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No, Michelle Obama isn’t running for president as a man
If Your Time is short
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There are no credible reports that former first lady Michelle Obama has announced she is running for president.
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Michelle Obama is not a man.
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The original claim was shared on April Fools’ Day.
As if the 2024 presidential race couldn’t get more chaotic, do we have a new candidate in the running?
A TikTok video reposted on Facebook appeared to include audio of former first lady Michelle Obama announcing her presidential bid as a man.
"I decided to wake up and run as a male to push my husband's vision to the next level and save America from Donald Trump," says a voice in the video that resembles Michelle Obama’s. The April 12 video shows an X post claiming this announcement was made in a "recent interview" with Oprah Winfrey.
"She will be following her husband’s footsteps and run for President in 2024 as a man to also stand in unison with Transgenders," the post says.
But Obama has not announced she is running for president, and the original X post referred to was shared on April Fools’ Day.
(Screenshot of Facebook Reel)
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The post was flagged as part of Meta’s efforts to combat false news and misinformation on its News Feed. (Read more about our partnership with Meta, which owns Facebook and Instagram.)
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PolitiFact reviewed news reports and Nexis news archives and found no evidence that Obama made an announcement that she was running for president.
A public announcement with Oprah Winfrey would have made massive headlines, but they don’t exist.
The social media post’s image comes from a 2020 interview that Winfrey conducted with Michelle Obama as a part of Winfrey’s 2020 Vision Tour. The transcript shows they did not discuss a potential presidential run, and interview coverage made no mention of such an announcement.
PolitiFact could not determine how the audio was generated, but artificial intelligence has been used increasingly to create deceiving audio of political figures.
The post, originally shared April 1 by popular X account "Dom Lucre," appears to combine two common pieces of misinformation swirling around Obama. One, that she is running for president — which she has frequently denied. And two, that she is a man – a false and ridiculous claim we have repeatedly fact-checked.
The X post has a community note on it saying the audio is "fake." Community notes are submitted by certain users and become public if "enough contributors from different points of view rate that note as helpful," according to X. Similarly, a note can be taken down if enough users downvote it.
We rate the claim that Michelle Obama announced she is "running for President in 2024 as a man" Pants on Fire!
Our Sources
TikTok video, April 2, 2024
Facebook video, April 12, 2024
X post, (archived), April 1, 2024
Google search, "Michelle obama announces she is running for president," accessed April 19, 2024
YouTube, "Oprah's 2020 Vision Tour Visionaries: Michelle Obama Interview," Feb 12, 2020
Oprah Daily, "Michelle Obama Jokes on Oprah's 2020 Vision Tour That Barack Had a "Loud, Ugly Cry" at Malia's Graduation," Feb. 9, 2020
PolitiFact, "Fake Joe Biden robocall in New Hampshire tells Democrats not to vote in the primary election," Jan. 22, 2024
X profile, "Dom Lucre," accessed April 19, 2024
PolitiFact, "Will Michelle Obama run for president? All signs point to no," Feb. 20, 2024
NBC News, "Michelle Obama's office says the former first lady 'will not be running for president' in 2024," March 5, 2024
PolitiFact, "Michelle Obama was never a man," Feb. 28, 2023
PolitiFact, "Fake Joe Biden robocall in New Hampshire tells Democrats not to vote in the primary election," Jan. 22, 2024
PolitiFact, "New supposed evidence that former first lady Michelle Obama is a man is anything but," Oct. 3, 2023
PolitiFact, "Image of Michelle Obama is absolutely altered," May 28, 2021
PolitiFact, "Satirical story about Michelle Obama’s mother repackaged as real news," May 8, 2023
PolitiFact, "Video does not show Obama calling his wife ‘Michael’," May 23, 2023
PolitiFact, "Another altered photo of Michelle Obama shared as part of unfounded conspiracy theory," May 8, 2023
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No, Michelle Obama isn’t running for president as a man
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