on the 'Work in Progress' podcast with actress Sophia Bush that she now has the opportunity to control her own calendar and can now make 'a choice for myself.'
'I could have made a lot of these decisions years ago, but I didn't give myself that freedom,' Obama said, 'Maybe even as much as I let my kids live their own lives, I use their lives as an excuse for why I couldn't do something.'
She continued: 'And now that's gone. And so now I have to look at my — I get to look at my calendar, which I did this year, was a real big example of me, myself looking at something that I was supposed to do — you know, without naming names — and I chose to do what was best for me, not what I had to do, not what I thought other people wanted me to do.'
The former First Lady notably skipped President Donald Trump's second inauguration, as well as the state funeral of former President Jimmy Carter in January.
She went on to discuss the guilt of saying no and how her recent choices to step away from certain responsibilities raised rumors of a possible divorce from her husband, former President Barack Obama.
'I still find time to you know, give speeches, to be out there in the world, to work on projects. I still care about girls' education. We, you know, the library is opening in a year from now. Certain things I am and am not doing with the library,' Obama said.
She continued: 'That's the thing that we as women, I think we struggle with like disappointing people. I mean so much so that this year people were, you know — they couldn't even fathom that I was making a choice for myself that they had to assume that my husband and I are divorcing.'
Former U.S. first lady Michelle Obama greets her husband, former U.S. President Barack Obama, on stage during Day 2 of the Democratic National Convention (DNC) in Chicago, Illinois, U.S., August 20, 2024. REUTERS/Alyssa Pointer
The Obamas have been together for 32 years, according to a post from the former president on X in October.
The former first lady has been open about how Barack Obama's political ambitions and time in the Oval Office was tough on their marriage, writing in her book 'Becoming' that it resulted in loneliness and exhaustion.
Since leaving the White House, Obama has spoken out against Trump and campaigned for Vice President Kamala Harris last year.
During one campaign stop in Michigan just days before the 2024 election, Obama said: 'Please, please do not hand our fates over to the likes of Trump, who knows nothing about us, who has shown deep contempt for us.'
She added: 'Because a vote for him is a vote against us, against our health, against our worth.'
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
28 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Clyburn blasts GOP proposal to oust him from Congress
Rep. Ralph Norman, R-S.C. is pushing South Carolina to redraw its congressional map to eliminate the state's only Democratic-held seat, currently represented by longtime congressman, Rep. Jim Clyburn. Citing Republican supermajorities in the state legislature, Norman argued it's time to make South Carolina's congressional delegation fully red. Norman is running for governor in 2026. 'We have Republican supermajorities in South Carolina,' Norman told Fox News Digital on Wednesday. 'Let's use them to create more competition in our congressional seats. I have no doubt Republicans can be successful in every part of our state.' He added that a GOP-controlled 7–0 delegation would give Republicans a better chance at holding the House to help advance Donald Trump's agenda in Congress. 'Jim Clyburn is a nice man, and I respect him,' Norman said. 'But he is a liberal Democrat who helped put Joe Biden in the White House. That's not the kind of representation South Carolina needs.' Clyburn has served in Congress since 1993 and spent many years in leadership positions, including as Majority Whip from 2007 to 2011, and again from 2019 to 2023. Clyburn is also credited with helping deliver Biden's crucial 2020 primary win in the Congressman's home state. He was re-elected in 2024 by more than 20 points, and his D+13 district has long been considered safely Democratic. 'Norm is looking for some attention, and I suspect this is the way of trying to get it,' Clyburn said during an interview with CNN's Victor Blackwell on Wednesday night. 'I'm not concerned at all. I know the people of South Carolina very well. I know Ralph Norman very well. I know the governor of this state very well, who is as partisan of a Republican as he can be, but he's as fair of a Republican as he can be. Norm doesn't believe in fairness.'Clyburn's district was originally drawn as a majority-Black district in the 1990s to comply with the Voting Rights Act. The Supreme Court recently upheld the GOP's previous redistricting efforts in the 1st District, ruling they were partisan but not racially motivated. Norman's call mirrors Republican efforts in other states, including Texas, to redraw congressional maps ahead of 2026, sparking a broader redistricting race between red and blue states. Clyburn argued that Democrats indeed have no choice but to respond. 'If you look back all the legislation that we've proposed, the John R. Lewis Voting Rights Act and other bills that we've proposed on the Democratic side, we have always proposed bipartisan commissions to draw the lines. That's what we've done, and that's where we are,' he said on CNN. 'Now, I've never been all for that simply because I knew that we would get to this point when you might have to use politics in order to offset this stuff, and that's what's going on now. If Texas [does] what they say they're going to do, California is going to follow suit, New York, Illinois. And I guarantee you that we are going to fight fire with fire. That's what we've got to do.' The post Clyburn blasts GOP proposal to oust him from Congress appeared first on
USA Today
39 minutes ago
- USA Today
Florida has tripled daily ICE arrests. Will Trump hit 1 million deportations annually?
