Joe Biden Affirms Plans for 2024 Reelection Campaign — 'But We're Not Prepared to Announce It Yet'

U.S. President Joe Biden has yet to officially announce a run for reelection

President Joe Biden says he is planning to run for reelection in 2024 but declined to make an official announcement during a candid chat with the Today show's Al Roker this morning.

The president and First Lady Dr. Jill Biden were prepping to host the White House Easter Egg Roll when the conversation shifted toward the looming election.

"I plan on running Al, but we're not prepared to announce it yet," Biden said.

Roker had at first asked how many more Easter Egg Rolls the President planned to attend, probing to see if Biden would comment on a commitment to the 2024 election.

"I plan on at least three or four more Easter Egg rolls," Biden said, adding: "Maybe five. Maybe six, what the hell."

Biden first announced his intention to run for reelection less than two months after his 2021 inauguration — but more than two years later, the 80-year-old has yet to make a formal announcement.

Related:Why Joe Biden Keeps Pushing Back His Expected Reelection Announcement

Reports emerged that Biden was planning to announce his run by the beginning of April to coincide with a new political fundraising quarter, but as the Associated Press reports, aides are now insisting that an announcement isn't in the cards any time soon.

According to the outlet, the announcement won't come until at least after the president returns from a visit to Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland. On Wednesday, the White House confirmed that the president will begin a four-day trip to Northern Ireland and Ireland in Belfast on April 11.

A representative for the White House did not immediately respond to PEOPLE's request for comment.

Last month, CBS News asked Biden when he plans to announce his reelection campaign, to which he replied, "When I announce it."

Related:Who Is Running for President in 2024? Confirmed and Rumored Republican and Democratic Candidates

But now, after repeated pushbacks, it's thought that the president could wait until early summer, although some think the announcement could even come as late as the fall.

If Biden did wait until after the end of the second fundraising quarter on June 30, he would be breaking a trend set by his four immediate predecessors, who all announced their reelection campaigns in the second quarter of their third year in office, according to the New York Post.

According to CBS News, the president's closest advisers and other outside consultants say he is in no rush to launch his campaign. Plans to launch in January were said to have been delayed because the president wasn't ready to make the decisions needed to launch, per CBS News. Other factors for the delay also included the war in Ukraine, which marked its first anniversary in February, and tensions between the U.S. and China.

Meanwhile, the plans to launch by the beginning of April were said to have been pushed back because the media was focused on the two leading Republican contenders — former President Donald Trump and Florida Governor Ron DeSantis — and their public attacks on one another.

While DeSantis hasn't officially launched his own campaign, the 44-year-old isn't expected to announce his run until June, per CBS News.

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Amidst this, Trump's arraignment has also been grabbing headlines. Trump was arraigned on Tuesday on 34 felony counts of falsifying business records, following an investigation into an alleged hush money payment he made to adult film star Stormy Daniels while he was a presidential candidate in 2016. The former president pleaded not guilty to the charges.

And despite fellow Democrat Marianne Willamson — a self-help author and Texas native — jumping in the race last month as the first notable Democratic candidate to potentially challenge Biden, the president still very much remains the Democratic front-runner.

This has allowed the president to lay low and focus on policy and governing.

Among those hugely in favor of a Biden reelection campaign — and no doubt eagerly awaiting the launch — is First Lady Dr. Jill Biden.

Last month, the 71-year-old said she was "all in" and "all for it" when it comes to her husband running for reelection. Asked if her husband might choose not to run for another term, she told CNN, "Not in my book."

As well as Williamson, other candidates who have also already officially announced their campaigns include Republicans Vivek Ramaswamy and Nikki Haley and former Arkansas Governor Asa Hutchinson.

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