Jimmy Kimmel Grills All Three Clintons, Amends With Selfie
Last night, in the most dogged interrogation of Hillary Clinton's national political ambitions yet, comedian Jimmy Kimmel pestered the former Secretary of State with the repeated question of whether she's planning to run for president in 2016.
"I'm obviously thinking about all kinds of decisions," she responded.
Clinton was joined onstage by husband, Bill, and daughter, Chelsea, for a wide-ranging family panel session of the Clinton Global Initiative University ("CGI U"), an annual gathering that convened this weekend in Tempe, Arizona.
U.S. Senator John McCain and former U.S. Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords also addressed attendees in separate sessions of the three-day conference.
During the audience Q&A of Kimmel's discussion segment with the Clintons, a thrilled student from UC Berkeley asked Hillary, "Ms. Clinton, if you don't represent women in politics in America as future president, then who will?" Applause! And then, Kimmel's follow-up.
JK: "That's a very good question. It looks like you have support here. And also, to add to that: when you do run for president, will you use the old Clinton campaign lawn signs?"
HC: "I am very much concerned about the direction of our country and it's not just who runs for office but what they do when they get there and how we work together and particularly empower young people. We can tackle some of these hard decisions we have just been talking about. So—"
JK: "She wants an answer."
The interview turned a tad cagey from there, punctuated by nervous fits of laughter and the family's unsubtle digressions from Kimmel's line of questioning. Eventually, as both Clinton parents sweated the delay in Matt Damon's arrival to the stage, President Clinton turned the focus to whether Chelsea might be planning to have her first child with her banker hubby Marc Mezvinsky anytime soon.
"I love that when asked the question that everyone asks you all the time, you threw your daughter right under the bus," Kimmel quipped.
Chelsea laughed off her father, "Unapologetic in public and in private!"
Given Mrs. Clinton's refusal to answer Kimmel's persistence, the former First Family did take a moment after the event to pose behind Kimmel and a dozen young conference attendees for an Oscars-style selfie. Hillary Clinton is cheesing. Bill Clinton is thinning. Bill Clinton is throwing a gang sign. Chelsea Clinton is just happy to be here.
.@TheEllenShow- No Brad Cooper but 3 Clintons & a Kimmel @BillClinton @HillaryClinton @ChelseaClinton #selfie pic.twitter.com/GyGFxnUjfP
— Jimmy Kimmel (@jimmykimmel) March 23, 2014