Immigration arrests are up around the country, and Florida is sending some to Alligator Alcatraz. Did Obama deport more people than Trump? As President Donald Trump continues his mission to carry out the biggest mass deportation in history, multiple reports show how much daily immigration enforcement arrests have ballooned nationwide, and Florida is no exception. The administration has set its sights on deporting 1 million people annually, which would more than double the annual peak set during the Obama administration that helped earn him a critical reputation of "deporter in chief." Trump's directives to the Immigration and Customs Enforcement to expand its deportation efforts have led to widespread protests, more assaults on federal officers and multiple legal battles. But Florida's leaders have been eager to make good on Trump's directives. A Reuters analysis of ICE and White House data shows the national daily arrest rate has doubled under the Trump administration compared to the last decade. A New York Times analysis of obtained data shows average daily arrest rates have more than doubled in 38 states compared to the 2024 rate. In Florida, they have more than tripled. The recently passed tax and domestic policy bill allocates more funding to expand immigration enforcement and deportation efforts. The Department of Homeland Security said the $165 billion allocated in the bill would provide funding to hire 10,000 more agents and maintain detention capacity of 100,000 migrants. While the arrest rate has increased sharply, it has yet to be seen how that might translate into deportation rates. Here is how Trump's immigration enforcement numbers look around the country: More: Florida Democrats sue over access to 'Alligator Alcatraz' immigration detention center Florida leads with Texas, California in ICE arrests since Trump took office A New York Times analysis of data obtained by the Deportation Data Project from the University of California, Berkeley, shows how arrests have increased state by state from Trump's return to office this year until June 10. The states that have recorded the most arrests are Texas, leading at 20,150 arrests, Florida reporting 9,080 arrests and California reporting 5,860 arrests. Comparing the average daily arrest rate to 2024's rate, those states have also increased: Texas is up 92%, Florida is up 219% and California is up 123%. Here are some of the sharpest increases from around the country: As of June 15, more than 56,000 people were in ICE custody nationwide, above its funded capacity of 41,500, Reuters reported. The increase in detained people includes a sharp increase in people without criminal charges or convictions beyond the immigration violation, the Reuters analysis of ICE data shows. Alligator Alcatraz becomes focal point in Florida's immigration crackdown Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and the Florida Legislature have sought to be the "toughest" state on illegal immigration in the country. Florida law enforcement worked with Immigration and Customs Enforcement to fall in line with Trump's push to crack down on immigration. The last effort lies in the Florida Everglades. "Alligator Alcatraz" is a temporary migrant detention facility that Trump visited as he continues to push forward with more ICE arrests. The facility, located about 37 miles from Miami, is surrounded by a vast wildlife area known for its alligators and pythons. The center was converted into a detention center in a matter of eight days and is slated to hold up to 3,000 detainees. "This is not a nice business," Trump said during his visit to Florida. "Snakes are fast but alligators ‒ we're going to teach them how to run away from an alligator." More arrests may not mean more immediate departures While the arrests have jumped, the deportation numbers are not yet on pace to reach a million a year, but it isn't impossible, according to Kathleen Bush-Joseph, a policy analyst at the nonpartisan Migration Policy Institute. "If you think about each step along the way, there can be increases in particular steps, but still obstacles that are not under the control, at least the immediate control of the agencies for a variety of reasons," she said, citing the ability to send people back to their countries as an example. She says two tools could be major factors in ramping up deportations. The first is known as 287(g) agreements, where local law enforcement works with ICE. In those cases, particularly Republican states' cooperation could create what she called a "criminal justice to deportation pipeline." The second tool is expedited removal, which can happen in a matter of hours but was historically used at the border. As of June, 15% of those detained were processed through expedited removal, without the opportunity to defend themselves in court, up from 5% at the end of 2024, the New York Times reported. If, for example, someone is being detained but cannot be deported to their country of origin, the previous standard was to release them with check-in mandates. "This administration is trying to keep everyone it can detained," she said. Funding allocated by the recent tax bill could also contribute to expedited removals and 287(g) agreements, according to Bush-Joseph. How many people has Trump deported in this term? The Department of Homeland Security has stopped publishing regular immigration enforcement statistics since Trump took office, Reuters reported, making the answer difficult to pin down. The Trump administration had deported about 200,000 people over four months, border czar Tom Homan said in late May. That is still less than the number of deportations in a similar period under President Joe Biden, which the White House credited to fewer people coming to the border. The Biden administration deported nearly 700,000 people in fiscal year 2024, Bush-Joseph said, but the majority were those turned around upon arrival at the southern border. A June ICE budget overview said the administration aimed to deport 1 million people per year. With encounters at the southern border at a historic low, deporting those people from the interior could be much harder, Bush-Joseph said. "Based on how the Biden administration was able to really ramp up deportations to record-high levels, not as high as Obama, of course ... I think that they laid the groundwork for the Trump administration continuing to bolster the deportation machinery, especially with new funding," she said. Did Obama deport more people than Trump in his first term? By annual comparisons from their first terms, yes. Obama had earned the critical reputation as "deporter in chief," and Trump's first term lagged behind Obama in numbers. Throughout eight years in office, the Obama administration logged more than 3.1 million ICE deportations, according to Syracuse's Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse. The peak was fiscal year 2012, when more than 407,000 people were removed. By comparison, the first Trump administration maxed out at deporting 269,000 people in 2019, according to the same TRAC data set. Across four years, the Trump administration recorded fewer than 932,000 deportations. Contributing: Lauren Villagran, Bart Jansen, Aysha Bagchi, Joey Garrison, Zac Anderson, USA TODAY; J. Kyle Foster, Naples Daily News Kinsey Crowley is the Trump Connect reporter for the USA TODAY Network. Reach her at kcrowley@ Follow her on X and TikTok @kinseycrowley or Bluesky at @
