Former White House adviser Valerie Jarrett will not rule out perhaps running for office herself one day.
Her initial response when asked Monday about her interest was “I don’t think so. I don’t think so,” but when someone in the crowd expressed disappointment, Jarrett left the door ever so slightly open.
"That was very sweet," she said while speaking at the City Club of Chicago. "I think I’m at a different stage in my life, now you never say never."
Among Jarrett’s post-White House plans, she said she wants to "continue to be a force for good.” She has joined the Obama Foundation as an unpaid adviser and the Board of Directors of Ariel Investments.
Jarrett also told the City Club of Chicago she considered the Obama Senate seat back in 2008, but the new president and Michelle Obama dissuaded her.
"I did think very seriously about throwing my hat in the ring," she said. "My family and my closest friends were all supportive of it. I thought it would be great to be a U.S. Senator.”
But Jarrett ended up serving all eight years at the White House after President Obama told her this: “I know you, I know the Senate because I’ve been there, and I know what I want to build in the White House, and I think you will enjoy the executive branch more. You’ll feel as though your impact could be greater in the executive branch with me.”
During Jarrett’s City Club presentation she avoided ever mentioning President Donald Trump by name.
She weighed in, though, on Judge Merrick Garland never receiving an up or down vote after being nominated to the Supreme Court.
"To simply say because we’re in an election year, we’re going to strip the president of the power he has to make an appointment, it’s unheard of,” she said.
Jarrett’s added she was “pretty ticked off about that.”