Yahoo
an hour ago
- Yahoo
Analysis-Investors game out market reaction to Fed chair replacement favorites
By Saqib Iqbal Ahmed NEW YORK (Reuters) -As President Trump narrows his shortlist for the next Federal Reserve chair, investors and strategists are closely analyzing the range of possible market reactions to each potential nominee poised to replace Jerome Powell when his term is over. Reactions may include a positive move if current Fed Governor Christopher Waller is picked, signaling continuity of leadership, to a possible negative response if the nominee to replace Powell is viewed as aligned with Trump, a situation that could call into question the independence of the central bank from the White House. While Trump has for months flirted with ousting Powell, the unexpected announcement last week of Governor Adriana Kugler's exit from the board has brought fresh attention to the composition and leadership of the monetary policy-making body. Earlier in the week, Trump indicated he had a short list of four possible replacements for Powell, including economic adviser Kevin Hassett and former Fed governor and Trump supporter Kevin Warsh, and two other people. On Wednesday, Trump said he would likely nominate a candidate from a short list of three, to serve the remaining months of Kugler's term, leaving the choice of a permanent replacement for a later date. Bloomberg News on Thursday reported current Fed Governor Christopher Waller is a top candidate for Fed chair within the Trump team, citing sources. "After months of extensive telegraphing from the White House, investors have come to expect the next chair to be a Trump loyalist with an avowed dovish bias," said Karl Schamotta, chief market strategist, at Corpay in Toronto. Online betting markets Polymarket and Kalshi on Thursday showed Waller, Hassett and Warsh among those most likely to replace Powell. Broadly, the independence of the Fed remains the key issue for most investors and market reactions could vary depending on how closely prospective candidates to replace Powell are perceived to be aligned with Trump. "President Trump will continue to nominate the most competent and experienced individuals to deliver on his pledge to Make America Wealthy Again. Unless it comes from President Trump himself, however, any discussion about personnel decisions should be regarded as pure speculation," White House Spokesperson Kush Desai, said. CONTINUITY SOUGHT Markets were likely to react most favorably should Trump nominate Waller to Powell's job, several investors said. Waller, an advocate for an immediate interest rate cut, said last month he would accept the job as head of the U.S. central bank if asked by Trump. In a statement following his dissenting vote against the Federal Open Market Committee's decision to hold rates steady in July, Waller said the Fed's 'wait-and-see approach' to monetary policy was "overly cautious." "Waller would probably represent the most continuity with the current style of Fed management," Steven Englander, head of global G10 FX research at Standard Chartered. Guy LeBas, chief fixed income strategist at asset manager Janney Capital Management, said, while there isn't a strong market opinion of policy differences under a Waller and Warsh pick, Waller has been flexible and fast-moving in his time at the Fed and has largely defied any hawkish or dovish bias. As such, should Trump seek to name him chair it would likely elicit a positive response from markets, said Mark Malek, chief investment officer of Siebert Financial. The Federal Reserve declined to comment. TRUMP ALIGNED A potentially more negative reaction may come should the nominee to replace Powell be viewed as a Trump ally. "The more the candidate is seen as being aligned with the White House, the more detrimental it is going to be to U.S. assets in general," Felix Vezina-Poirier, strategist for BCA Research, said. That means a Hassett nomination could spur a negative reaction with longer-term yields rising and the dollar selling off, analysts said. With Hassett viewed as very closely aligned with The White House, his nomination would not bode well for the independence of the Fed, some analysts said. A request for comment was sent to Hassett via the White House, but he did not respond immediately. Warsh might also prompt some market worry, investors and analysts said. Warsh, currently a visiting fellow at Stanford University's Hoover Institution, was a Fed governor from February 2006 to April 2011, leaving about a year before Powell became a governor. During his tenure at the Fed, Warsh was frequently an advocate for tighter, not easier, monetary policy and criticized the Fed's expansionary balance sheet policy. "With a long history of taking overtly-political views on policy — especially in the opinion pages — former governor Kevin Warsh is more of a wild card," Corpay's Schamotta said. "Although investors might welcome his recent Damascene conversion to lowering rates, it comes after years of criticising the Fed for keeping policy too loose, and has been paired with a commitment to reducing the central bank's balance sheet more quickly—something that could push borrowing costs higher for an already-stretched government," he said. Warsh did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Still, the biggest knock for markets could come if Trump were to nominate a candidate who is viewed as lacking Federal Reserve or economic experience. Such a move would also raise questions about Fed independence, investors said. "The more significant question is whether any of these Fed candidates would be more or less "captured" by fiscal interests from the White House," LeBas said. Sign in to access your portfolio
